#$KBet

Your Bet, or Wager, is the amount of money that you are gambling on a hand. You are saying that if your hand is better than the dealer's, you want to be paid that amount of money. On the other hand, if the dealer's hand is better than yours, you lose that amount of money.

If your hand and the dealer's hand have the same value, the hand is a Push - you don't win and you don't lose.

#$KBlackjack

Any time that the player or dealer's hand has a value of 21 with only two cards, it is called Blackjack. This requires that one of the cards is an ace, and the other has a value of 10. The second card can be a 10, Jack, Queen or King.

If you, the player, have Blackjack, you win 1.5 times the amount of your bet, unless the dealer also has Blackjack, in which case the hand is a push.

#$KDeal

After placing a bet, click on the "Deal/Stand" button to tell the dealer that you are ready to play a hand.

You and the dealer will each receive two cards. This is known as the Deal. 

One of the dealer's cards remains face down until you are finished playing your hand.

If the dealer has an ace showing, you will be offered Insurance.

If your two cards total 21 (Blackjack), and the dealer does not have 21, you will immediately be paid 1.5 times your bet and the hand is over.

If you do not have 21 with only two cards, you can Double Down.

If both of your cards are the same value, you may Split the hand.

#$KDeck

A Deck is comprised of 52 cards, broken down into 4 suits, Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts and Spades. When playing Blackjack, the suits have no significance.

Each of the cards from 2 to 10 is counted as the face value of the card. Jacks, Queens and Kings are also counted as 10's. Aces can be counted as one or 11.

In this electronic version of Blackjack, we use the term Deck to apply to the five different cardbacks that are available via the Game menu.

#$KDouble Down

Anytime that your hand has only two cards totalling less than 21, you can tell the dealer you want to Double Down. This means that you are doubling your bet, and in return, you are willing to take only a single Hit.

Note that you can Double Down only when your Stake is large enough to support doubling your bet.

The best times to double down are when your first two cards total 10 or 11. If the dealer has a 10 (or Jack, Queen or King) showing, then you may not wish to double down on 11, because getting hit with an ace will hurt your hand.

Many players will double down whenever the dealer has a 5 or less showing and one of their cards is an ace.

Note that if you Split your original hand into two hands, you can double down either or both of the resulting hands, as long as you don't take a hit on that hand first.

#$KHit

In the game of Blackjack, an ace can be counted as either 1 or 11.

As long as the total of your cards does not exceed 20, you may draw a card, or as it's called in the game, take a Hit.

If your hand totals exactly 21, regardless of the number of cards, you cannot take another hit.

If the total of your cards exceeds 21, you lose your wager. This is known as "going broke", or "going bust", or simply "busted".

If you don't want another card, you tell the dealer that you stand by clicking on the Deal/Stand button.

The dealer can take a hit only when his hand total is less than 17. Once the dealer's hand value is greater than 17, the hand is over.

#$KInsurance

Immediately after the Deal, if the dealer's "up card" (the card that is dealt face up) is an ace, the dealer will offer to let you make an Insurance bet. In other words, you are making a side bet that the dealer has Blackjack.

The cost of the insurance bet is one-half of your base bet. If you win the insurance bet, you are paid two to one.

If you make the insurance bet, then:

	If the dealer has Blackjack, you win your Insurance bet, but you lose the bet on your hand. Since the Insurance bet pays two to one, you actually break even on the combined bets.

	If the dealer does not have Blackjack, then you lose your Insurance bet and play continues normally.

#$KMarker

In order to play Blackjack, you must have money (chips). The amount of money you have to play with is called your Stake.

In order to get the money in the first place, you must obtain a Marker from the casino. A Marker is a check drawn on your checking account.

In Las Vegas, after you are finished playing, you can buy back your Markers, presuming you have the money to do so. If you don't buy back your Markers, the casino will deposit the check.

Most large casinos also have a system whereby you can obtain cash advances on your credit card, but we didn't want to complicate things with such a system, because it takes too long to get an authorization for your credit card.

#$KSplit

When the first two cards dealt to you are the same value, you can "Split" your hand. In this case, the dealer will make two hands out of the single hand, with each of the new cards containing one of the cards from the original hand.

After creating two hands, the dealer will give you an additional card for each of the hands.

Either or both of the hands now plays (in turn) exactly as though the hands were dealt individually. This means that you can Double Down on either or both of the hands, get Blackjack on either or both, etc. The only thing you cannot do is Split a hand that is already split.

Note that there is one exception to the above - when you split aces, you receive the second card for each hand, but you are not allowed to double down or even take a hit on either hand. In other words, when you split aces, you get a total of only two cards for each of the new hands.

#$KStake

In order to play Blackjack, you must have money (chips). The amount of money you have to play with is called your Stake.

See the entry for Marker for information on how to increase your Stake.