Blackjack rules
Blackjack, also called twenty-one, is a card game played against the dealer. The aim is to finish with a hand closer to 21 than the dealer's without going over. You are not playing the other people at the table: each player plays the dealer on their own, and their cards only change which cards come out of the shoe after.
On openseat you play for play chips only. Nothing is bought, won or paid out, and there is no sign-up. Below are the card values, how a hand goes, the dealer's rules, doubling, splitting and insurance, and how a table of friends is won.
What the cards count
- Two to ten count their number.
- Jack, queen and king count ten.
- An ace counts 1 or 11, whichever is better for the hand.
A hand with an ace counted as 11 is called soft: ace and six is a soft 17. It cannot go over with one more card, since the ace can always drop back to 1. A hand with no ace, or with every ace counted as 1, is hard.
A blackjack is an ace and a ten-value card as your first two cards. It beats every other hand, even a 21 made of three or more cards, and it pays 3 to 2: a bet of 100 wins 150.
The table and the shoe
The game uses a shoe of six packs, 312 cards. On openseat the shoe is shuffled fresh before every hand, the way a casino's shuffling machine does it, so counting cards gets you nothing.
Everyone starts with 1,000 chips. A bet is from 10 to 500, in tens.
How a hand goes
1. Bets
Everyone places a bet. At a friend's table you may also sit a hand out. Bets are made at the same time: nobody has to wait their turn to bet.
2. The deal
Every player who bet gets a card face up, then the dealer gets one face up (the up card). Then everyone gets a second card face up, and the dealer a second card face down (the hole card).
3. Insurance and the dealer's peek
If the dealer's up card is an ace, everyone is first offered insurance (see below). Then, with an ace or a ten-value card showing, the dealer looks at the hole card. If it makes a blackjack, the dealer turns it over and the hand is over at once: everyone without a blackjack loses their bet, and a player with a blackjack gets theirs back (a push). Because this happens before anyone plays, you never lose a double or a split to a dealer's blackjack.
If there is no blackjack, the hole card stays face down and play goes on.
4. The players play
The players play one after another, in seat order. On your turn you choose:
- Hit: take another card. Take as many as you like, one at a time.
- Stand: take no more cards; your hand is done.
- Double: on your first two cards only, put down a second bet the size of the first and take exactly one card. Your hand is then done.
- Split: with two cards of the same value, make them two hands (see below).
A hand that goes over 21 is bust and loses straight away, whatever the dealer has. A hand that reaches 21 stands by itself.
5. The dealer plays
Once everyone is done, the dealer turns the hole card over and plays by a fixed rule, with no choices at all:
- The dealer draws on 16 or less, and stands on 17 or more.
- The dealer stands on a soft 17 too.
If every player went bust, or every hand still in is a blackjack already paid, the dealer just turns the hole card over and takes no cards.
6. Paying out
| Your hand | Paid |
|---|---|
| Blackjack (dealer has none) | 3 to 2: a bet of 100 wins 150 |
| Higher than the dealer, or the dealer busts | 1 to 1: a bet of 100 wins 100 |
| Same total as the dealer | Push: you get your bet back |
| Lower than the dealer, or bust | You lose your bet |
Then the next hand is bet, with a fresh shoe.
Doubling down
Doubling is for a strong start against a weak dealer card: an 11 against a 6, say. You double the bet, get one card and stand. On openseat you may double on any two cards, and also on a hand made by a split.
Splitting pairs
With two cards of the same value, you may split them into two hands, putting down a second bet equal to the first. Each hand gets a second card and is played on its own, one after the other. Any two ten-value cards count as a pair: a king and a jack may be split, though they almost never should be.
- You may split again if a hand makes another pair, up to four hands.
- Split aces get one card each and no more, and are not split again.
- A 21 on a split hand is just 21, paid 1 to 1, not a blackjack.
- You may double after a split.
Insurance
When the dealer's up card is an ace, you may take insurance: a side bet of half your bet that the hole card is a ten. It pays 2 to 1. If the dealer has a blackjack, insurance wins and your hand loses, which comes out even. If not, the insurance is lost and the hand plays on. Taking insurance with a blackjack of your own is called even money: whatever the dealer has, you end up winning your bet once.
In the long run insurance loses (see the strategy guide), so most players turn it down.
No surrender
Some casinos let you give up half your bet and fold your hand. Surrender is not offered on openseat.
Playing friends
Open a table, send the link, and up to three friends sit down with you, four players in all against one dealer. Everyone can see everyone's cards, as at a real table, but nobody can see the hole card or the shoe.
- Each friend presses Ready, and whoever opened the table presses Start once at least one friend is in.
- Whoever opened the table picks how long the game lasts: 10, 20 or 30 hands, and whether there is a clock on each decision.
- With the clock on, there are 20 seconds for each decision. Whoever lets it run out sits the hand out, turns insurance down, or stands: the clock never spends your chips for you.
- After the last hand, whoever has the most chips wins. If two or more share the most, the game is drawn.
- Whoever cannot cover the smallest bet (fewer than 10 chips) is out, and the rest play on. The last one left in wins.
- A player may resign at any time; whatever they had staked on the hand is lost, and the others play on.
- Draws: anyone may offer one, once a hand. It is drawn only when everyone still in agrees. One no, or playing on instead of answering, turns it down.
- Play again starts a new game at the same table with the score kept, and Change settings goes back to the lobby first.
Playing on your own
On your own you play the dealer hand after hand, for as long as you like. If you lose your last chip, you are given a fresh 1,000, and the table keeps count of how many times that happened and of your biggest stack. Turn on the hint and the table shows the basic-strategy play for every hand, the same play as the charts in the strategy guide.
Ready? Play blackjack, or read how to play blackjack well.