Blackjack

Instructions

As soon as you step into the casino, you are overwhelmed by the flashing lights, vibrant colors, and loud noises. But one particular table catches your eye... Welcome to Blackjack! ========================================= Lose - The player's bet is taken by the dealer. Win - The player wins as much as he bet. If you bet $10, you win $10 from the dealer (plus you keep your original bet, of course.) Blackjack - The player wins 1.5 times the bet. With a bet of $10, you keep your $10 and win a further $15 from the dealer. Push - The hand is a draw. The player keeps his bet, neither winning nor losing money. ========================================= The aim of the game is to accumulate a higher point total than the dealer, but without going over 21. You compute your score by adding the values of your individual cards. The cards 2 through 10 have their face value, J, Q, and K are worth 10 points each, and the Ace is worth 11 points (Worth 1 if it would cause a bust). ======================================== At the start of a blackjack game, the player has to place a bet. After the player places his bet, the player and the dealer receive two cards each. The player's cards are normally dealt face up, while the dealer has one face down (called the hole card) and one face up. Then the player can keep his hand as it is (stand) or take more cards from the deck (hit), one at a time, until either the player judges that the hand is strong enough to go up against the dealer's hand and stands, or until it goes over 21, in which case the player immediately loses (busts). When the player has finished their turn, and decides to stand (or bust), the dealer turns over his hidden hole card. If the dealer's hand is lower than 17, then he will hit. If his hand is worth 17 or more, then he will stand. ========================================= Insurance When the dealer's face-up card is an ace, the player gets the chance to bet on whether the dealer has a blackjack or not. This is done before any other player actions. The insurance wager equals your original bet and is used to cancel out the likely loss of this bet. A winning insurance bet will be paid at odds of 2:1, and since you lose your original bet, you'll break even on the hand. Surrender If you have a bad hand compared to the dealer's hand (judging from what you can see of it,) you can give up the hand and reclaim half your bet. The casino keeps the other half uncontested. You need a really bad hand match-up for a surrender to be profitable, such as 16 vs the dealer showing a 10. Splitting (Not Implemented) When you get two starting cards of the same face value, you have the option to split the hand in two. You place another bet of the same size as the original bet and play on with two hands. (Note that it is legal to split 10-point cards even if they do not form a pair - for example you could split a jack and a king.) When you've decided to split a hand, the dealer immediately deals a second card to each hand. Now, if you're dealt yet another pair, some casinos allow you to split the hand again, while others don't. When you're done splitting, each of your hands will be treated separately, meaning that you will take cards to your first hand until you stand or bust, and then carry on with the next hand. If you split aces, you are dealt a second card to each hand as usual, but you are not allowed to take any further cards (unless you are dealt another ace and split again). All hands resulting from splitting aces remain as two-card hands. If the second card dealt to a split ace is a 10-point card you do not receive the blackjack bonus for this hand. It does however win against an ordinary 21 made of more than two cards. If the dealer also has a blackjack the result for this hand is a push as usual. In many places the same rule (no blackjack bonus) is played if an ace is dealt as the second card to a 10-point card after splitting. Doubling Down (Not Implemented) If you're fairly sure that your hand will beat the dealer's, you can double your original bet. You're sometimes allowed to double down for any amount up to the original bet amount. In most casinos, you may double down on any hand, but some casinos require an opening hand worth 11, 10, or 9. When you've chosen to double down, you'll only get one more card from the dealer. =========================================