Take a few decks of cards, add a healthy mixture of luck and skill, mix in a generous measure of drama, a dash of suspense and a glug of excitement – that’s blackjack.

A simple, exciting game that has entertained players for centuries, blackjack is a staple of all live and online casinos. Play one of the many blackjack variants available at Leo Vegas, including taking on a live dealer in real-time.

Now, let’s find out how to win.

How to play blackjack

The aim of blackjack is simple: get 21.

Players are dealt two cards, with aces being worth one or 11 points, picture cards worth 10 points and all other cards worth their respective ranks. When the action is on you, you can make one of the following decisions:

• Stand: keep your cards, and hope your total beats the dealer
• Hit: take another card to try and get closer to 21
• Split: if your two cards are the same value, you can split them and play two hands for an extra bet
• Double: double your bet in exchange for one more card
• Surrender: forfeit half your bet and retire from the hand

If your cards total over 21, you’re bust and must live to play another day.

Basic blackjack strategy

Every game of blackjack has a perfect basic strategy. This involves knowing whether to stand, hit, surrender (if applicable), split or double based on your two cards and the dealer’s up-card.

For example, a basic strategy in a standard game of blackjack where the dealer stands on a soft 17 and doubles are allowed after splitting would look like this:

Source: Wikipedia

Different variants of blackjack will have different optimal strategies, each of which will result in the least amount being lost in the long run.

How to count cards in blackjack

Card counting is a strategy used in live casino blackjack games. This method, performed correctly, will give the player an advantage over the house. Using card counting, players can deduce when a high concentration of higher-ranked cards will be dealt and make large bets to profit from this information.

Basic counting involves assigning a positive, negative or neutral value to each card. When that card has been dealt, the count is adjusted – for example, a 6 or lower will be worth +1 while a 10 or higher will be worth -1. The higher the total, the more likely it is that higher cards will be dealt.