How to Play Blackjack to Win Big

Blackjack is one of the oldest casino games around, and it’s one that can be found around the world. In France in the 1700’s, the game got its start under the name “Twenty-One”. As people learned how to play 21, it spread around the world quickly, as empires expanded. Even Napoleon liked to play the game (on his downtime, we’re guessing…).

Australian fans of the game can play online blackjack from anywhere, of course. And that real casino feel can happen right in your living room or on mobile as you hit the beach or hang with your mates.  You can even pick one of the live blackjack games happening throughout the day and night that feature a real dealer.

Ignition has helped grow the online casino version of blackjack, with new variations on the original. There are now 8 ways to play a form of Blackjack online with us, including some of the most frequent, round-the-clock offerings of live dealer Blackjack in Australia.

Online blackjack uses essentially the same rules are live blackjack – only we’ve got those different varieties that you might not find at a real-life casino. Read on to learn more about blackjack rules and how to play blackjack.

The Objective of Blackjack

The objective of blackjack is really simple: get as close to a score of 21 as possible, without going over that number. Your goal is to beat the dealer with this objective in mind – making them go over or have fewer points from their cards than you do.

Even if there are other players at your table, it’s you against the dealer. Each of you has their own cards to think about, and all the blackjack rules we spell out below will help you figure out how to think wisely.

Blackjack Rules

One of the benefits of online is that you can play a lot of practice rounds to get into the flow and practice your strategies. Even after a couple of hands, many players head straight to real money games too.

Some standard rules come into play for classic blackjack. We won’t touch on all the 8 varieties of blackjack we have on offer at Ignition Casino, since you don’t have the time to read all day, but it’s good to lay the foundation here.

Blackjack is usually played at a table of between 2 and 7 players, with anywhere from 1 to 8 52-card decks in the “shoe” (that box that holds all the decks). All number cards from 2 to 10 are worth the value indicated on them, and the suit doesn’t matter in the value of your hand. The face cards are worth 10 points and the Ace can either be treated as 1 or 11 points.

We outline the flow from the dealer to the player below in the How to Play Blackjack section, and we’re going to dive into it a bit more here.

Starting to the left of the dealer, each player gets a chance to draw more cards on their way to try to get as close to 21 points without going over. You can either ‘hit’ or ‘stand’.

If the player says ‘Hit’ (you can say this to your computer screen in online blackjack – hey, we’re not going to judge), they are given an extra card. They can then either call out ‘Hit’ again, or ‘Stand’ if they do not wish to draw any more cards. Some places say “stick” instead of stand, but stand is the normal convention. If you hit and that card puts you over 21 points, you bust and your bet is lost.

After each player has played and either stopped drawing (hitting) or they’ve busted, the dealer takes their turn. The dealer is trying for the same as you – to get as close to 21 points without going over. If the dealer’s hand exceeds 21, all players who didn’t bust win their bet, which means their bet amount is returned to them along with a matching amount from the casino.

If the dealer doesn’t bust but has finally stood, the cards are added up and each player’s hand is compared to the dealer’s hand. If the player scored higher than the dealer, the player wins. If the player ties with the dealer, the original bet is returned to the player. Otherwise, the player loses their bet.

Oh yeah, about the name of the game! A perfect hand is an Ace combined with a 10, Jack, Queen or King and is known as a ‘Blackjack’.

How to Play Blackjack

You might have learned how to play 21 even before you knew it was really called blackjack. It’s an easy game to pick up, but when you are playing online blackjack for real money – even if you’re funding it with crypto and calling it bitcoin blackjack – it pays to know the rules and strategies.

In a live casino or standard (or classic) online blackjack, the flow of the game is as follows:

1. You buy chips – with Bitcoin blackjack at Ignition you can buy yours with cryptocurrency, and you can play as well as with standard currency).
2. You place a wager – depending on the table limits; always stay within your budget.
3. Dealer deals cards to all players – face up for your cards, and face down only for the dealer’s first card to themselves
4. You decide how to play your hand – there are many strategies that people follow in blackjack, but there are some core concepts worth sticking to.
5. Dealer plays hand – here you’ll see if they bust (go over 21) or what total they have at 21 or under.
6. Payouts – the chips will be paid out according to the size of your wager. Or they’ll be taken away, if you bust or the dealer has a higher total.

Some of the ways to play and enhance your game are outlined below, but some words on the dealer’s “how to play” is important to understand.

Once all players have busted or stood, the dealer will then flip over their face-down card and add up their 2-card hand. If the dealer has a hand total of 17 or higher, they have to stand (casino rules!). If the dealer has a hand total of 16 or lower, they have to hit (more casino rules!).

Doubling, splitting and surrender – things we explain below – are not available to the dealer, as they must play their hand the same way every time. The only exception is when the dealer has a 17 that comes from having an Ace and a six.

This is called a “soft 17” and this hand is sometimes hit by the dealer because it can also count as a 7 (because Aces can be a choice between 1 or 11). This gives the dealer more chances to get a better hand than 17, and the casino has a better house edge in this casino. Every online casino, every bitcoin blackjack casino, every live casino – you name it, they need to make their rule on soft 17 clear to all players before dealing the cards.

Blackjack Rule Variations

It’s always helpful to know a few of the blackjack rule variations, especially as you become more familiar with the game and play multiple hands at a time. With Ignition Casino, your neighbour’s garage, or a big-time Sydney or Melbs casino, different rules are applied in different places. It’s good to get these straight beforehand.

Knowing which blackjack rules are in effect wherever you’re playing will tell you how you have to play and where there’s a better advantage.

Doubling After Splitting (DAS): You can double down on a hand that you just split. Splitting happens when you are dealt two of same card (say, a 10 of hearts and a 10 of clubs), and you’re your choice if you want to split or just keep playing the hand as is.

Re-Splitting Aces (RSA): Some casinos will let you re-split your Aces after you’ve already split a pair of aces. If you receive another ace as the next card, you are permitted to split to a third hand up to a total of four hands. Even if the casino offers RSA, you are still only allowed to take one card on each ace. You usually can’t double after splitting an ace either.

6 to 5 Blackjacks: This means reducing the 3 to 2 payout for getting Blackjack down to 6 to 5. This increases the house edge, not yours. Even casinos that have this rule might not have it at every table. Make sure you read the rules at the live blackjack table – or on the screen in Ignition’s online casino – before you start assuming this rule goes one way or the other.

Single Deck versus Multi-deck: The house edge on blackjack gets higher for every deck you add to the game. Keep in mind though – often a single deck game may not allow doubling after splitting (or re-splitting Aces) and will have 6 to 5 blackjack payouts; meanwhile an 8-deck game might allow DAS, RSA, and have 3:2 Blackjacks – all of which lets you get closer the house edge.

Play Online Blackjack with Cryptocurrency

Using cryptocurrency to fund your online blackjack means no credit card complications, no banks to deal with, gives privacy, and saves you deposit or withdrawal fees. (Keep in mind the cost of “gas” for your crypto transfer, but this is usually very minimal).

Bitcoin blackjack sounds pretty good right? But we also permit more than just Bitcoin (BTC) to play with. Australian crypto casino players can also use Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Bitcoin SV (BSV), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), and USD Tether (USDT).

What Blackjack games can you play at Ignition Casino?

Now that you know how to play online blackjack in Australia, we’ll show you some other varieties that differ from the classic blackjack – just to keep you on your toes.

Single Deck and Double Deck are two types of blackjack that each have their own skill requirements. Card counters can test their skills here as the games are more straightforward than those with multiple-deck shoes.

European Blackjack is different from American blackjack, as the names alone suggest. You as the player make all your moves, including doubling and splitting, before the dealer even receives the second card (their hole card). The dealer is not required to stand on a soft 17 in the European version, while they must take another card in the American game.

Finally, Zappit and Perfect Pairs are fun and lighter variations of blackjack that will still get the adrenaline flowing.

Bottom line? Online blackjack is available 24/7 at Ignition Casino and you’ll always find a spot at the table.