Blackjack lessons

The lessons in this track

1. 3.1Card values, soft and hard handsThe first thing a table asks you to know: what your cards add up to, and whether the ace among them can still be eleven.About 21 minutes
2. 3.2How a round goes, province by provinceBet, deal, your turn, the dealer’s turn, settlement — and the three lines where the published rules of three Canadian operators do not say the same thing.About 24 minutes
3. 3.3Hit, stand, double, split, surrenderThe five moves a blackjack table offers you, what each one buys, and when the table stops letting you make it — worked out for the rules published in B.C., Quebec and Ontario.About 20 minutes
4. 3.4Hand signals, chips and table mannersEvery move at a blackjack table is said with a hand or with a chip, and where the chip lands is the whole of the message.About 21 minutes
5. 3.5Why you act first, and what it costsWhere the house edge in blackjack comes from, priced hand by hand for the table rules BCLC publishes for B.C. casinos.About 23 minutes
6. 3.6When to hit or stand on a hard totalThe decision you face on most blackjack hands, worked out for the rules published by BCLC (the British Columbia Lottery Corporation) for B.C. casinos.About 23 minutes
7. 3.7Doubling down: a second bet on one cardA second bet that buys exactly one card: when the chart asks for it, how much the rules let you add, and what each call costs.About 22 minutes
8. 3.8Soft hands: the ace that can't bust youThe hands where an ace still counts as 11, and what to do with them at B.C. tables under the rules BCLC (the British Columbia Lottery Corporation) publishes.About 23 minutes
9. 3.9Pairs: when to splitSplitting a pair puts a second bet of the same size on the felt, so every pair is a question about money — answered here for the rules BCLC (the British Columbia Lottery Corporation) publishes for B.C. casinos.About 20 minutes
10. 3.10The whole chart and your printed cardThree tables on one page, and your own two cards decide which of them you read. The whole chart, the movement of the eye that finds one cell, and a card to print.About 22 minutes
11. 3.11The rules on the sign, and what they changeThe lines on the sign beside a blackjack table are the terms the hand is settled by, and one of them moves the cost of playing far further than the rest.About 21 minutes
12. 3.12Insurance and even moneyThe offer that comes with an ace showing: what the insurance line is a bet on, how much the rules let you put there, and what even money is.About 17 minutes
13. 3.13Side bets: the price per hourThe second bet beside the hand is a bet of its own, with a pay table of its own and a price of its own by the hour.About 17 minutes
14. 3.14Who pays for a "Free Bet" double or splitOn a “Free Bet” table the chips for some doubles and splits come from the table, and the same rules turn a dealer count of exactly 22 into a push.About 21 minutes
15. 3.15Spanish 21: a shorter deck and its own chartA shoe of 48-card decks, a set of moves and payments the plain game has not got, and a chart that disagrees with the one in your pocket.About 21 minutes
16. 3.16Card counting: what it is and isn'tWhat a running tally of the cards already dealt out of the shoe can say, what it cannot, and what the law and a casino each put in writing.About 18 minutes
17. 3.17Third base, hot tables and the table's moodThe seat at the end of the table, the table that is said to be running hot, and what a neighbour’s decision can and cannot do to your hand.About 16 minutes
18. 3.18Blackjack Switch: when to trade the second cardsTwo hands, one trade of their second cards, and a table that pays for the trade with an even-money blackjack and a dealer 22 that pushes.About 21 minutes
19. 3.19Zappit: trading a bad hand for two new cardsUnder its rule book, Zappit lets a hard 15 to 18 be handed back for the next two cards in the shoe, and charges for that trade by turning a dealer 22 into a push.About 23 minutes
20. 3.20Double Down Madness: one card, many doublesOne card to start, a chance to double again with every card after it, and a dealer total of 22 that pushes: the rules, the chart from one card, and what each table rule costs.About 23 minutes
21. 3.21Bahama Bonus: no tens, bonuses and redoublesA shoe with no tens and, at Fallsview, a double that can be doubled again or rescued, and payouts that a second bet on the hand takes away.About 30 minutes

What this track is for

Every figure in these lessons is worked out when the page is built, by the same engines as our tools, or comes from a source quoted on the spot. More on how we verify.

Nothing here is a way to win. The course explains what each game costs to play and what the rules on the table actually change, so that the money you take in is a decision and not a surprise.

Nothing you do in a practice table leaves your browser: what you answered is kept on this device and is sent nowhere. The course page lists what this device has saved.