Play the Best Online Blackjack Games

A Basic Introduction to Blackjack Card Games

When you play Blackjack, you’re playing a one-to-one game that is purely between you and the dealer. Although you may well see other people at the table depending on the type of Blackjack you’re playing, they’ll all be playing and placing bets between themselves and the Blackjack dealer just like yourself. This applies regardless of whether you’re playing Blackjack online with other online casino players around the world or at a physical table in a land-based casino where you can see the other players in the flesh.

Blackjack is a simple game to play and one that you can pick up easily within just a few minutes of starting off. However, when it comes to understanding the rules in detail, it’s worth studying them further as you’ll be at a serious advantage and in a much stronger position to beat the house if you do! On top of that, there are quite a few variations of the game so you can read up on all of them and see which one suits you best! No matter which version you choose, once you fully grasp the ins and outs of the game, you’ll be a Blackjack master in no time!

A Guide On How to Play Blackjack Online for Free

The goal of Blackjack is simple and can be summed up in one sentence: Players do their best to get a hand with a value that is either exactly 21 or closer to 21 than the hand of the dealer. Of course, how this is accomplished in practice requires more than a few stages depending on one’s familiarity with Blackjack rules and the cards that are dealt. Because of this, you are encouraged to try a classic online Blackjack game in play-for-fun mode to familiarise yourself with how it works.

Basic Online Blackjack Gameplay

Here are the general steps any Blackjack player will go through in a standard Blackjack online or offline game:

• As with any online casino game, the first step is to place your bet. (Depending on the type of Blackjack you are playing, more than one bet can be placed.)
• Once the game begins, you will be dealt two cards face up while the dealer will have one card face up and another face down.
• Based on the cards you can see (your own and the dealer’s), you generally have two options which are:
  • Hit: You request for another card to be added to your hand (every new card requested is called a ‘hit’ and you can choose to have as many cards as you want to be dealt to you until you either stop, get a total card value of 21 or have your total card value exceed 21 in which case you have lost the round which is called ‘going bust’)
  • Stand: You are satisfied with your current hand and would like to stick with it
• Once your last card has been dealt, the dealer will deal cards for their own hand according to rules that revolve around your hand.
• If your hand is closer to 21 than the dealer’s at the end of the dealer’s turn, you will win double your bet amount.

If the first two cards that you were dealt already equal 21 (for instance, you get an Ace and a King), you not only automatically win but also win back an additional 50% of your bet as part of your winnings. This hand is called ‘Blackjack’ and as you can guess, the round ends there without you having to choose whether to ‘hit’ or ‘stand’.

Rules Regarding the Dealer’s Hand in Blackjack

When a player is satisfied with their hand regardless of whether they’ve requested for extra cards or not, it is the dealer’s turn to act but all their actions are automatic and based on Blackjack rules. Things begin when the dealer turns their face-down card up to reveal the total value of their hand:

• If the total is 17 or more, they must ‘stand’.
• If the total is less than 17, they must ‘hit’ until the total is 17 or more at which point they must ‘stand’.
• If one of the dealer’s cards is an Ace and counting it as 11 instead of 1 would push the total to 17 or more but not over 21, the Ace must be counted as 11 and they must ‘stand’.

Additional Betting Options in Online Blackjack

Depending on the type of online Blackjack game being played, players will find that they have an extra choice or two they can make at various stages of any particular round.

• Double Down: Under certain circumstances such as if your hand’s total value is between 9-11, you can double your bet. (Please note that doing this will lead to you being dealt only one extra card and no more.)
• Split: If you have a pair of any card, you can choose to split them and create two separate hands. This will require placing another bet on the new hand; once you do, the two hands will be dealt one card each so they both have two cards like any normal starting Blackjack hand.
• Multi-Hand: In some online Blackjack games, you can immediately start playing a round of Blackjack with as many as five hands at once from the very beginning without having to get a pair of cards.
• Insurance: If the dealer’s face-up card is an Ace, you have the option to place a special bet called ‘insurance’. This bet will pay out if the dealer’s hand is revealed to be a ‘Blackjack’.
• Side Bets: Available in certain online Blackjack games, this option is, as its name suggests, a way for you to make additional bets unrelated to the hands that have been dealt. These include betting whether your initial hand’s total is more or less than 13 and the 21+3 side bet which involves a bit of poker knowledge.
• Surrender: This option which is only available in specific variations of online Blackjack allows you to give up and get half your bet back if your hand looks unfavourable to you.

Discover the Different Variations of Online Blackjack

Unsurprisingly, different versions of Blackjack have been invented over the years and are now played by fans of the classic card game all over the world. Below are some of the most popular variations and how they differ from one another:

• American Blackjack: The dealer’s hand is dealt first, and if the face-up card is an Ace the player can make an insurance bet before the dealer peeks at the face-down card. If that card results in a Blackjack, the round ends immediately with the player’s loss but the player gets a payout on their insurance bet if they made one.
• European Blackjack: The dealer’s face-up card is dealt first followed by the player’s two cards. This variation allows for doubling down and splitting under specific rules, and it’s only after the player has settled on their final hand that the dealer’s second card is dealt.
• Pontoon: This British version of Blackjack uses different terms and players must ‘twist’ (the Pontoon equivalent of ‘hit’) if their hand’s total value is less than 15. If both hands have the same value, the dealer wins even if the player has a Pontoon (in other words, Blackjack).
• Multi-Hand Blackjack: This is the variation of Blackjack which has the option to play several hands simultaneously as its main selling point.

Play Blackjack Online with Live Dealers

A large number of online Blackjack games are completely digital down to the ‘person’ dealing the cards, leaving some Blackjack fans feeling as if there is something missing from their favourite card game. Thankfully, the advancement of technology has enabled online casino players to play this classic table game with a live dealer regardless of where they are in the world.

These dealers handle real cards while standing at real tables and operate in shifts, ensuring that a live Blackjack game is always available no matter the hour in whichever country the player is from. Feel free to start a round of online Blackjack with live Blackjack dealers today.

Claim Online Blackjack Promotions and Bonuses

Players who love Blackjack will be pleased to know that EmuCasino has a special Live Casino Welcome Bonus that they can use on our live Blackjack games. This special promotion is also applicable to all of our other live casino games and those interested in similar bonuses can keep an eye out for future promotions that cater to our online Blackjack games.

Learn the Mysterious History of Blackjack

Online Blackjack is sometimes regarded as one of the easiest and most enjoyable online casino games to get into but the history of the game is not 100% clear. It is believed that Blackjack and its precursor which is simply called ‘twenty-one’ originated from France around the 1700’s.

However, the first written reference to the game under the name 'veintiuna' which is Spanish for twenty-one is in a short story by famous Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra which he wrote between 1601 and 1602. Beyond that, some state that its origins go even further back than that with variations of the game having been played as early as the days of the Roman empire.

Regardless of its true origins, Blackjack has evolved throughout the years and has now grown into what is undeniably a worldwide phenomenon. This is especially true thanks to the increasing popularity of online gambling and internet Blackjack which has made playing Blackjack online not just easier than ever but also possible in a live casino setting.