IF a dealer can hit until hard 17 and they are dealt a soft 17, they must take another card. A soft hand is one that contains an ace, so a “soft 17” is an ace plus a 6. Sometimes, rules talk of “soft 17” or “hard 17”. They usualy involve a hand of 17, requiring that dealers hit to 17, and stand on any hand of 17 or more. These rules govern when the dealer can stand and when they can hit. Dealer handĭealers are bound by a few key rules that usually work in the player’s favor. Players can also get blackjack with three or more cards, but because there is risk involved in trying to get such a hand, a natural blackjack is obviously preferred. If the dealer also has natural blackjack, this would result in a tie, also called a “push”, and the player’s original bet is returned. Unless the dealer also has a natural blackjack, the player wins. If a player is dealt this hand, then the hand is immediately compared with the dealer’s hand.

This consists of an Ace plus a second card worth 10 (either a 10 or a face card).

The best of all blackjack hand values to have is the “Natural Blackjack”.

One goal of blackjack is to get a hand as close to 21 as possible, but the main goal is to get a better hand than the dealer who is also trying to get to a value of 21 without going over. These are the blackjack card values used in almost all blackjack game variations:

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