Blackjack Picture Card Values
Blackjack is played with 1 to 9 decks of 52 cards each. The values of the cards correspond to their numerical value from 2-10. All face cards (Jack, Queen, King) count 10 and the Ace either 1 or 11, as the holders desires. A score with an ace valued as 11 is named soft-hand. Blackjack card values (Blackjack points) Cards in the range from 2 to 10 have the same number of points as their value. Face cards Jack, Queen, and King each have 10.
In order to understand how the best strategy is computed, lets have a look at the Blackjack rules. Blackjack is played with 1 to 9 decks of 52 cards each. The values of the cards correspond to their numerical value from 2-10. All face cards (Jack, Queen, King) count 10 and the Ace either 1 or 11, as the holders desires. A score with an ace valued as 11 is named soft-hand. A soft-hand score of 17 is denoted as 7/17.
The color of the cards does not have any effect.
I am implementing a little Black Jack game in C# and I have the following problem calculating the player's hand value. Aces may have a value of 1 or 11 based on the player's hand. If the player has three cards and one ace, then if the sum of the cards is value of 11, otherwise it will have a value of 1. Blackjack Card Values. In Blackjack an Ace can either have the value of 1 or 11, cards from 2 -10 have the same value as the card and all face cards (King, Queen, Jack) and 10 all have the value of 10. Below is a table with the card values used during a game of Blackjack. Directed by John Woo. With Dolph Lundgren, Kate Vernon, Phillip MacKenzie, Kam Heskin. Dolph Lundgren plays Jack Devlin, a U.S Marshal who protects high-profile clients when it comes to a matter of security.
The goal of the game is to reach a score (=sum of the cards) as high as possible but not more than 21. A Blackjack (Ace and a card whose value is 10) beats all other combination of cards. If the final sum is higher than the sum of the dealer, the player gets a play-off of 1:1 of his initial stake. If the players combination is Blackjack, the play-off is 3:2 of the initial stake. If the sum of the dealer is higher, the player loses his bet. If the sum is equal, then nobody wins. If the player holds a score of 22 or more, he busted and thus he loses his bet immediately. If the dealer busts, the players wins independently of his final score.
Blackjack can be played from one to seven players against one dealer. The dealer shuffles the cards. Now all the players must place their bets. Then each player and the dealer receives one card. The cards all lie face up. Thereafter the player receive a second card. The player now can continue to buy further cards, one by one, until he believes that he is near enough to 21. If the player believes to have reached a score high enough he must signalize the dealer to stay, which means not to ask for any further card.
Doubling down
The player has some more possibility's other than buy and stay. If he reached a score of nine, ten or eleven with his first two cards, he can double his bet. However if he does so, he will be dealt only one more card.
Splitting
If the first two cards are of the same value, the player has the possibility to split his hand, which means that each of the cards are used to start with a separate bet. For each split hand, an additional bet equal to the first is required. There is one exception: If the player splits two Aces, he receives only one more card and in such a case a score of 21 is not considered as Blackjack.
Dealers turn
Once the last player has decided to stay with his score, the dealer starts to draw a second card. If his result is reaching a score of 17 or more, he will deal himself no further cards. If the dealer has a score of 16 or less, he must draw until he has reached 17 or more. If the dealer exceeds 21, he busts. This is the basic knowledge You have: The dealer can not split nor double; he must play according to strict rules: Dealer must stand on all 17. That's the players advantage! On the other side, if both the player and the dealer busts, these scores are not considered as equal and the player looses his stake. That's the dealers advantage!
How to compute the correct strategy
Blackjack Picture Card Values Template
The analyst sees the shoe as black box which computes him a probability for drawing a card of a certain value. Say we have 6 decks of 52 cards, so the probability of drawing an Ace is 6*4/6*52 = 24/312 = 7.7%. The probability of drawing a second Ace without reshuffle is 23/311 = 7.4% and so on. As the game goes on without reshuffle, the probabilities to draw certain cards will raise or decline, depending on which cards have gone in the past. From our point of view the shoe behaves like a wheel of fortune with varying distances between the nails.
The first thing to do, is to calculate the probabilities of the dealers last hand. This computation is straight forward as the dealer has no way of doing any decision. So it is quit easy to find out the probabilities of his final score.
The next thing is to find out the probabilities of what would be if ... . If the players score is 16, what's the probability of achieving 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 or busting. Probabilities also have to be calculated for splitting and doubling.
Because the player knows the dealers first hand before deciding what to do, he can compare the probabilities of the dealers last hand against the probabilities of possible final scores for each intermediate score he has. With this comparison, winning expectations can be calculated, gaining information about the best playing strategy.
Knowing the best playing strategy and knowing the probabilities for each final score, the dealer and the player will reach, the total expectation can be calculated. The total expectation is the magic number playing Blackjack. If it is below zero the player has to place minimum bets as with this card distribution he will lose on the long term. If however the total expectation is above zero (unfortunately thats quite rare) the player has to place high bets.
Interpret the strategy tables
For each decision a player can do the best strategy can be computed. There are 20 possible conditions where the player has to take decisions. These are:
- Buy or stay if the score is 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 7/17 or 8/18.
- Double or buy, if the sum of the first two cards is 9, 10 or 11.
- Split, buy or stay, if the first two cards have the same value.
All these decisions depend upon the dealers first card, making a total of 200. There are some fundamental rules, which never change and must always be obeyed:
Counting Cards Blackjack Best Method
- Alway buy if the score is below 12.
- Always buy if the score is below or equal to 7/17. With a soft hand You can't bust, so there is no reason to stay if the score is 17 or less.
- Never buy if the score is 17 or higher.
- Never split 5-5. A score of 10 is a good point to start with, so use it.
- Never split X-X. A score of 20 is too good, to take any further risks.
- Never ever double a Blackjack.
For other decisions consult the expectation and probability tables computed on the Blackjack strategy pages.
Stakes height
The stake has to be placed before the player can see the dealers first card. So during that decision, very little information is available. The only information the player here, is the total expectation for the current card distribution in the shoe. If this is above zero, he shall place high bets.
Blackjack is one of the simplest and most fun casino games that you can play and today we are going to talk you through the basics so that you can enjoy all that this game offers. Blackjack makes for the perfect entry game when you visit a casino, it will get you started with your evening of gambling and it is a great way to relax your way into casino life. Whether you play in an actual casino or prefer to head to an online casino such as NetBet to play Blackjack, you can have a lot of fun and win some easy money with this game, let’s have a look at the basics that you will need to understand.
The Objective
Your objective when playing Blackjack is to have a higher score than the dealer without surpassing a score of 21 with your cards. The ultimate goal is what we call Blackjack, which is when you are given the first 2 cards and they add up to 21.
Values of Cards
The cards between 2 and 10 are worth their face value and the picture cards are worth 10 each. An ace can be worth 1 or 11 depending on how it best fits in with your hand and the choice is yours.
Playing the Game
To start you will be dealt 2 cards and the dealer will then proceed to ask you whether you wish to take one more as each round progresses. Remember that you are playing against the dealer so ignore what others are doing. If you think that you have a good hand then you will ‘stand’ and wait to see what the dealer has. When you request another card in your hunt for the elusive 21, this is called a hit.
Betting
The betting rules around Blackjack are super simple and win the majority of cases you will be betting at odds of 2/1. This means that if you bet $20 and win, you will get your stake back plus $20 from the dealer. If you have Blackjack first time then the house usually pays 2.5/1 which means that with your $20 stake you’ll walk away with $50. This is how the betting works in almost all casinos, but still check to make sure before you get started.
Some Jargon
Double Down – If you are super confident that you’ll beat the dealer after the first cards are dealt, you can increase your bet by double.
Split – When you have 2 cards of the same value you can split the hand, double your bet and then play with two hands.
Surrender – After receiving the first two cards you can surrender the hand and get half of your bet back if you aren’t happy with them. This often happens when people are dealt 16, which is a tricky place to start when you are trying to get 21.
Insurance – The dealer’s first card is visible to all players and if it is an ace there is of course a chance of Blackjack. In this situation you can buy insurance, which is essentially a side bet that the dealer will have Blackjack. Doing this can help you minimize your losses if Blackjack happens.
And there you have it, a very simple game which can provide hours of fun, and hopefully some profits!