Wizard Recommends
- €1500 Welcome Bonus
- €100 + 300 Free Spins
- 100% Welcome Bonus
On This Page
Basics of Blackjack Dealer Tells. Some people argue about whether or not dealer tells exist in blackjack, but the general consensus among skilled players is that casino dealers can be read. Of course, just like blackjack players, some dealers are worse than others, which means you’re more likely to read certain dealers better.
Introduction
For those who have never played a table game before, this section is for you. It will benefit everybody if you know the basics of gambling protocol before you sit down for the first time. Few things are more annoying than a beginner at a table who doesn’t know what to do and has to be told everything several times by the dealer. Before your first time at a table game ask if your casino offers gaming instructions. At specific times of the day many casinos will give a tour of all the major games, explaining the rules and how to play. Some casinos offer a designated table where people can play with play chips to get their feet wet. If none of these options are available, then I would suggest watching a game from behind for a few minutes before sitting down. Notice the procedure and when you sit down try not to disrupt it. Following are some pointers which you can learn now or learn the hard way:
Understand the rules before you sit down.
Buy or cash in chips between hands only. If you sit down while a hand is in progress, wait patiently for the conclusion of the hand then buy in. Use this time to get your money ready.
Know that red chips are $5, greens are $25, and blacks are $100. At the table you may ask the dealer to make change for a large denomination chip, but don't ask to exchange small denomination chips for large ones.
When you cash out, the dealers prefer for you to trade in smaller denominations of chips for large ones. Between hands, give the dealer neat stacks of chips and let him/her count them and change them in.
In some games the cards are dealt face up. If this is the case, never touch your cards.
If the cards are dealt face down, then only touch your cards with one hand only! If you break this rule you will almost always get a sharp rebuke. Be gentle with the cards; don't bend them or put drinks on them. Some players have tried to cheat by bending specific cards slightly, for example the aces, and the dealers have to guard against this. I’ve seen new players told repeatedly to only touch their cards with one hand. If you can't seem to break the two-hand habit then sit on one hand if you have to. In some games, like Caribbean Stud Poker, you may not even touch your cards until the dealer signifies that you may by turning on a light.
Never touch your bet once the first card has been dealt. Wait until after the hand is over.
Do not drink excessively. Much worse than a new player is a drunk.
Speaking as a non-smoker, if you must smoke please try to maximize the time between cigarettes. When you exhale do not do so in the face of other players or the dealer. When you are done with your cigarette please fully put it out, not letting it emit smoke from the ash tray. I respect your right to smoke, even at my table, but try to make it as painless for me as possible.
In blackjack do not rebuke another player for the way they play their hand. There is a mistaken belief that unnecessary hitting causes everyone to lose at blackjack. This is addressed in more depth in my blackjack FAQ.
Do not ask the dealer for advice. Dealers do not want to be blamed if you follow their advice and you lose so they will usually give a vague answer if you ask. An exception is pai gow and pai gow poker, where you may ask the dealer how he would play his hand according to the 'house way.'
Do not ask for pity if you have a bad hand, it happens to everyone. Numerous times I have seen a player hit a stiff hand in blackjack and get an additional small card but still be in the 12-16 point range. When this happens some players will often show their cards to the dealer, make a big sigh, and expect some sympathy for having to make another decision. Nobody cares about your hand but you, make a decision quickly and do not hold up the game.
Tipping is more open to your judgement than the other rules of etiquette. In my opinion you should tip 2/3 based on how friendly and helpful the dealer is and 1/3 on how much you are winning/losing. Even if you are losing you should still tip if the dealer has been trying to make the experience more fun.
Some games, especially blackjack, involve hand signals to signify how you want to play your cards. You must use hand signals, verbal instructions are not enough. Please know them before you sit down, it is very annoying when a new player has to be instructed over and over. Here are the hand signals in blackjack when the cards are dealt face up:
- Hit: Tap the table.
- Stand: Wave your hand, palm open, parallel to the table.
- Double/Split: Place your matching bet next to, never on top of, your original bet. If you have two fours or two fives, you should hold up one finger if you are doubling, and two fingers if you are splitting.
Here are the hand signals in blackjack when the cards are dealt face down:
- Hit: Lightly scrape the corner of the cards against the felt.
- Stand: Slide your cards under your bet. Do not lift your chips in the process.
- Double/Split: Place your cards face up on the table, just above your bet. Then place your matching bet next to, never on top of, your original bet. If you have two fours or two fives, you should hold up one finger if you are doubling, and two fingers if you are splitting.
If you bust then lay down your cards face up by your bet. Do not throw them in disgust, as it is very rude. If you can’t handle losing, then don’t play at all.
If you plan to play craps please visit my section on craps where I give specific craps etiquette suggestions.
Tipping
“Thou Shalt Tip” is one of my Ten Commandments of Gambling. This includes tipping dealers and cocktail waitresses. In my opinion dealers should be tipped 2/3 according to their service and 1/3 according to how much you are winning or losing. There is no firm social norm but I suggest about one half your average bet per hour. The smaller your average bet the greater the ratio of tip to bet should be. Cocktail waitresses should get $1 per drink, and water counts. I highly recommend CocktailDoll.com for more information on proper cocktail waitress etiquette. Tipping in electronic games, namely slots, video poker, and video keno, is a matter of much debate with no firm social norm. After discussing this with a number of experts in this area I think a good rule of thumb is to tip 0.5% to 1.0% on any jackpot requiring a hand pay. The smaller the jackpot the larger the percentage.
In an earlier edition of my etiquette tips I incorrectly said the player should only feel obligated to tip if the dealer is friendly and they are winning. Here is what some dealers had to say:
Love your page and agree with almost all your opinions I’ve read with the notable exception of tipping. As a person with years of experience dealing, I take exception to your advice in regards to not tipping unless you are winning. We dealers work just as hard for you regardless of your good fortune or, unfortunately more often, your bad. I, and most other dealers I know, feel that after any length of time at a table a tip should be offered occasionally even when losing. Now don’t get me wrong. If you were to sit down and lose continuously, obviously I wouldn’t think a tip would be forthcoming (I also think a change of tables, games, casinos or plans for the day would be in order). Since tips are given in return for a courteous service provided, tips shouldn’t be withheld based on gambling success.
Thank You, Dave
Here is what another dealer said:
I appreciate that you provided a rebuttal for your tipping policy. Playing at a table with a friendly efficient dealer and failing to tip because you didn’t win is the same as receiving good service from a restaurant and not tipping the wait staff because you didn’t like the flavor of the soup. The waitress and dealer serve, with the understanding that you will tip if the service is good, they don’t cook the food or decide the outcome of the game. If you can’t afford the food and the tip for the server, eat at home. If you can’t afford to gamble and tip the dealer, play at home. A tip is the price of the service, not tipping is stealing the service.
Brian
Casino Dealer
In the spirit of providing dealer comments here is another one:
I get so tired of being blamed for people losing, for being called names and for people getting so mad when they lose. I am also tired of dealing to drunk people. I work the graveyard shift and have for years now. I deal to intoxicated people often and it’s no fun at all. In my opinion, the best player is the one who comes for fun and has a good attitude. If my cards aren’t friendly, then move on to another table. We as dealers are teased a lot about being mean and taking people’s money and while a lot of it’s fun (we tease back too!!)....the player that gets too mad & frustrated because he’s losing shouldn’t be there at all!
S.R.
Biloxi Blackjack Dealer
Here are some more comments from a dealer about the etiquette of tipping:
I’m glad someone is curious about the topic of tipping. Dealers make minimum wage, plus tips. As dealers, we want all of the players to win so that they will come across with tips. Remember that pit bosses, hosts, and mangement want the players to lose because they are accountable for the “hold” to the owners (who give out bonus checks). The bottom line is that dealers are the only friends the players have when playing table games. It’s time for more players to treat dealers like friends. I can say with great confidence that less than 40% of the people who play blackjack tip the dealer. God bless the people who do tip!!!
Most casino dealers share tips, but the one I work for, and a few others keep their own tips. Players can always ask the dealer how tips are handled. Players will generally get better service in a casino where dealers keep their own tips. Regardless of which casino players are in, tipping is greatly appreciated because we depend on tips to survive. Being a dealer is much like being a waiter or bartender. Most people won’t go out to eat if they can not afford to tip the food server; the same should apply to gambling in casinos. We dealers call tippers “Live” or “George,” and we call non-tippers “Stiffs.” I don’t mind dealing to Stiffs as long as they don’t expect me to do anything but deal the game. There’s nothing worse than dealing to a table full of Stiffs who want to be catered to, entertained, and talked to for the entire hour, but none of them are courteous enough to tip. Most Stiffs just don’t know the etiquette of tipping because management doesn’t allow dealers to encourage players to tip. A George is a high-roller who hands out hundred, five hundred, and thousand dollar chips to dealers. Georges are rare, but they’re out there and are held in the highest regard by dealers. These are the players who make pit bosses wish they were still dealers. If a player wants to be considered Live, all they have to do is put the dealer up for .50 cents or a dollar on most hands they play (doesn’t seem like much, but it adds up quickly). Don’t hand the money in; bet it for the dealer. Players can ask the dealer how to bet the tip if they don’t already know. Players should definitely not wait until the dealer goes on break before they finally give a tip; this isn’t a cab ride, it’s per-hand service. Bottom line: Don’t be Stiff, be Live, and your casino experience is guaranteed to be much more enjoyable.
Chuck
Dealer
The following letter expresses another point of view regarding some of Chuck’s comments:
Dear Wizard,
After reading a posted letter from a Dealer (Chuck) in your Gambling Etiquette section concerning tipping, I had to comment on a few of his statements. I have been in the casino business for 14 years at 8 different casinos (all in the Table Games department) and am currently an Assistant Manager in Tucson, Arizona.
Although I agree with Chuck the Dealer that guests should tip Dealers, I don’t agree with the implied assumption that guests should tip all Dealers. Tipping, as you have pointed out, should be based on guest service. Most casinos in Arizona (as well as most of the west coast) are “keep your own” so we deal with the entitlement issue every day. Although our Dealers do very well, there are always some who are never happy with how much they make. These seem to be the ones who have the attitude that they are entitled to more, even though their guest service (or dealing) skills are less than acceptable. If a Dealer, like any other service industry employee, wants to improve their bottom line, they should work to enhance their guest service skills. Remember, as a Dealer, you are a front line employee and there for the guest.
I also don’t agree with Chuck’s statement, “I don’t mind dealing to Stiffs as long as they don’t expect me to do anything but deal the game.” As Table Games Management, we expect all Dealers to both deal their games to procedure as well as deliver excellent guest service regardless of the amount of tips they receive. I doubt Chucks employer would care much for his attitude. It sounds as though he is shooting himself in the foot--remember Chuck, all guests are potential tippers! Why would a guest tip you if you are doing nothing but “dealing the game?” Even though it’s an easy job, you still have to work.
Chuck is also quite misdirected with the statement that Pit Bosses, Hosts and Management want the guests to lose. On the contrary, we like nothing more than to see guests win and leave happy. It is not a question of wanting them to lose (remember, the odds are stacked in our favor). We don’t want the guest to lose--they will lose. Gone are the days of the “old school” casinos where they sweat the money and look at every guest as a potential cheat. The new casino attitude is not “us against them,” but “how can we make the guests experience more enjoyable?” As the Wizard can tell you, the numbers will take care of themselves.
Chuck mentions that Management does not allow Dealers to encourage players to tip, implying that we don’t want our Dealers to make money. Casino Management does not allow Dealers to ask for tips (or hustle, as in hustling for tips) for obvious reasons — we don’t want beggars dealing our games. Imagine how a guest would feel if their Dealer tried to “shame” them into tipping. I have never been to a restaurant and had the waiter/waitress tell me how to tip and how much I should give them for their service. As mentioned before, the guest should tip based on service and not because they were pressured into it by a greedy Dealer.
I’m very glad that the subject of tipping has come up on your website so that players can become more educated on how and why they should tip. I have never worked with anyone in casino management who does not want their front line employees to be successful financially. On the contrary, I want our Dealers to be successful! If they are making lots of tips that means that our guests are happy and enjoy their experience in our casino and with our staff. That also means they will return to our casino and not go to our competitors. In both a management and front line sense, that is job security!
Thank you,
G
Tucson
This section is dedicated to Brian Coppersmith, a decent gambler but a habitual violator of gambling etiquette.
Written by: Michael Shackleford
Blackjack is the best gambling game in most casinos. It’s easy to play, it’s usually cheap, and if you’re willing to put in a minimal amount of effort, you can face the lowest house edge in the casino. The purpose of this post is to teach you how to play blackjack for fun. Future posts will explain how to get more serious about your blackjack hobby.
What do I mean when I saw “play blackjack for fun?”
On a lot of websites, this means playing free games on the internet. You don’t risk any money in such games, but you also don’t have the opportunity to win money.
I don’t think gambling with nothing on the line is much fun at all, though. I’d like to redefine that idea in this post. When I suggest that you should learn how to play blackjack for fun, I mean you should play for real money.
But I also think it implies playing without the goal of earning a living or getting too serious about getting an advantage over the casino. In other words, you’re treating the game as entertainment—which, frankly, is how you should treat every casino game.
I’m assuming you’re brand-new to the game, too. So, I’m going to explain the game and how to play.
The Object of the Game of Blackjack
The object of the game of blackjack is to beat the dealer, not the other players. There might be anywhere from 0 to 6 other players at the table, but what they do doesn’t matter. You only care about your total score versus the dealer’s total score.
The dealer represents the casino. All the players at the table compete against the dealer to determine if they win or lose money. This makes blackjack a fundamentally different game from poker, where you play against the other players at the table. (Casinos now offer house-banked poker games, too, and these games have more in common with blackjack than poker, in my opinion.)
A lot of writers focus on the importance of having a higher score than the dealer. The reality is that many times the best strategy for winning at blackjack is to just avoid busting. This distinction is more important than it sounds, too.
Blackjack is a “comparing game” where you get a 2-card hand to begin with that’s worth a certain number of points. You have the option to get additional cards and increase the point value of your hand. The dealer also starts with a 2-card hand that’s also worth a certain number of points.
If your total number of points is higher than the dealer’s, you win. If you get 22 or more points during a hand, you lose immediately. (That’s what “busting” or “going bust” means.) If the dealer gets 22 or more points, and if you’re still in the game, the dealer automatically loses.
I’ll go into more detail about how those points are determined and how the hand plays out later in this post. First, though, I want to discuss some of the basic mechanics of game-play.
How the Cards Get Shuffled in a Blackjack Game
Blackjack used to be dealt from a single standard deck of 52 cards. You can still find some blackjack games dealt from a single deck, but it’s more common to face a game that uses multiple decks. A blackjack game can be dealt from 1-deck, 2-decks, 4-decks, 6-decks, or 8-decks. Theoretically, you could use more decks than that, but the casino has little incentive to do so.
The dealer is the casino employee who’s responsible for shuffling and dealing the cards to both himself and to the players. The way the cards are shuffled varies based on how many decks are in use. In single deck and sometimes double deck games, the cards are manually shuffled by hand. This process is similar to how you’d shuffle the cards at home if you were playing cards with your buddies on a Thursday night.
Once you start dealing with more than 2 decks of cards, shuffling by hand becomes more unwieldy. Casinos use machines to shuffle cards, too. There are 2 types of machines used to shuffle decks. The more common of these is just an automatic shuffler. The machine shuffles the cards, a cut card is inserted randomly in the shuffled cards, and when the dealer gets to the cut card, it’s time to shuffle again.
The other type of shuffling machine used by casinos is called a “continuous shuffling machine.” In a game which uses this type of shuffler, discards are just fed back into the shuffler throughout the game. Some casinos like continuous shuffling machines because they eliminate the possibility of a card counter getting an edge over the casino. Such machines also enable the dealer to deal more hands per hour. The more hands per hour, the more opportunity the casino’s house edge has to drain the player’s money.
These details of how the cards get shuffled in blackjack might seem minor. And for the “just for fun” player, they are minor.
But blackjack actually becomes more fun as you get more advanced in your understanding of the game. You’ll see that, as you continue your education, the means of shuffling has a big effect on how the game of blackjack actually gets played.
Blackjack Betting
Before you can get a hand of blackjack, you must place a bet. And before you can place a bet, you must buy chips from the dealer. The first thing you need to know about buying chips is that you can’t buy them while a hand is being played. Wait until the current game wraps up before trying to buy chips in a blackjack game.
You’ll notice, if you look, that most blackjack tables have a sign posted on them indicating the betting limits for the table. This sign will list the minimum and maximum bet sizes at the tables. It’s important to pay attention to these limits. If you’ve seen the movie Swingers, you probably remember the scene where Vince Vaughn’s character has only $300 to gamble with, but he buys in at a $100 minimum table, so he only gets 3 chips.
Most casinos in Las Vegas have tables with minimums as low as $5, but you can find some casinos with limits as low as $1 or $3 per hand. Maximum bets per hand can be much higher, depending on the casino. Some casinos have posted maximum bets of $10,000 per hand. High rollers can negotiate higher per-hand limits, too.
When you buy your chips from the dealer, you lay your money on the table. You do not try to hand the money directly to the dealer. This is a procedure instituted to prevent cheating and collusion. Casinos have cameras in the ceiling which monitor the action from above. They can see money laid on a table, but they can’t see what happens when a dealer’s hand and a player’s hand come together.
Before you can get a hand of blackjack, you must place a bet. There’s a small circle or rectangle on the felt of the table in front of you. Your chips go inside that circle or rectangle. If the table isn’t full, you’re allowed to play multiple hands at once. You must place a separate bet for each hand.
You can change the size of your bet every hand if you want to. This is the primary way card counters get their edge over the casinos, by the way.
Once all the players have posted their bets, the dealer deals the cards, as follows:
How the Cards Get Dealt in a Blackjack Game
The dealer starts with the player on his left and deals every player a card, one at a time. In single deck games, these cards are dealt face-down, except for the dealer’s hand, where the first card is usually dealt face-up. In games being dealt from a show—the box that holds the cards in a multi-deck game—the cards are dealt face-up. The dealer always gets his card last.
Once everyone gets their first card, the dealer starts over again with the player to his left, and he deals everyone a 2nd card. When the deal is done, every player has 2 cards, and so does the dealer. The players’ cards are either both face-down or both face-up, but the dealer always has one card face-up and one card face-down.
After the betting and the deal, the players get to make their decisions about their hands. The dealer then “makes his decisions” about how to play his hand. (I put that in quotes because the dealer doesn’t really make decisions; he must play his cards according to the rules specific to that casino.)
Blackjack Card Values and Being Dealt a “Natural”
As I mentioned earlier, blackjack is a comparing game where each hand has a point total. The game is resolved when someone goes bust (scores 22 or higher) or when the dealer’s total is compared to the player’s total.
The point values for the cards in blackjack are easy to remember. The numbered cards have point values equal to their ranking. The 2 of spades is worth 2 points. The 3 of hearts is worth 3 point. The suit doesn’t matter, just the ranking of the card.
The face cards—the jack, queen, and king—are worth 10 points each.
Aces are worth 1 point or 11 points, depending on what would be better for the player
If your hand has a total of 21 points on the 1st 2 cards, you have a “blackjack” or “natural.” This hand is an instant, automatic winner—unless the dealer also has a natural. If you win with a natural, in most blackjack games, you get a 3 to 2 payout. In other words, for every dollar you bet, you win $1.50. A $5 bet wins $7.50 on a natural. A $100 bet wins $150 on a natural.
If you and the dealer both have a natural, the bet is considered a “push,” which is the same thing as a tie. You don’t win any money, but the casino doesn’t, either. You just get your original bet back.
If the dealer has a natural, any player who doesn’t have a natural loses immediately. The players don’t even get to play their hands.
If you don’t have a natural, and if the dealer doesn’t have a natural, which is most of the time, you get to play your hand. This means deciding whether to take more cards or not. I cover those decisions in the next about strategy.
Dealer Strategy vs Player Strategy
You have only a handful of decisions in blackjack, but that’s more than in most casino games, where your decisions don’t matter. As in all casino games, your 1st decision in blackjack is how much you want to bet.
The more important decisions have to do with whether you take additional cards in your hand. The 2 basic decisions in blackjack are these:
- Hit – To hit is to ask for one additional card from the dealer.
- Stand – To stand is to decide to take no more additional cards and go with the total you have.
You do have other possible decisions, but these are really just variations on hitting. These include:
- Double down – You double down by doubling the size of your bet. You get one additional card, no more, no less.
- Split – You can only split a hand in blackjack if you’ve been dealt 2 cards of the same rank. When that happens, you can put up a 2nd bet, and play 2 hands instead of one. Each of the 2 cards you were dealt becomes the starting card for a new hand. You then play out each of these 2 new hands normally. You could win both of them, neither of them, or win one and lose the other. They’re totally independent hands.
- Surrender – If you really hate your hand as compared to the dealer’s, you can just drop out, similar to folding in poker. You only have to forfeit half your bet when you surrender, which saves you some money when you feel like you have almost no chance of winning.
The decisions that you make are your strategy, and they can vary based not only on the cards you’re holding, but also on the value of the dealer’s face-up card. Mathematicians, by the way, have calculated the mathematically optimal decision for every situation in blackjack. They call this basic strategy, and it’s easier to learn than you might think.
The dealer has a “strategy,” too, but it’s based on the house rules of the casino. The dealer must follow the prescribed strategy, regardless of what kinds of totals the players at the table might hold. His strategy is based exclusively on his total.
Blackjack Dealer Training
If the dealer has a total of 17 or higher, he must stand. If the dealer has a total of 16 or lower, he must hit. That’s it for the dealer, with one subtlety.
A hand with an ace in it is considered a “soft hand.” The ace counts as an 11, but if you hit such a hand and get a high card, you can consider that ace to be worth 1. This prevents you from going bust.
Free Blackjack For Fun
In some casinos, the dealer must hit a soft 17. In others, the dealer must stand on all totals of 17.
The order of play is simple, too. The players play their hands 1st. If they bust (get a total of 22 or more), they immediately lose their bets.
If they have a total of 21 or less after taking their actions, they have a showdown with the dealer after he plays his hand. If the player gets closer to 21 than the dealer, the player wins even money.
And if the dealer busts, the player automatically wins—assuming he didn’t bust before the dealer played his hand.
This, by the way, is where the house gets its edge in blackjack. The players must play their hand 1st, so they lose their bet when they busts EVEN IF the dealer also busts later in the hand.
Conclusion
What Is A Blackjack Tree
And that’s how to play blackjack for fun. It’s really not a complicated game at all. In fact, most casino dealers are friendly and will help you figure out what you should do and when you should do it.
I think, though, that blackjack becomes more fun when you learn more about the intricacies of play. The first step is to memorize basic strategy—the mathematically optimal way to play every hand. The next step is to learn how to count cards, which is easier than you think.
Future posts will deal with these subjects, too. For now, go have some fun playing blackjack. You’re facing some of the best odds in the casino when you do.
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.