Before a hand is dealt, each player who desires to be included in the deal must make a wager. Chips, also known as “checks,” are placed in a small circle on the table layout, or often over a miniature version of the casino logo. Bets must be equal to or greater than the posted table minimum, and not exceed the table maximum.
All original bets that become winning wagers are paid at 1:1, otherwise known as “even money,” with one exception: Blackjack pays 1 1/2:1 or 3:2.
Other bets that may occur during the course of a hand, such as splitting pairs or doubling down, are also paid at even money. As mentioned earlier, in most casinos a player may elect to double down “for less” - which still results in even money, or a payoff equal to the original wager plus a payoff equal to the lesser amount - should the player end up winning the hand.
A rare exception to either even money for winning or 1 1/2:2 for blackjack is 6 to 5 for blackjack, a rule now common on many single-deck games.
Keep in mind that playing free blackjack - unlike poker, for instance-players compete only against the house and not in any way against one another. Thus any given hand can have more than one winner.
Those are the three possible outcomes for any given hand. The player wins when his hand totals higher than the dealer’s, or when the player remains in the game after the dealer has gone over 21. Exceeding 21 in blackjack is a common occurrence by both player and dealer, and is generally referred to as “busting.” The player loses when his hand totals lower than the dealer’s, or when the player busts. Since all players must receive or decline additional cards before the dealer finishes his hand, a player loses if he busts and the dealer subsequently goes on to bust as well. Ties or “pushes” occur when both the player and the dealer end up with the same total, excluding the instance just mentioned - when first the player busts and then the dealer busts. In casino blackjack, a tie neither wins nor loses, whereas in most charity or home-dealt games, the player loses when ending with a total equal to that of the dealer’s.
While home games are generally played with one deck of cards, casino blackjack may involve using anywhere from one to eight decks simultaneously Be aware that some variations in the rules of the game do go hand-in-hand with the number of decks in use, but for the most part, the game is played the same way.
Although not a rule per se, one very obvious difference relating to the number of decks used is how the game is dealt. Single- and double-deck games are traditionally dealt face down, requiring the player to physically pick up his cards in order to total them. Shoe games, or those played with four, six, or eight decks, are dealt face up, meaning all player cards are visible to everyone at all times. And unlike in single- and double-deck blackjack, players aren’t allowed to physically touch the cards - even their own. For a number of reasons that will be discussed later in the book, multiple-deck blackjack has become far more popular than single- or double-deck blackjack. In fact, these days many casinos offer only the multiple-deck variety.
