Blackjack Dealer

The dealer must play his hand in a certain way, with no other choices allowed. There are two popular rules that decide what totals the dealer must call to. In any casino, whether its online of landbased, you can tell which rule is in effect by looking at the tabletop of the blackjack table. It should be specifically labeled with one of the various rules of blackjack which are as follows. Make sure to sign up at one of our online blackjack bonus sites so you can test your blackjack knowledge:

• Dealer stands on all 17s": This is the most well known rule. In this rule, the dealer must continue to take cards until his total is 17 or greater. An Ace in the dealer's hand is always counted as 11 if possible without the dealer going over 21. For example, (Ace,8) would be 19 and the dealer would stop drawing cards ("stand").
• Also, (Ace,6) is 17 and again the dealer wil usually stand. (Ace,5) is only 16, so the dealer would call for another card. The dealer will continue to draw cards until the hand's total sum is 17 or greater. For example, (Ace,5,7) is only 13 so he hits again. (Ace,5,7,5) makes 18 so he would stop ("stand") at that point.
• Dealer hits on soft 17": Some casinos use this rule instead. This rule is the same except for what happens when the dealer has a soft total of 17. Hands such as (Ace,6), (Ace,5,Ace), and (Ace, 2, 4) are all examples of soft 17. The dealer usually calls for another card on these types of hands, and stands on soft 18 or higher, or hard 17 or higher. When this rule is used, the house advantage against the players is slightly increased. Again, the Blackjack dealer has no choices to make in the play of his hand. He cannot split pairs, but must instead simply call for another card until he reaches at least 17 or busts by going over 21.

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View other pages about blackjack:

Blackjack Card Values | Blackjack Deal of the Cards | Blackjack Dealer | What is Blackjack/Natural | Blackjack Surrender | Hitting or Standing in Blackjack | Doubling Down in Blackjack | Splitting Pairs in Blackjack | Insurance and Even Money | Online Blackjack | Online Blackjack Bonuses