Blackjack

The casino's first table, laid with green clay felt and dealt from a four-deck shoe by a croupier who never hurries. The chips are play chips: the house gives you a hundred when you are under a hundred, nothing here is money, and nothing here can be bought. Your balance carries across the casino and onto the leaderboard.

How it plays

Pick a table. The five-dollar table is always open; the twenty-five and the hundred open when your balance reaches two hundred and fifty and a thousand. Pick a stake, from the table's minimum up to ten times it, and Deal. You and the dealer get two cards each, one of the dealer's face down. Hit to take another card, Stand to hold, Double on your first two cards to double the stake and take exactly one more, or Split a pair into two hands for a second stake. Twenty-one on the first two cards is a blackjack and pays three to two.

The dealer draws to seventeen and stands on every seventeen, soft or hard. A win pays even money, a push gives your chips back, and going over twenty-one loses before the dealer plays. Split aces take one card each.

Tips

Stand on seventeen or more. Stand on twelve to sixteen when the dealer shows a six or less, and hit them when the dealer shows a seven or more. Double on eleven, and on ten unless the dealer shows a ten or an ace. Always split aces and eights; never split tens. That is most of basic strategy, and the house edge is small when you follow it.

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