How to play blackjack...taken
from William Hill
In Blackjack,
you and the dealer (the computer) are dealt two cards to start.
The objective of Blackjack is to accumulate cards that add
up closer to 21 than that of the dealer, without going over
21. Cards are worth their face value with the exception of
Kings, Queens, and Jacks which are each worth 10 and Aces
which are worth either 1 or 11. If the value of your hand
is closer to 21 than that of the dealer you win. If the value
of the dealer's hand is higher than yours you lose. If the
hands are of equal value the deal is a push and your money
is returned. If you have a total of 22 or higher (a busted
hand), you lose regardless of whether the dealer also busts.
Summary Of Rules
8 52-card decks are used
The deck is re-shuffled after each hand
Dealer stands on all soft 17s
Doubling after splitting allowed
No re-splitting of cards allowed
No surrender
Only one additional card allowed on each ace when splitting
a pair of aces
How To Play
William Hill Casino Blackjack is played with eight fifty-two
card decks. After each game has been played, the used cards
are shuffled back into the deck. All face cards are valued
at ten and the cards from 2-10 are valued as indicated. Aces
can be valued at either one or eleven; if counting the ace
as eleven would put the hand over twenty-one, the ace is automatically
counted as one instead. You do not need to specify which value
the Ace has as it's always assumed to have the value that
makes the best hand. The value of a hand is the sum of the
values of the individual cards. For example, a hand containing
a Jack, 3, and 4 has a value of 17.
Your chips are stacked by denomination
(£1, £5, £25, £100, £500) at
the bottom of the screen. Select the amount you would like
to wager on a given hand by clicking the left mouse button
on the chip of that denomination. The amount wagered per hand
may be increased or decreased by placing the mouse on the
stack that you wish to add or subtract to your bet. Each time
you click the left mouse button you will add a chip from that
pile to your planned wager amount. Likewise by clicking on
the right mouse button you can decrease your planned wager
amount. You may repeat your last bet by simply hitting the
0 button of your numeric keyboard. Other keyboard shortcuts
are summarised below.
You begin a hand of blackjack by placing
a bet on the table as described above. You will then receive
two cards face up. The dealer will receive one card face up
and one face down. Once you have been dealt your two cards
(and based on the nature of these cards) you can do the following
by clicking with the left mouse button on the appropriate
button :
Hit
Requests another card. You can request a hit as many times
as you like, but if your total goes over twenty-one, you will
Bust and lose the hand.
Stand
Requests that you receive no more cards. The hand as it currently
stands will be judged against the dealers.
Split
If you have two cards of the same denomination, a Split button
will appear. You can split your cards into two hands and play
each hand separately. Your original bet will be duplicated
for the new hand, and each hand will be played out as usual.
A pointing finger will appear over each hand indicating which
hand is active. The split option can only be used once per
hand - you cannot split part of a split hand.
Double
If you select this option, two things will happen; you will
get exactly one more card, your turn will end, and your bet
will be doubled.
Insurance
Whenever the dealer's up-card is an ace, the player has an
option of taking insurance. The player may opt to take insurance
by clicking on the Insurance button. If you do not wish to
take insurance, you may simply click on one of the other buttons
(Hit, Double Down, Stand etc.) to proceed with the rest of
the hand. If the player believes that the dealer's down-card
is a 10 ranking card, then the player is permitted to place
a side bet of half the original wager as insurance. If the
dealer does have a 10 ranking card, the player is immediately
paid 2-to-1 on the insurance bet, but the original wager is
lost unless the player too has a blackjack and pushes with
the dealer. Here the player is simply betting that the dealer's
unseen card is a 10 valued card.
Payout
| Result |
Payout |
| Winning Hand |
1 to 1 |
| Blackjack |
3 to 2 |
| Insurance |
2 to 1 |
Betting Limits
£1 minimum bet
£1500 maximum bet
Basic Blackjack Strategy Table
Basic blackjack strategy is defined as the proper play of
cards knowing only your hand and the dealer's exposed card.
It does not involve card counting (an advantage lost in playing
William Hill Casino with 8 decks reshuffled after each hand)
or remembering which cards were played previously. The basic
blackjack strategy is created through intensive computer simulations
which perform a complete combinatorial analysis. In this method,
the computer 'plays' tens of thousands of hands for each BlackJack
situation possible and statistically decides which decision
best favours the player.
Basic strategy is usually printed as tables
with the dealer's upcard the first row and your two card combination
the first column. The other entries in the table tell you
what to do (Stand, Hit, Double-Down, Split) with the different
combinations of dealer and player's hands. Basic blackjack
strategy tables for William Hill Casino rules (8 decks, dealer
stands on soft 17, double-down on any two cards, double after
split allowed, no re-splitting of cards allowed, no surrender)
are shown below for hard totals, soft totals, and pairs along
with a legend.
Legend :
S - Stand
H - Hit
D - Double
Y - Yes, split
N - No, don't split
Hard Totals -- Dealer's Upcard
| Your Cards |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
A |
| 17 |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
| 16 |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
| 15 |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
| 14 |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
| 13 |
S |
S |
S |
S |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
S |
| 12 |
H |
H |
S |
S |
S |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
| 11 |
D |
D |
D |
D |
D |
D |
D |
D |
D |
H |
| 10 |
D |
D |
D |
D |
D |
D |
D |
D |
H |
H |
| 9 |
H |
D |
D |
D |
D |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
| 8 |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
Soft Totals -- Dealer's Upcard
| Your Cards |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
A |
| (A,9) |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
| (A,8) |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
| (A,7) |
S |
D |
D |
D |
D |
S |
S |
H |
H |
H |
| (A,6) |
H |
D |
D |
D |
D |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
| (A,5) |
H |
H |
D |
D |
D |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
| (A,4) |
H |
H |
D |
D |
D |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
| (A,3) |
H |
H |
H |
D |
D |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
| (A,2) |
H |
H |
H |
D |
D |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
Pairs -- Dealer's Upcard
| Your Cards |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
A |
| (A,A) |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
| (10,10) |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
| (9,9) |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
N |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
| (8,8) |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
| (7,7) |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
N |
N |
N |
N |
| (6,6) |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
N |
N |
N |
N |
| (5,5) |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
| (4,4) |
N |
N |
N |
Y |
Y |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
| (3,3) |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
N |
N |
N |
N |
| (2,2) |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
N |
N |
N |
N |
Numeric Keyboard Shortcuts
| Keyboard Entry |
Action |
| 0 |
Repeat Last Bet |
| 1 |
Bet on Player Hand |
| 2 |
Bet on Banker Hand |
| 3 |
Bet on Tie |
| Up Arrow |
Increase Bet By £1 |
| Down Arrow |
Decrease Bet By £1 |
| <Shift> Up Arrow |
Increase Bet By £10 |
| <Shift> Down Arrow
|
Decrease Bet By £10 |
