Blackjack Manual
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Blackjack Basics
- 3. Getting Started
- 4. Usage
- 5. Settings
- 6. Advanced
- 7. About Blackjack
1. Introduction
Blackjack is a multiple deck, casino rules blackjack game. The object of the game is to hold cards having a higher count than those of the dealer without going over 21.
2. Blackjack Basics
- 2.1. Blackjack Terminology
- 2.2. Card Values
- 2.3. Dealer Rules
2.1. Blackjack Terminology
Here are a few important terms that are used in the game.
- Blackjack
-
A hand whose first two cards total 21; an instant win worth 150% of your wager
- Bust
-
When the value of a hand exceeds 21; a losing hand
- Double down
-
To double the initial wager and receive exactly one more card
- Hit
-
To request another card to be added to the hand
- Insurance
-
A side wager of 50% of the original wager that the dealer has a natural 21 (aka blackjack) that is offered when the dealer's face up card is an ace. If the dealer has a natural 21 then the player is paid double.
- Push
-
When the value of the player hand and the dealer hand are equal and the original wager is returned to the player
- Split
-
When a hand starts with two cards of the same value (or rank) it may be split to form two independent hands
- Stand
-
To stop adding cards to a hand
- Surrender
-
To give up half your wager to not complete the hand
2.2. Card Values
In blackjack, each card is assigned a value.
- An Ace can count as either 1 or 11.
- The cards 2 through 9 are valued as indicated.
- The 10, Jack, Queen, and King are all valued at 10.
The value of a hand is the sum of the values of each card in the hand.
2.3. Dealer Rules
The dealer must play his hand according to very specific rules. There are two basic rule variations that determine what hand total the dealer must draw to.
- Dealer stands on all 17s
-
The dealer must continue to draw cards (hit) until the hand total is at least 17.
- Dealer hits soft 17
-
The dealer must continue to draw cards (hit) until the hand total is at least 17, except when the dealer has a soft total of 17 he must take another card. A soft total is one where an Ace card is counted as an 11.
3. Getting Started
- 3.1. To Start Blackjack
- 3.2. When You Start Blackjack
- 3.3. Blackjack Menus
- 3.4. Blackjack Playing Area
3.1. To Start Blackjack
You can start Blackjack in the following ways:
- menu
-
Choose .
- Command line
-
To start Blackjack from a command line, type the following command, then press Return:
blackjack
3.2. When You Start Blackjack
When you start Blackjack, the following window is displayed.
The Blackjack window contains the following elements:
- Menubar
-
The menus on the menubar contain all of the commands you need to work with files in Blackjack.
- Toolbar
-
The toolbar contains a subset of the commands that you can access from the menubar.
- Statusbar
-
The statusbar displays information about current Blackjack activity and contextual information about the menu items.
- Playing area
-
The playing area contains the dealer position, player position, player wager stack, and the player's chips.
3.3. Blackjack Menus
The menu bar, located above the game table, contains the following menus:
-
This menu contains these items:
- — This clears the table and starts a new game.
- — This clears the table and restarts the game.
- — This will give you the computer's best suggestion for your move.
- — This quits the game.
-
This menu contains these items:
- — This toggle switches the tool bar on and off.
- — This opens the Preferences Dialog, allowing you to configure the game.
-
This menu contains:
- — Opens your help browser and shows this manual.
- — Opens the About Dialog, showing basic information about Blackjack such as its version number and the names of its authors.
3.4. Blackjack Playing Area
The playing area (or table), located below the toolbar, contains the following elements:
- Dealer position
This is where the dealer hand will be placed. It is located at the top of the playing area. On a clear table it will appear as a white outlined region.
- Player positions
This is where the player's hands will be placed. Initially, there will be only one player position. More will be created if the player splits a hand. On a clear table they will appear as white outlines below the dealer position.
- Player wager stack
The wager stack represents the initial wager on each hand. It consists of a stack of chips located directly to the left of each player position.
- Player chips
The player's chips represent an infinite stack of chips for each of the chip values 100, 25, 5, and 1. These chips are used to modify the wager.
4. Usage
- 4.1. To Set the Wager
- 4.2. To Deal a New Hand
- 4.3. To Add a Card to a Hand (Hit)
- 4.4. To Stop Taking Cards (Stand)
- 4.5. To Double Down
- 4.6. To Split Pairs
- 4.7. To Surrender
- 4.8. Get a hint
- 4.9. Keyboard control
4.1. To Set the Wager
To increase the wager for the hand:
- Double click on the player chip, located along the lower edge of the playing area, that you wish to add to your wager.
- Or, drag the desired chip onto your wager stack, located next to your hand.
4.2. To Deal a New Hand
A new hand can be dealt when the table is clear or when play has finished on the current hands.
To deal a new hand on a clear table, click in the white outlines that indicate the dealer or player positions.
To deal a new hand after play has finished on the current hands, click once on any of the cards on the table.
4.3. To Add a Card to a Hand (Hit)
You may add cards to a hand until the hand total is 21 or over.
To add a card to a player's hand, click once on any card in the hand.
4.4. To Stop Taking Cards (Stand)
You may stop taking cards at any time after the first two cards have been dealt.
To stop adding cards to a hand, click once on any other hand. For example, when there is only one player position (ie. you have not split a pair), click on the dealer's hand to stand. When you have split a pair, you may stand on the first player hand by clicking on the second player hand, or the dealer hand.
4.5. To Double Down
To double down, double click on any of the player chips after the first two cards have been dealt.
4.6. To Split Pairs
To split a pair, drag the top card of the hand off the player position and drop on any empty space on the table.
5. Settings
To configure Blackjack, choose . The Preferences dialog contains the following tabbed sections:
6. Advanced
6.1. Dealer Probabilities
When the Show dealer probabilities option is selected in the Game tab of the Preferences dialog, the exact probabilities of each possible outcome of the dealer's hand are displayed over the table surface, to the left of the dealer's hand. The probabilities range from zero to one, where zero means impossible and one means certain. These probabilities take into account all cards dealt from the shoe.
6.2. Player Expected Values
When the Show dealer probabilities option is selected in the Game tab of the Preferences dialog, the exact expected values (in percent of initial bet) of each available player option are displayed over the table surface, to the left of the dealer's hand. These values take into account all cards in your current hand and the dealer's face up card. For example, suppose the number displayed for standing is -12.345. This means that if you played out the current situation many, many times, standing each time, with a 1.00 initial wager, then on average you would lose 0.12345.
7. About Blackjack
Blackjack was written by William Jon McCann (<mccann@jhu.edu>).
To report a bug or make a suggestion regarding this application or this manual, follow the directions in this document.
This program is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public license as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. A copy of this license can be found at this link, or in the file COPYING included with the source code of this program.