Before learning any winning strategy, it's important that you familiarize yourself with the game of blackjack, as played in a casino, including all its rules, procedures, and options.
Blackjack is one of the easiest casino games to play. After an hour of practice with a deck of cards, following the procedures in this chapter, you will find that you can comfortably play blackjack in any casino. You cannot beat the game this easily, but the rules and procedures are simple enough that anyone could understand and play the game with this small amount of practice.

The Deal
The cards are dealt from the dealer's left to right, thus the designation of the first seat on the dealer's left as first base. The last seat is referred to as third base.
Blackjack was originally dealt from a single 52-card deck of standard playing cards. Many casinos now shuffle together anywhere from two to eight decks. If more than two decks are used, the shuffled cards are placed into a specially designed box on the table called a shoe, which facilitates dealing.

The object of the game is to get a total of 21, or as close to it as possible, without going over 21, or busting, and beating the total of the dealer's hand. Players do not play against each other, but rather against the dealer, who follows house rules in playing his hand. If a player and dealer tie, it is called a push, and neither wins. If the player busts, he loses even if the dealer busts.

In totaling the hands, cards valued 2 through 9 count exactly at their face value, while cards valued 10, jack, queen, and king each count for 10. The ace may count as either 1 or 11, whichever the player prefers.

A card's suit is irrelevant. Any two-card hand that consists of one ace and one ten-valued card is called a blackjack, or a natural, and is an automatic win, paid off at the rate of $3 to every $2 bet, or 1 1/2 to 1.

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