Even people who have never once walked into a casino are likely to have heard of high stakes blackjack. It is a classic card game often associated with the glamorous gangs of the 1920s through 1940s, though it has increased in popularity since then and become a mainstream game played outside of casinos as much as in them. Blackjack is also known as 21, the more pedestrian term for the game. This is after the basic idea of the game.
Playing A High Stakes Game
When playing blackjack, a contingency of non-cooperating players, anywhere from a single high roller blackjack player to seven independent players, sit at a table facing a dealer. Technically, the game is played between the player and the dealer, though the dealer has no control over his aspect of the game. The player is dealt an initial hand of two cards from a standard 52-card deck. He then evaluates these cards for value and is given the option of drawing more cards. Wagers have been placed in betting boxes on the semi-circle shaped blackjack table. These may be just a few dollars for low-end games, to several hundred or even thousands in the case of high stakes blackjack.
Though it is possible for several people to place bets at one playing position, only one player is permitted control over that particular position's play. Others are simply betting on that hand, and depend on the controlling player to be successful. Rules state that a player may be in control of as many hands at a single table as he wishes, or place bets at as many places at a single table as he wishes, but that he may not play or bet at multiple tables at one time.
For each round of play the players are permitted to request additional cards to add to their hand, which is visible to everyone. The object of the game is to get your hand as close to 21 without going over in the hopes that you will beat the dealer's hand by either being closer to 21 or by him going over 21 with his own hand.
Though it sounds like a very straightforward concept, the game can be very confusing with all of the rules and moves that comprise it. Some people have mastered the game, even going so far as to make their primary living off of playing high limit blackjack. It takes enormous strategy and nerve to be a professional gambler, but once you have gotten the system down, you can be exceptionally successful. Some incredibly brilliant people have learned techniques of counting cards and using probability in order to consistently win, much to the displeasure of casino owners.
