Blackjack

Players and equipment

Two to eight players, one or more standard 52-card decks shuffled together, and chips. One player holds the bank: they deal, play the dealer's hand and take the other side of every bet at the table. Everybody else plays against the bank, never against each other.

SquareScores is the chip ledger for the game. It deals nothing and never sees a card: after each hand the dealer taps how every bet went, and the app pays it out and keeps every stack. The host chooses how the bank moves — round the table every few hands, or staying with one player for good.

The deal

Before any card is dealt, every player except the dealer puts out a bet of at least the table's minimum. The dealer gives everybody two cards face up and themselves one face up and one face down — the hole card.

Cards count their face value, picture cards count 10, and an ace counts 1 or 11, whichever is better for the hand. A hand holding an ace counted as 11 is soft; a hand of 17 made with an ace as 11 is a soft 17.

Play

An ace and a ten-card in your first two cards is a blackjack, or a natural. If the dealer's face-up card is an ace or a ten, they check the hole card for a natural before anybody plays.

Otherwise each player in turn, starting on the dealer's left, plays their hand:

Hit

As many as you like

Take another card

Stand

Your hand is done

Take no more cards

Double

First two cards only

Double your bet and take exactly one more card

Split

Dealt a second card each

Two cards of the same rank become two hands, each with its own bet

Go over 21 and you have bust: your bet is lost at once, whatever the dealer does afterwards.

When every player has finished, the dealer turns the hole card and plays by the house rule, with no choice at all: hit on 16 or less, stand on 17 or more. If the dealer busts, every player still in wins.

Scoring

Each bet is settled against the dealer's hand:

Win

Even money

Your total is closer to 21 than the dealer's, or the dealer busts

Blackjack

3 to 2

Your first two cards are a natural and the dealer's are not

Push

Your bet back

You tie with the dealer

Lose

Your bet to the bank

You bust, or the dealer is closer to 21

Double

×2

The result is paid, or lost, on twice the bet

The dealer's natural beats every hand but another natural, which pushes. A split ace and a ten is 21 and not a blackjack, and pays even money.

A worked hand

Ben holds the bank. Alice bets 20, Cara 10 and Dan 30.

Alice

Loses 20

10 and 6, hits a 9 for 25 — bust

Cara

Wins 15

Ace and king — a natural

Dan

Wins 60

5 and 6, doubles to 60 and draws a 10 for 21

Ben, the dealer

Pays out 55

10 in the hole under a 7: stands on 17

Alice bust before the dealer played, so her 20 went to the bank at once. Cara's natural paid 3 to 2 on her 10. Dan's 21 beat the dealer's 17 on a doubled bet. Ben took 20 and paid 15 and 60, so the bank is down 55, and the four lines add up to nothing: every chip one player won, another lost.

Ending

The bank passes on when the table's rule says — after a set number of hands, or never — and the game ends when the table cashes out. Whoever is up the most chips from their hands wins; buying back in is not winning.

Basic strategy

Every hand has a right answer, worked out long ago: the play that loses least over a lifetime. The short version: always stand on hard 17 or more. Stand on 12 to 16 when the dealer shows 2 to 6, because the dealer is likely to bust; hit on 12 to 16 when the dealer shows 7 or higher. Double on 11, and on 10 unless the dealer shows a 10 or an ace. Always split aces and eights; never split tens or fives.

Why the dealer's card matters

The dealer must hit to 17 and cannot stop earlier, so a dealer showing a 4, 5 or 6 busts close to half the time. Against those cards, do nothing risky and let the dealer go over. A dealer showing 7 or better will usually finish with 17 or more, so a hand of 15 is losing unless you improve it, and hitting is worth the risk.

Holding the bank

The bank's edge is that players act first: a player who busts has lost even if the dealer busts afterwards. That is the whole house advantage, and at a kitchen table it goes round the table with the bank. So a bank that stays with one player for good is a bank with an edge; rotating it every few hands is the fair way to play among friends.

Bet sizing

Bet the same most of the time. Chasing a loss by doubling the bet is the quickest way to an empty stack, and a doubled bet is best kept for the doubles the cards give you: an 11 against a weak dealer card.

Dealer hits soft 17

Some tables make the dealer hit a soft 17 — a 17 with an ace counted as 11 — instead of standing. It helps the bank a little. Agree it before the first deal.

Surrender

Some tables let a player give up a bad hand after the first two cards and take back half the bet. SquareScores has no button for it: enter the hand as a loss on half the stake.

Insurance

When the dealer shows an ace, a player may bet up to half their stake that the dealer has a natural, paid 2 to 1. It is a bad bet over time and most kitchen tables skip it. The app does not carry side bets.

Pontoon

The British cousin: the dealer's cards are both face down, you twist rather than hit and stick rather than stand, five cards without busting beat anything but a pontoon, and a player's natural takes the bank. It is its own game, and the scoring differs.

Who is the dealer in blackjack at home?

One of the players. They hold the bank, deal, play the dealer's hand by the fixed rule and pay or collect every bet. At a casino the house is the bank; at a kitchen table a person is, and passing the bank round the table every few hands is what keeps the game fair.

Does blackjack pay 3 to 2?

A natural — an ace and a ten-card in your first two cards — pays 3 to 2: a bet of 10 wins 15. Every other win pays even money, and a tie is a push, so your bet comes back and nothing changes hands.

What happens if the dealer and a player both have 21?

It is a push: the player's bet comes back. The one exception is a natural. A player's blackjack beats a dealer's 21 made in three or more cards, and a dealer's blackjack beats a player's three-card 21.

When does the dealer stop drawing?

At 17. The dealer hits on 16 or less and stands on 17 or more, with no choice either way. Some tables also make the dealer hit a soft 17; agree it before the first deal.

Can you double after splitting?

At most tables, yes: each split hand is played as a new hand, and you may double on it. Split aces are the usual exception — one more card each, and no hitting or doubling after.

How does SquareScores keep score?

As a chip ledger. Everybody buys in with the table's starting chips; after each hand the dealer taps how each bet went — win, lose, push or blackjack, doubled or split — and the app moves the chips, with the bank taking the other side of every bet. The result at the end is what each player won or lost at the table, not the size of their stack.