In blackjack, the cards from 2 to 10 are counted at face value without taking the suit into consideration at all. All of the face cards have a value of ten equally. The ace is another matter entirely. This card can count as either one or eleven.

Going by these rules, a jack and a six for example would come out to 16. An ace and a six could either be 7 or 17.

In online blackjack, a hand that does not contain any aces is referred to as a Hard Hand since only one value can be assigned to it. A hand with an ace on the other hand is called a Soft Hand because of the possible variable value. If you have a soft hand and three of your cards total a number where the ace is counted as an eleven–and subsequently puts the total above 21–it then becomes a hard blackjack hand.

This is not to say that online blackjack is easy to win however. In fact it takes a special set of skills to be able play blackjack successfully, and long years of practice and experience is always helpful.
The objective of blackjack is really quite simple. This was made quite obvious in the title of the revolutionary book on blackjack called “Beat the Dealer!” Written by Edward O. Thorp and published in 1963, the title of the book left no doubt at all about what the object of blackjack really is.

Of course, this is easier said than done! Beating the dealer involves having your cards total higher than the dealer’s without going over 21. You should try to get as close to 21 as possible without going over, as this will constitute a “bust”. If you go over 21 then you automatically lose the game. If on the other hand the dealer busts and you manage to stay under 21, then you win. And that, in a nutshell, is what blackjack is all about!

To explain what such an action entails, consider that even the best players in the world who are prepared to blow a bankroll of $1000, can at best hope to make only a few dollars an hour by playing the game. Any more and they risk losing even larger sums of money. For most of us, it is simply more feasible to play the game for the fun of it. While there is no way to hit the big jackpot that way, it can certainly make your life much easier and the enjoyment gained from playing blackjack may prove to be enough of a reward.