Movie Style Guy: Stay on 17

Posted by Robert Fure (robert@filmschoolrejects.com) on March 27, 2008

Hello friends. The more attentive among you may have noted my absence last week, but never fear, the Movie Style Guy has returned. And today, I’m teaching you how to run the house. Sort of. Ok, not really. The deck is still stacked against you, but in honor of 21 we’re going to quickly go over the rules of the game.

Objective

The whole point of blackjack is to win money. Ha! How you do that is by either getting your cards to add up to 21 or by being closer to 21 than the dealer. Sounds simple, right? Well, it is. And it isn’t.

The Cards

Simple – every numerical card is the value it shows. A 2 of clubs counts as 2 and a 9 of diamonds counts as 9. All face cards (Jacks, Queens, Kings) count as 10. The Ace counts as either 1 or 11, whichever you prefer. For example, say you have a Jack and an Ace. 21. Lets say you have a 7 and an 8, for 15, and are dealt an Ace. Count it as 1 and you have 16, rather than bust.

Game Play – Hitting & Standing

You’ll be dealt two cards to start. You then get the option of Standing, that is, keeping those two cards. If your total is 21, you’ve already won and can’t hit. If your total is under 17, you may want to hit. Anything about 17 is numerically riskier, but hey, its your money. As you may have gleaned, hitting means taking another card. You can keep taking cards until you hit 21, close to it, or bust.

Semi-Pro

Just kidding you still suck. But here I’ll tell you about Splitting and Doubling Down. A Double Down is when you double your bet but only receive one more card. Say you’ve got 10 or 11 showing. There are a lot of cards that could come your way and put you into the 20, 21 range, so you lay down the same sized bet you made. If you’re at a $5 table, lay down another $5.

Splitting takes place when you’re dealt two of the same cards, say, two 7s. You are then allowed to split the cards and be dealt two new cards, one for each of the sevens. You must pay more to play this, as you’re basically just now playing two hands at a time. You play each hand separately, one at a time.

General Hints

Casinos deal in lots of cash and are notoriously aggressive about their rules, so never get grabby. Learn the table rules, odds are most of the card handling is done by your dealer. You should basically only be putting chips down, for the most part. Otherwise, Vinnie might smash your kneecaps.

Strategy

There are lots of strategies out there for when to hit and when not to, and if you really want to get into this, read a book. Only bet what you can afford to lose. Good luck.

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