Blackjack Rules

Blackjack Rules Summary

1. 8 52-card decks are used

2. The deck is re-shuffled after each hand

3. Dealer stands on all 17's

4. Doubling after splitting allowed

5. No re-splitting of cards allowed

6. No surrender

7. Only one additional card allowed on each Ace when splitting a pair of Aces

8. Each hand must be completed before proceeding to next hand.

9. Up to five possible hands playable per deal.

How to Play Blackjack

Littlewoods offers multi-hand Blackjack and single-hand Blackjack; both versions have the same rules. Blackjack is played with eight, fifty-two card decks and the cards are shuffled after every game. All face cards (jack, queen, king) are valued at ten and the cards from 2-10 are valued as indicated. If you are dealt an ace you can use it as either a one or an eleven; if eleven would put you above 21, the ace is automatically counted as one. Like all '21' games rules, the value of your hand in balckjack is the total of all you cards added together.

Your chips are stacked by denomination (£1, £5, £25, £100, £500) at the bottom of the screen above your user label. Select the desired wager amount by left clicking on the correct amount of chips (you can decrease the amount by right clicking). You may repeat your last bet by simply hitting the "0" button of your numeric keyboard. If you place a wager that is lower than the minimum table bet limit, your bet amount will be automatically adjusted to the minimum bet amount. Wager as little or as much as you wish on varying hands within game limits.

You have the option of placing up to five bets on the table before you have been dealt your 2 face up cards. The dealer will receive one card face up and one card face down. Once you have this information you have the following options. It is your aim to gain a 21 total, or as near as, without exceeding 21.

Hit:

Request a new card to be added to your existing cards. You can request a hit as many times as you like, but if your total goes over twenty-one, you will "bust" and lose the hand.

Stand:

Request no more cards and accept the current total you have to be your final total. This hand will be judged against the dealer's.

Split:

If you have been dealt two cards of the same value (pair of 3's, pair of jacks etc), a split button will appear and become active. You can split your cards into two hands and play each hand separately. Your original bet will be duplicated for the new hand. Each hand will be played out as usual except when splitting Aces, where only one additional card per hand is dealt. A white box displaying your card total will appear over each hand indicating which hand is active. The split option can only be used once per hand -- you cannot split part of a split hand. Any winning 21 obtained after splitting a pair is paid 1-to-1.

Double Down:

Once selecting the double down option, the following will happen. Your wager will be doubled to twice the amount but you will only receive one more card and you will not have the chance to hit again.

Insurance:

In the event of the dealer's up card (card that can be seen) being an ace you have two options; you can either 'pass' and play the hand as normal or you can choose the option of 'insurance' (buttons will appear active when this option is available). You would choose the insurance option if you believe that the dealer's down-card is a 10 ranking card (therefore gaining 21), you are permitted to place a side bet of half the original wager as insurance. If the dealer does have a 10 ranking card, you are immediately paid 2-to-1 on the insurance bet, but the original wager is unfortunately lost (unless of course you gain a blackjack and push the dealer). Here you are simply betting that the dealer's unseen card is a 10 valued card.

Blackjack Payouts

What you can Bet

£1 minimum initial ante
£2500 maximum bet.

You may also set your table bet limit below the maximum specified limit by selecting Bet Options from the Game Menu. The Modify Table Bet Limit window will appear on the screen. To reduce your maximum table bet limit type in the new limit in the appropriate box and confirm it by typing your PIN in the box below. Select the OK button to complete the update. Please be aware that you can modify your table bet limit no more than once per week (Friday 12:00 AM EST ) and that using the Modify Table Bet Limit function affects the bet limit for all games and not just the game that you are currently playing.