Before cards are dealt, a player has to make a bet by placing chips in betting box. Player and dealer both receive two cards. Dealer’s one card known as up-card or face-card value is visible to the player. The dealer’s second card known as down-card or hole-card value is unseen. Player’s both cards are visible to the dealer.

Now player has to make a playing decision once the value of dealers and his/her cards is known. Playing decision can be either of the following:

• HIT:This means you want the dealer to give you another card to your hand.
  
  
• STAND: This means you are satisfied with the total of the hand and want to stand with the cards you have.
  
  
• PAIR SPLITTING: If player has two like cards (e.g. a pair of 6's or aces), then player could use the option to split. With splitting player has to make another bet equal to original bet. Now the dealer will push player cards to two separate hands and give a second card for the first hand. The dealer will then prompt player to make a decision on this hand, and continue to do so until the hand has busted or been asked to stand. The dealer will then proceed to second hand, deal a second card, and ask for player’s decision once again. By pair splitting player can play each card as a separate hand and can draw as many cards to each hand.
  
  
• DOUBLING DOWN: This playing option allows player to double the bet in return for receiving one and only one draw card. The reason a player would want to do this is if he/she has a good chance of having a strong hand after one more card is dealt.
  
  
• SURRENDER: This playing option is sometimes permitted. It allows a player to surrender the hand with an automatic loss of half the original bet. Once a player draws a card the surrender option is no longer available. When a player surrenders the dealer will remove the player's card from the table.
  
  
• INSURANCE: When the dealer's up-card is an ace, the dealer will ask players if they want to make the insurance wager. This is a side bet in which players are betting that the dealer's down-card will be a ten-value card. Players can make an insurance bet equal to one half of the initial bet made on the hand. Insurance bet is won if the dealer’s down-card is a ten-value card. A winning insurance bet pays off at 2 to 1 odds.

Remember a blackjack player competes only against the dealer and not against any other players. So the two factors which determine how to play are dealer’s up-card and player’s hand.

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