Live dealer blackjack is considered one of the most played and most popular casino card games in the world today. Blackjack is one of the few games that is just as enjoyable for complete rookies to play as it is for the seasoned veterans as it is the only game that combines perfect amounts of both skill and luck to play. So, anyone can easily play live dealer blackjack.
Though the more skilful players tend to do better due to years of practice, developing specialized playing methods, strategies and techniques, a game can still be won by a complete novice as no one can predict, with continued certainty, which cards will be dealt to which players and as such, it opens up the possibility that anybody and everybody can both play and win a game of live dealer blackjack.
The origins of Blackjack
Even though Blackjack was played much earlier than the 1600’s, the earliest documented proof that the game was being played was by the Spanish author, Miguel de Cervantes (author of Don Quixote) in his short novels “Novelas Ejemplares” which told the story of two cheats, who were making a decent living cheating the various casinos of Seville whilst playing Veintiuna (Spanish for twenty one).
The game was not too dissimilar to the live dealer blackjack games we play today, with the big difference between the two being the deck. In 1600’s Spain, the game was played with the “Baraja'' deck, which is similar to the deck of cards we play with, except that it lacked eights, nines and tens. Later accounts of the game were found in France, Italy and England, but the earliest indication of the game being played in America came at the latter parts of the 1800’s in New Orleans, which is where the game acquired the name of Blackjack.
Blackjack in UK
Blackjack went viral with the introduction of the Online Casino in the late 1990’s but it wasn’t until 2006 that it became the first casino games to be played with a live dealer when a company called DublinBet joined with a gaming manufacturer called VueTec to broadcast live dealer blackjack games from the Fitzwilliam Casino and Card Club in Dublin.
This was a UK live casino games revelation as the live dealer blackjack games effectively bridged the gap between the online casino world and that of the more traditional land based one by allowing the millions of blackjack players to sit in the comfort of their own homes whilst enjoying the benefits of a live blackjack game, one completely void of all computer programmes and random number generators which had become deeply mistrusted within the Blackjack playing community.
How to play live dealer blackjack
To win a game of live dealer blackjack, you will need to have a hand that equals 21 or closest to it. In the game, you don’t play against a competitor, but against the dealer or “house” and if your cards are better than those of the dealer, you win. As is the norm in all live casino games, the game begins with the placing of bets. Following this, the dealer will deal two cards to you and then two to him or herself.
If you believe your cards are better than the dealers and equal 21 or close enough to it, you can choose to stick or stay, however if you feel your hand will benefit from another card, you can choose to hit, remembering that any hand value that exceeds 21 will be considered bust and the game will be lost. After your play has been completed the dealer will then do a round of hitting or sticking and whoever has 21, or closest to it will win the live dealer blackjack game.