
Basic Blackjack Rules: The goal of blackjack is to beat the dealer's hand without going over 21. Face cards are worth 10. Aces are worth 1 or 11, whichever makes a better hand. Each player starts with two cards, one of the dealer's cards is hidden until the end. To 'Hit' is to ask for another card. Second, a no-bust player will only hit a hand of eleven or less, or a soft (hence unbreakable) hand of 12 to 16. This counts for only 26.63% of all possible two-card hands. What’s more, the chances are still 44.96% that the first hit will result in a bust hand—less than 17, but still breakable—and the player will also lose 66.85% of these. Updated July 8, 2008 One of the most painful hands in blackjack is when you get a 12 versus a dealer who is showing a two? Oh sure, there are plenty of hands out there that are worse mathematically, since by the book a 12 against a 2 balances out to a loss of just over $0.25 per dollar bet. Lots of player-dealer combinations are far more taxing.