       The game of Blackjack consists of one or more players, and the dealer. The object of the game is to obtain a hand better than that of the dealer's, without exceeding 21. At the beginning of each hand, both the dealer and the player are dealt two cards.  Only one of the dealers cards are dealt face up. After the initial cards are dealt, the dealer checks to see if he has 21, or a "BLACKJACK". If he does, he automatically wins that hand (unless of course the player also has a BLACKJACK in which case there is a tie which is referred to as a "PUSH"). The player then has the oppurtunity to either: "HIT", which is to take another card, "STAND", which means he is satisfied with his cards and wants no more, "DOUBLE", which means he wants only one more cards and wishes to double his current bet, or "SPLIT", which means that he wants to seperate two like cards into two seperate hands. The player can only split his hand after the inital deal. He cannot HIT once and then split.The player can continue to HIT until he is satisfied with his hand(s), or he exceeds 21 and then automatically loses, or goes "BUST".
       After the player has STOOD the dealer then plays out his hand according to a fixed set of rules. The dealer must continue to hit his hand until he has a total 17 or more. If the dealers total exceeds 21 then he automatically loses his hand (assuming that player did NOT also BUST). The bets are then settled. If the player has a BLACKJACK, the dealer pays the player one and a half times his current bet. The cards are then discarded and the next hand starts. Once the end of the deck(s) is reached, the cards are then reshuffled and play continues.
       The card values are as follows: the two through ten are counted as face value, the Jack, Queen and King are all counted as ten, and the Ace can be counted as either 1 or 11. For example, if the player has a Jack and a four, his total is 14. If he has and Ace and a seven, his total is either 8 or 18. If he were to HIT an receive a six card, his total would then be 14 because the value of the Ace would change from 11 to 1 to prevent him from going BUST. These are the basic rules of the game of Blackjack!                            PRESS <RETURN> TO CONTINUE.
