Whether you’re playing blackjack online or you’re under the roof of one of a beautiful casinos in Las Vegas or Monte Carlo, the good news about blackjack is that the rules are not only universal, they’re also universally easy to understand. In fact, a kid of eight can easily master the skills necessary for winning blackjack. Better yet, blackjack is very fun to play, so it’s rare that you’ll find yourself bored when playing this game.

The Primary Objective of the Game

In poker, the primary objective would have to be something vague such as “getting the best hand possible”. But when it comes to blackjack, the objective of the game is simple: the cards with an equivalent value to 21 or the one nearest to it wins. Simple to understand, isn’t it?

Who is Higher and Who’s Lower?

In poker, you have to familiarize yourself with what a flush looks like and what a full house compromises, then remember which one is higher. In blackjack, however, there are no card combinations to memorize. In fact, all you have to do is compute what the value of your cards is and if you still need to improve on it or stick with what you have.

The counting system for blackjack is just like how it is with Lucky 9, only it’s a wee bit – emphasizing the wee here – more complicated. Cards numbering two to ten are counted as they are. Face cards – that would be the royal couple, the king and queen, and of course, the third wheel, the jack – are equivalent to ten while the ace can be calculated as one or eleven. You alone shall be able to determine whether your cards would be better off with an ace worth one point or eleven.

Who Wins and Who Doesn’t?

In poker, people who believe that their cards are not that strong or up to par with their competitors’ immediately choose to fold or give up. In blackjack, while there’s no such thing as folding, there is such as thing as an immediate game loss – this is what happens when your cards are busted. Cards are busted when the value totals something more than twenty-one.

If you have busted cards, you lose right away or have to wait for the next round to play.

Betting

Before you can play blackjack, you must always place your bet on the table first.

Lastly, if your first two cards are identical, you can divide them and play them separately.

Maybe you recently caught a glimpse of the show Celebrity Poker and all it took was one episode and you found yourself hooked. Or maybe, all your friends have been raving about how addictive the game is and how much money they’ve won. Now you know you’re getting a little bit interested, no matter even if you think taht curiosity has indeed started to kill the cat.

But don’t worry, with poker, there shall be no senseless animal killing and anyone and anything can examine it to his heart’s content. And so, if you’re interested in playing poker, here’s what you can expect.

Poker Is No Ordinary Game – Most people think that poker is one of the easiest – or maybe even the silliest – card games because you’re only holding two cards in your hand so how hard can it be? And it seems silly because with just two cards, people actually expect you to be able to deduce whether you’ve got a good poker hand or not – and isn’t that silly?

We’re not all born with ESP here! But ladies and gentlemen, those are misassumptions – although the general rules for poker are quite easy to understand, to be able to win not just once but consecutively, you need to have a variety of mental strategies to see you through. Michael Jordan said that basketball is more of a mental rather than a physical game, didn’t he? Well, I’m here to tell you that poker is more of a mental game, too – rather than one that simply deals with random luck.

You Can Earn Money Playing Poker – Another erroneous belief most people have is that since poker is above all, a card game. Since it’s mostly played in casinos, it’s very much a vice and can be the reason why your money’s flowing out like water. Well, that’s where they’re wrong again! It’s very easy to earn money playing poker.

All you need is to improve your playing style and money management. Yes, there’s such a thing as money management in poker. Lastly, you need self-control. If you have that, then you’ll know when it’s time to stop playing poker and when it’s okay to press your luck some more.

Poker Is Fun – If you think poker is a very serious game, you’re partially right. But not all serious things are lacking in pleasure, you know. Take the game of chess, for example. It seems boring at first glance but when you learn how to play the game, it gets addictive. And that’s how it is with poker as well.