Although Blackjack is widely recognised as one of the simplest casino games to learn, there are a number of available variations that can affect how you play the game. These can include simple rules such as how many times you can split a hand, to more complex rule variations, such as how you can hold your cards.

1) European Blackjack
The most common form of Blackjack. 2 decks, no surrender, and you can double on 9, 10 or 11. Splitting of hands is allowed once, and you cannot double down on a split hand.

2) Dealing down
Instead of having your cards dealt to you on the table, you are allowed to pick up the cards, after they have been dealt to you face down. In order to 'hit', you brush the table with your cards towards yourself. In order to 'stand', you place your cards beneath your wager on the table. To play a split hand, cards are turned face up on the table, and the hands continue as in European Blackjack.

3) Mid-shoe entry
This is quite commonplace in Blackjack games, allowing you to join a game midway through a shuffled deck. All you have to do to join a game is find a free seat. Some veterans of the game feel this is rather unfair- hence, some land based casinos only allow new players to join when the deck has been re-shuffled.

4) Over and under
This is an auxiliary bet that allows the player to bet on the combined value of the two cards dealt to them, being over or under 13, prior to the deal. The player wins at 2 to 1 if they bet correctly, if the total is 13 exactly, the dealer wins.

5) Exposed hole card
This variation means the dealer displays their hole (second) card. This, on the surface of things, would appear to give the player a huge advantage. However, there are a number of limitations to what the player can do.

- No soft doubling
- Dealer wins all pushes
- Blackjack pays only even money
- Splitting is only permitted once.

6) Spanish 21/Blackjack
Spanish 21 / Blackjack is another example of a variation that would appear to give the player a wide advantage. For example, there are no pushes- every time there is a tie, the player wins. You can also spilt a single hand up to four times, with doubling allowed on any split hand. Also, in the case of the player and the dealer both having blackjack, the player will always win. A further addition is the payouts to Blackjack hands made up of any of 6's 7's and 8's- paying out at 3-2, 2-1 and 3-1 respectively.

There is however, one major drawback- there are no 10 value cards in the deck, which makes attaining 21 somewhat more difficult!

More often than not however, Blackjack at most online casinos follow the same Atlantic City gaming rules, which can be found here.

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