Blackjack is one of the oldest card games in the world and has travelled with European settlers into America to become the most popular casino game too.
If you want to have the ultimate experience of playing blackjack, going to a physical casino is the best way to do it – but if you cant get there (or don’t want to leave the comfort of your home), then you can take advantage of modern technology to play some live blackjack online.
Before we look at live blackjack, let’s check get some more knowledge about the game itself.
What is Blackjack?
The game we know as blackjack has had many other names – 21, Pontoon, and piracy – but the basic rules remain the same.
To win the game, players need to beat the dealer rather than each other. It’s all about comparing your hand to the dealers and having a higher value of cards than the dealer, getting as close as possible to 21 without going over.
Blackjack remains popular for many reasons. Not only is it straightforward to learn for beginners (so it is often a starting point for newcomers to table games), but it is also a game where experienced players can apply strategy and change the way they play.
When you arrive at a blackjack table, usually you will be dealt two cards face down, while the dealer has two cards (one face up). When you look at your cards, you can decide whether you want to add to your hand by ‘hitting’ and taking another one, or ‘standing’ with what you have. The aim is to get 21 (and beat the dealer), without going bust (scoring over 22).
Online Blackjack
If you want to get some experience – or play in comfort – then an online casino might be the best place for you to start.
Online casinos offer players the opportunity to get access to all the best casino games. You can create an account and then start playing real money games like poker, slots, and roulette as well as blackjack.
Playing online means that you can take the game at your own place, look at the rules, use help to give you some hints and tips, and get used to the way that the game works.
Of course, you can still win cash – if you play your cards right.
Live Blackjack
The next step, then, is to take part in a live blackjack game.
Live blackjack combines the best parts of going to the casino with playing online.
In a live blackjack game, you will still be playing from home on your computer (or on your smartphone) – but you will have a live dealer running the game. The dealer might be in a casino or playing from a studio.
You can see every angle of the game thanks to the high-definition cameras streaming directly to your device, and your cards will be dealt to you on your screen so you can see them and make your decisions.
It runs in exactly the way you would expect, and thanks to some innovative technologies you can really feel immersed in the game.
Fully Trained Professional Croupiers
The dealer that is running the game is a professional, usually trained by the casino that you are playing in.
They will be dealing as they would in the casino, and they are also available for you to speak to and ask questions if you need some guidance about the gameplay – but they won’t be able to tell you when you should hit or stand.
High-Definition Cameras
The cameras are an essential part of the game, giving you the perfect view of everything that is happening on the card table.
This is where your technology will also have influence, as you need a strong and reliable enough internet connection to be able to receive the video feed in real time.
There will be multiple camera angles available so you don’t miss a thing.
Random Number Generators
As with other online casino games, in live blackjack fairness and randomness is assured thanks to algorithms known as Random Number Generators. It is a similar technology that you will find in the top console games controlling the NPCs and will mean that you know the game is set up to be fair.
Optical Character Recognition
Your cards will be on your screen, and the Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology is used to translate the cards on the table into characters that can be recognised by the cameras so that they can be seen by your computer (and then by you).
Chat
One of the things that make a physical casino experience so special is the relationships that you can build with other players, and the chat function in the live blackjack game makes it much more social – you can talk to the other players and the croupier at any time and maybe make some new friends.
