Basic Blackjack Terminology for Beginners

If you are new to the game of blackjack it is important that you learn the basic terminology of the game, as blackjack does tend to have a language of it’s own. The most basic terms that you should learn before you start to play blackjack are “hit”, “stay” or “stand” and “bust”.

In the game of blackjack when you want the dealer to give you an additional card, in order to increase the value of your hand, tell the dealer “hit me”. It sounds like you are asking the dealer to do something violent but actually you are simply asking for an additional card! If, on the other hand, you do not want any new cards and you are satisfied with your hand then you tell the dealer that you would like to “stay” or “stand”. The dealer will leave your hand as is and not give you any additional cards.

If you ask the dealer to hit you and the card that he gives you causes the value of your hand to rise to more than 21 points you lose the game. This is called going “bust”. If you go bust you automatically lose but on the other hand if the dealer goes bust you win!

As you play more and more blackjack you will begin to learn more blackjack terminology, but these words are the most important words to know.