Blackjack has been around for a very long time. From smoke filled card rooms in western saloons to friendly card games among friends, blackjack which is also known as pontoon or twenty-one has been around for as long as cards have been played.

Set foot in any land casino and you always fined crowds of people standing around or sitting at the blackjack tables trying to get the better of the odds as well as understanding the terminology, which can be difficult a newcomer to take in.

The good news is that since online blackjack has hit the scene, while the whole concept and the basic black jack terms have stayed the same, the whole playing experience has got an awful lot better! Unless of course you are the kind of blackjack player who likes to queue up for a seat and when you get one people telling you that you are playing your hand wrong.

Playing on line you have none of these problems and the basic blackjack terms have remained the same:

They run as follows:

The dealer not only deals the cards, he or she shuffles them and place them in a shoe. In land casinos the shoe contains four packs which are cut by one of the players about two thirds of the way through. Once the cut has been reached the cards are shuffled again and the deal continues. Anyone who has ever seen the classic film "Rain Man" will remember how Dustin Hoffman had a remarkable gift of "counting cards" which meant that he could calculate how many face cards were left in the pack. In real life these things just don't happen and especially in an online casino where the software has been set up so that only one packs is dealt.

In online blackjack the dealer deals one card face up to each player, and then one to himself. After that another card is dealt to each player. That's when the player has to decide how to play their hand (or hands). If they have drawn over fifteen they should always stay even if the dealer is holding a card of higher value.

The only exception is when the player is holding a pair. A pair is two cards of the same value. Players can spilt any pair, but it not always advisable. Fours, fives and aces should always be splits and sometimes nines if a dealer is holding a four, five or six.

Sometimes splitting two cards can lead a player to a situation where they can double down. Doubling down comes into play when the player has been dealt either a nine, ten or eleven opening two card combination. This combination can be either hard (four -five, five -d five, six – three, six – four and six – five). These cards should almost always be doubled down on, with the only caution being that it is never wise to double against a ten or an ace.

If a player is dealt two cards which while offering a double down situation contain an ace (ace –eight, ace-nine or ace-ten). You don't have to be a genius to figure out that, although you can double these cards, you would need to be a real kamikaze pilot to do so.

If player is dealt a blackjack ( either a ten or face and ace) if the dealer is holding anything less than a ten or face and ace, then they are obliged to pay out 6-4 on the players bet. Only if the bank is holding an ace, then the player is offered insurance against blackjack coming up. If the player decides to take up this option, they double their bet and if the dealer hits blackjack, they are paid even money on their insurance bet and lose their original bet. If the bank fails to hit blackjack, they get 6-4 on their original bet and lose the insurance bet.

Once the player has made their best possible hand then they stay. If their hard total goes above 21 through drawing too many cards, then they have gone bust.

In any event, the dealer will play out the hand. The bank is not allowed to split or double their hands and must draw on any hand below sixteen in value. Once it has been decided who won what, the dealer pays out the lucky winners in chips.

And it's on to the next hand.