Safari Casino
Blackjack is played and programmed according to Atlantic City
Blackjack rules.
Authority: New
Jersey Casino Control Commission.
Rule Exceptions:
The cards are shuffled after each hand, pairs may not be re-split,
and players may not draw additional cards on split Aces.
In Blackjack, you
and the dealer (the computer) are dealt two cards to start. The
objective of Blackjack is to accumulate cards that add up closer
to 21 than that of the dealer's cards, without going over 21.
Cards are worth their face value with the exception of Kings,
Queens, and Jacks which are each worth 10 and Aces which are worth
either 1 or 11. If the value of your hand is closer to 21 than
that of the dealer you win. If the value of the dealer's hand is
higher than yours you lose. If the hands are of equal value the
deal is a push and your money is returned. If you have a total of
22 or higher (a busted hand), you lose regardless of whether the
dealer also busts.
1. 8 52-card decks
are used
2. The deck is re-shuffled after each hand
3. Dealer stands on all 17's
4. Doubling after splitting allowed
5. No re-splitting of cards allowed
6. No surrender
7. Only one additional card allowed on each ace when splitting a
pair of aces
Safari Casino
Blackjack is played with eight fifty-two card decks. After each
game has been played, the used cards are shuffled back into the
deck. All face cards are valued at ten and the cards from 2-10 are
valued as indicated. Aces can be valued at either one or eleven;
if counting the ace as eleven would put the hand over twenty-one,
the ace is automatically counted as one instead. You do not need
to specify which value the Ace has as it's always assumed to have
the value that makes the best hand. The value of a hand is the sum
of the values of the individual cards. For example, a hand
containing a Jack, 3, and 4 has a value of 17.
Your chips are
stacked by denomination ($1, $5, $25, $100, $500) at the bottom of
the screen. Select the amount you would like to wager on a given
hand by clicking on the chip of that denomination. The amount
wagered per hand may be increased or decreased by placing the
mouse on the stack that you wish to add or subtract to your bet.
Each time you click the left mouse button you will add a chip from
that pile to your planned wager amount. Likewise by clicking on
the right mouse button you can decrease your planned wager amount.
You may repeat your last bet by simply hitting the "0"
button of your numeric keyboard. Other keyboard shortcuts are
summarized below.
Hit:
Requests another
card. You can request a hit as many times as you like, but if your
total goes over twenty-one, you will Bust and lose the hand.
Stand:
Requests that you
receive no more cards. The hand as it currently stands will be
judged against the dealers.
Split:
If you have two
cards of the same denomination, a Split button will appear. You
can split your cards into two hands and play each hand separately.
Your original bet will be duplicated for the new hand. Each hand
will be played out as usual except when splitting aces, where only
one additional card per hand is dealt. A pointing finger will
appear over each hand indicating which hand is active. The split
option can only be used once per hand -- you cannot split part of
a split hand. Any winning 21 obtained after splitting a pair is
paid 1 to 1.
Double Down:
If you select this
option, two things will happen: you will get exactly one more
card, your turn will end, and your bet will be doubled.
Insurance:
Whenever the
dealer's up-card is an ace, the player has an option of taking
insurance. The player may opt to take insurance by clicking on the
"Insurance" button. If you do not wish to take
insurance, you simply click on the "Pass" button to
proceed with the rest of the hand. If the player believes that the
dealer's down-card is a 10 ranking card, then the player is
permitted to place a side bet of half the original wager as
insurance. If the dealer does have a 10 ranking card, the player
is immediately paid 2-to-1 on the insurance bet, but the original
wager is lost unless the player too has a blackjack and pushes
with the dealer. Here the player is simply betting that the
dealer's unseen card is a 10 valued card.
Note:
The Double Down and
Split options will only be available immediately after you receive
your first two cards. If the dealer has an ace showing, you will
be offered a chance to buy Insurance for half of the amount you
bet. When you buy insurance you are, in effect, making a second
bet. You are betting that the dealer has a natural blackjack. If
the dealer does have a natural blackjack (in other words, his down
card is a ten or a face card), you will collect a payoff of 2 to 1
on your insurance. You will also lose your original wager, unless
you have a natural blackjack too. If the dealer does not have a
natural twenty-one, the rest of the hand is played out as usual
and you will lose your insurance money.
If you win the
hand, you will get back your original bet plus the same amount in
profit. A hand that consists of an Ace and any ten value card is
called a natural twenty-one, or a natural blackjack. If you win
with a natural blackjack, you will be paid off at three-to-two,
which means you get your original bet back plus 150% profit. (So
if you bet $50 and win with a natural twenty-one, you get $50
(your bet) plus $75 (your bet plus half of your bet), which totals
to $125.
 |
| Result |
Payoff |
|
| Winning
Hand |
1
to 1 |
|
| Blackjack |
3
to 2 |
|
| Insurance |
2
to 1 |
|
$5 minimum initial
ante
$300 maximum bet.
You may also set
your table bet limit below the maximum specified limit by
selecting Bet Options from the Game Menu. The Modify Table Bet
Limit window will appear on the screen. To reduce your maximum
table bet limit type in the new limit in the appropriate box and
confirm it by typing your PIN in the box below. Click on the OK
button to complete the update. Please be aware that you can modify
your table bet limit no more than once per week (Friday 12:00 AM
EST) and that using the Modify Table Bet Limit function affects
the bet limit for all games and not just the game that you are
currently playing.
Basic blackjack
strategy is defined as the proper play of cards knowing only your
hand and the dealer's exposed card. It does not involve card
counting (an advantage lost in playing Safari Casino with 8 decks
reshuffled after each hand) or remembering which cards were played
previously. The basic blackjack strategy is created through
intensive computer simulations which perform a complete
combinatorial analysis. In this method, the computer
"plays" tens of thousands of hands for each BlackJack
situation possible and statistically decides which decision best
favours the player.
Basic strategy is
usually printed as tables with the dealer's up card the first row
and your two card combination the first column. The other entries
in the table tell you what to do (Stand, Hit, Double-Down, Split)
with the different combinations of dealer and player's hands.
Basic blackjack strategy tables for Safari Casino rules (8 decks,
dealer stands on 17, double-down on any two cards, double after
split allowed, no re-splitting of cards allowed, no surrender) are
shown below for hard totals, soft totals, and pairs along with a
legend.
Legend:
- S - Stand
- H - Hit
- D - Double
- Y - Yes, split
- N - No, don't
split
Hard Totals:
| |
Dealer's
Upcard |
| Your Cards |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
A |
| 17 |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
| 16 |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
| 15 |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
| 14 |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
| 13 |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
| 12 |
H |
H |
S |
S |
S |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
| 11 |
D |
D |
D |
D |
D |
D |
D |
D |
D |
H |
| 10 |
D |
D |
D |
D |
D |
D |
D |
D |
H |
H |
| 9 |
H |
D |
D |
D |
D |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
| 8 |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
Soft Totals:
| |
Dealer's
Upcard |
| Your Cards |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
A |
| (A,9) |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
| (A,8) |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
S |
| (A,7) |
S |
D |
D |
D |
D |
S |
S |
H |
H |
H |
| (A,6) |
H |
D |
D |
D |
D |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
| (A,5) |
H |
H |
D |
D |
D |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
| (A,4) |
H |
H |
D |
D |
D |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
| (A,3) |
H |
H |
H |
D |
D |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
| (A,2) |
H |
H |
H |
D |
D |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
Pairs:
| |
Dealer's
Upcard |
| Your Cards |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
A |
| (A,A) |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
| (10,10) |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
| (9,9) |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
N |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
| (8,8) |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
| (7,7) |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
N |
N |
N |
N |
| (6,6) |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
| (5,5) |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
| (4,4) |
N |
N |
N |
Y |
Y |
N |
N |
N |
N |
N |
| (3,3) |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
N |
N |
N |
N |
| (2,2) |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
N |
N |
N |
N |
|
| Keyboard
Entry |
Action |
|
| 0 |
Repeat
last bet |
|
| Enter |
Deal,
Stand |
|
| + |
Hit |
|
| - |
Take
Insurance |
|
| * |
Double
Down |
|
| / |
Split |
|
| 1 |
Pass,
Refuse Insurance |
|
| Up
Arrow |
Increase
bet by $1 |
|
| Down
Arrow |
Decrease
bet by $1 |
|
| Shift
+ Up Arrow |
Increase
bet by $10 |
|
| Shift
+ Down Arrow |
Decrease
bet by $10 |
|
For keyboards
without keypads, you must use the "Fn" key plus the
shortcuts above (e.g. Fn + Enter).
Note:
You may turn on/off
the Sound, Voice and Animation during the game by clicking on the
Settings button located in the lower left-hand area of the
console. The setting is turned on when the checkbox is checked and
it is turned off when the checkbox is unchecked.
For further
information on blackjack, please consult the following references:
Carlson, Bryce. Blackjack
for Blood, Compustar Press, 1992.
Humble, Lance and
Cooper, Carl. The World's Greatest Blackjack Book,
Doubleday, 1987.
Scoblete, Frank. Best
Blackjack, Bonus Books, 1996.
Tamburin, Henry. Reference
Guide to Casino Gambling, Research Services Unlimited, 1993.
Uston, Ken. Million
Dollar Blackjack, Carol Publishing Group, 1994.
|
