Chinese Blackjack
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Chinese Blackjack is also known as 21-point, or ban-luck (Hokkien). It is a gambling game played in South East Asia which bears similarity to conventional Blackjack.
The game uses one or two 52-card deck(s) and is playable by any number of players. One of them is to be a dealer, or they may take turn to be the dealer, e.g. each person deals 3 rounds or 3 winning rounds. In this article, players beside the dealer shall be denoted "player(s)".
The popularity of this game is due to its unique feature that the dealer is allowed to selectively reveal some players' hands, settle bets with them and then hit again and reveal other players' hands. Another unique feature is a special status given to owning 5 cards unbusted.
Although Chinese Blackjack has some standard rules, unusual house rules are common. It will be stated in the rules below if it is a house rule. House rules mean that they are not played in standard Chinese Blackjack games.
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[edit] Dealing
Players place their bets. The dealer shuffles the cards thoroughly and ask the players to "cut the hand" by which a player take a number of cards off from the shuffled deck, and the dealer deals the cards clockwise or anti-clockwise starting from himself. All cards face down. He deals two cards per person and put back the extra cards to the "cut hand".
[edit] Point counting rules
- K, Q, J = 10
- 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 = respective face value
- If your total number of cards is 2, then Ace = 11 or 10
- If your total number of cards is 3, then Ace = 1 or 10
- If your total number of cards is 4 and above, then Ace = 1
[edit] Checking for Blackjack
Each player including the dealer checks his hand for the following special combinations
- Ace + Ace = ban-ban
- Ace + (10/J/Q/K) = ban-luck
- 15 points = free hand
[edit] Ban-Ban
If a player receives a ban-ban, he is deemed to have won his bet tripled from the dealer immediately, unless the dealer receives a ban-ban (a tie) or a free hand (an escape).
If the dealer receives a ban-ban, he is deemed to have won all player bets tripled immediately, unless the player receives a ban-ban (a tie) or a free hand (an escape).
[edit] Ban-Luck
If a player receives a ban-luck, he wins his bet doubled from the dealer immediately, unless the dealer has a ban-ban (player loses), or a ban-luck (a tie), or a free hand (an escape).
If the dealer receives a ban-luck, he wins all player bets doubled immediately, unless the player has a ban-ban (dealer loses), or a ban-nag (a tie), or a free hand (an escape).
[edit] 15 Points (House Rule)
If the player has a free hand, he may decide to continue or not to continue with the game.
If the dealer has a free hand, he may decide to continue or not to continue with the game. If he chooses not to, then the cards shall be collected back, reshuffled and dealt again.
[edit] The players' turns
After checking for Blackjack, each player takes turn to make the following decisions, depending on the conditions. The player may add more than one card.
- total < 16, hit (add one card).
- total >= 16 and < 21, hit or stand.
- total = 21, stand.
- total > 21, busts.
If the player has 5 cards on his hands, he must reveal his cards
- number of cards = 5 (5-Dragon), collect win from dealer immediately, double the bet.
- number of cards = 5 and total = 21, collect win from dealer immediately, triple the bet. (House Rule)
- number of cards = 5 and total > 21, lose double the bet to dealer immediately.
[edit] The dealer's turn
After all players are done, the dealer has to make the following decisions, depending on the conditions. The dealer may hit more than one card.
- total < 16, hit (add one card).
- total >= 16 and < 21, hit or reveal some players' hands then hit.
- total = 21, reveal all players' cards.
- total > 21, dealer busts.
- number of cards = 5 (5-Dragon), collect win from players immediately, double all bets.
- number of cards = 5 and total = 21, collect win from players immediately, triple all bets. (House Rule)
- number of cards = 5 and total > 21, lose to players whose hands have not been revealed yet (regardless of whether the player busts or not), double all bets.
If the dealer chooses to reveal a player's hand (only if he has at least 16 points at any time),
If the dealer has not busted
- player busts or total of dealer > total of player, dealer wins the bet (double if dealer has 21 points (House Rule) )
- total of dealer = total of player, tie.
- total of dealer < total of player, player wins, (double if player has 21 points (House Rule) )
If the dealer busts (with less than 5 cards on his hand), the dealer pays all players their bets (double if player has 21 points (House Rule) ) unless the player also busts.
After the dealer has settled with all players, the cards are collected back and a new round begins.
