Progressive Blackjack - Rules

Rule Authority:

InterCasino Progressive 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.


Premise:

In Progressive Blackjack, before you are dealt any cards you have the option of making a $1 side bet that allows you to participate in additional payouts. Upon wagering, you and the dealer (the computer) are dealt two cards to start. The objective of Progressive 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.


Summary of Rules:

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
   
   

How to Play:

InterCasino Progressive 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 game window. Select the amount you would like to wager on a given hand by clicking the left mouse button 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. If you place a wager that is lower than the minimum table bet limit, your bet amount will be automatically adjusted to the minimum bet amount.

To qualify for the Bonus Jackpot you need to place a $1 bonus bet. You do this by clicking on the flashing chip holder directly in front of you. You may place a Bonus bet prior to playing your hand as long as the lights surrounding the chip holder are flashing. Players may win a bonus payout, if they receive two or more consecutive Aces as the first cards dealt to them in their hand. The size of the Jackpot increases with every bet. The current level of the Jackpot is displayed at the left-hand side or right-hand side of the screen depending on your seating position. You may also qualify for a bonus payout based on the suit and number of aces held in a particular hand. See the Bonus Payout Table.

You begin a hand of Progressive Blackjack by placing a bet on the table as described above. You will then receive two cards face up. The dealer will receive one card face up and one face down. Once you have been dealt your two cards (and based on the nature of these cards) you can do the following by clicking with the left mouse button on the appropriate button:

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 white box displaying your card total 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, three 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 Progressive 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 active 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 (except in the case of a Split hand – see details above). If you win with a natural Blackjack, you will be paid off at three-to-two odds, 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.


Payoffs:

Bonus Payout:

Bonus Bet Payouts are received when consecutive aces are the first cards dealt in a hand. The payout varies for different combinations of consecutive aces. Winning Bonus Bets will be paid to the player as soon as the first non-ace is dealt to them. The winnings will appear in a chip pile beside the Bonus Betting Area.

Betting Limits:

$5 minimum bet
$300 maximum bet.

Individual tables may have a higher minimum bet and a lower maximum bet. There are two ways to determine the table bet limit for a specific table. At the casino floor level, you can place your mouse pointer over a specific table. After 2 or 3 seconds a box will appear identifying the table number and the minimum and maximum bet. Alternatively, you can click on a specific table. A new window will open displaying the minimum and 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 Progressive Blackjack Strategy Table:

Basic Progressive 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 InterCasino Progressive Blackjack with 8 decks reshuffled after each hand) or remembering which cards were played previously. The basic Progressive 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 InterCasino 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

Soft Totals

Pairs

Note: You may turn on/off the Sound, Voice, Animation and Full Screen Mode during the game by clicking on the Options button from the menu. The setting is turned on when the checkbox is checked and it is turned off when the checkbox is unchecked. Select the Done button when you are finished choosing your options or choose Cancel to return to the casino without making any changes. You must exit and re-enter the game to activate the Animation and Full Screen Mode feature.


References:

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.