Card Values
The standard deck of cards contains four suits:
hearts, spades, diamonds and clubs. The suits have no relevance in
Blackjack unless the casino has a special pay out for certain hands.
Each suit contains 13 cards: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King,
and Ace.
The 2 to 10 cards count as their own value e.g. a 4 is worth 4 points,
a 6 - 6 points, etc.
The Jack, Queen and King count as 10 points.
The Ace can be counted as 1 or 11 points at the player’s discretion and
the value can be changed during the playing of the hand. For example, if you
are dealt an Ace and a 7 you can count that as a total of 18 and hope for a
3 next. If however you are then dealt a 10, you can count the ace as a 1
giving 1 + 7 + 10 = 18 and keep your hand alive.
The most common card in the deck is a card with a value of 10 (Ten, Jack,
Queen and King). There are 16 such cards in a standard deck. All other
point values only have 4 cards in a deck.
Obviously, the ace is the most powerful card in the deck, not only because
it can be used as two distinct values, 1 and 11, but also because it has
the power to create a Blackjack.
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