Blackjack, card by card.

New to the table?

Never played blackjack before? Start with the how-to-play guide — this page is the reference.

The ruleset

A few things worth calling out explicitly: 21 after a split is scored as 21, not a natural — naturals only count on your first two cards. The dealer peeks under an ace or a ten-card before play opens to the table, so a dealer blackjack ends the round immediately. When the dealer has blackjack, natural blackjacks push (you keep your bet) and insurance pays at 2:1 — all other hands lose.

How a round plays out

Each round follows the same sequence: place your bet, watch two cards land face-up in front of each seat (the dealer takes one face-up and one face-down), then act on your hand. Your options are hit (take another card), stand (keep what you have), double down (double your bet and take exactly one more card), or split (if both cards share the same rank, create two separate hands from them). Once every seated player has acted, the dealer flips the hole card and draws until reaching 17 or higher — the engine always stands on all 17s, hard or soft. Payouts follow: blackjack pays 3:2, all other wins pay 1:1, and a tie pushes.

Insurance is a side bet available when the dealer shows an ace. It costs exactly half your main bet, rounded down, and pays 2:1 if the dealer has blackjack. The insurance bet settles before the main round continues, so you always know whether it won before you act on your hand.

Playing at a shared table

CoinLounge blackjack is multiplayer: up to five players sit at the same table and take turns acting on their hands in seat order. When it is your turn, a 25-second action clock starts. If the clock runs out before you act, your hand auto-stands — so the round never stalls for the rest of the table.

Dealing is handled by the host. Non-host players see a disabled “HOST DEALS” button during the betting phase — only the host deals. If you are seated but skip the betting phase without placing a bet, you spectate that round — your seat stays reserved and you are back in play for the next one.

Take your time — but not more than 25 seconds of it.

A note on odds

There is no odds table on this page, and that is intentional. Blackjack's house edge is not a fixed number — it depends entirely on how you play each hand. Basic strategy drops the edge to around six-tenths of a percent against this ruleset; hunches and instinct can push it far higher. The ruleset card above is everything the engine enforces. How much of the remaining edge you give back is up to you.