Different Types of Cards in Blackjack Games

admin · Site Admin Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 862

Blackjack is one of the most famous card games of the last few centuries and has naturally developed its own lingo over the ages to help players communicate and describe the game. Blackjack games are chockfull of jargon. People who watch them are often confused by what they hear. Although the words are familiar, the terms are applied to Blackjack play in ways that only true enthusiasts can comprehend. As a card game, many of Blackjack's terms are nicknames for the different types of cards that players receive during play. Some of these nicknames are based simply on the value of the card or how it looks; others are based on how the card is used in Blackjack games.

Paint cards are picture cards, namely the Jack, Queen and King. These cards are all assigned a value of 10 points in Blackjack games.

A stiff card is a card with a value of 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6.

A hole card is the face down card that the dealer deals himself. This card can be instrumental in insurance side bets. The dealer's other card is called his up card because it lies face up on the table for all of the players to see.

Hands in Blackjack games can be either soft or hard. A soft hand has an Ace that's used as an 11-point card. A hard hand may either have no Ace, or uses the Ace as a 1-point card.