Atlassino Academy · Blackjack · Lesson 2

One round, every card face up

A round of blackjack under Chile’s catalogue of games, step by step: no face-down card, and the dealer’s second card only after every player has finished.

  • About 12 minutes
  • Illustrated hosts: Leo and Maya
  • Last checked 4 November 2026

You sit down at a blackjack table in Chile with chips in front of you. What happens, in order, until your bet is paid or taken?

The short answer

Six steps. You bet before any card is dealt. The dealer deals one card to every hand, takes one, and deals every hand a second card — every card face up, so while you play the dealer has a single card on the felt. You play your hand. Then the dealer takes a second card and draws by a fixed rule, and every bet still on the felt is settled against the house hand.

Leo smiling, explaining with an open hand.

Leoformer dealer · rules and maths

Every round goes through the same six steps, and the catalogue of games the Superintendencia de Casinos de Juego (SCJ) publishes says what happens inside each of them, for every casino in Chile. One thing about these rounds surprises people who have played elsewhere: there is no face-down card. Watch where the dealer’s second card comes.

The six steps of a round

  1. The bet

    Before any card is dealt, the dealer invites the bets, and you place your chips in the betting spot marked on the cloth. Once the round has started, nobody may bet more, take a bet back, or make one smaller or bigger.

  2. The deal

    The dealer deals one card to every hand, starting on the dealer’s left and going clockwise, then takes one card; then every hand gets a second card in the same order. Every card is dealt face up. At a table with the Perfect Pairs box, that side bet is settled at this moment, on your two cards alone.

  3. An ace in front of the dealer

    When the dealer’s card is an ace, the dealer offers the insurance to every player who still has a bet, after the second card has gone to every hand and before the dealer takes a second card. A player holding blackjack is offered something else: to be paid 1 to 1 at once, or to wait for the dealer’s hand.

  4. Your turn

    In turn, each player stands on the two cards or asks for more, one at a time, for as long as they like — but never once the hand has reached 21 or more. A hand that goes over 21 loses: the dealer picks up its bet and its cards at once, before moving on to the next hand. Doubling, splitting and the retiro belong to this turn as well; the next lesson, Hit, stand, double, split, retiro, goes through them.

  5. The dealer’s turn

    Once every player has played, the dealer completes the house hand, taking one card or more. The rule is fixed: on 16 or less the dealer takes cards until the total is 17 or more, and on 17 or more the dealer stops; an ace in the dealer’s hand counts as 11 whenever that makes 17 or more without going over 21.

  6. The payment

    A dealer who goes over 21 pays every bet still on the felt. Otherwise the dealer takes the bets of the hands below the house total and pays the hands above it; a hand level with the dealer is void, and its owner takes the bet back. A hand above the dealer’s is paid 1 to 1, and a blackjack 3 to 2.

Losing bets are taken at the end of the round, except a hand that goes over 21: that one is taken the moment it goes over.

One card on the felt, and what it changes

While you play, the table looks like this: two cards in front of you, one in front of the dealer.

Dealer

1010

You

7744

The dealer’s second card is not lying face down under the first one, waiting to be turned. It is still in the shoe, and it comes out only when every player has finished. So nobody at the table — the dealer included — knows before you play whether the house hand will be a blackjack.

Dealer

1010AA

You

774499

That is the one thing the order changes. A dealer showing a 10 makes blackjack on 7.7% of hands, and a dealer showing an ace on 30.9% — and at these tables that blackjack shows itself after your decisions, not before. A dealer blackjack pays no bets. What it does to the second bet of a double or a split, the catalogue does not say. The figures on this page take the costlier reading: every bet on your hand is lost.

On that reading, a two-card 11 against a 10 is worth +0.08 units on an example bet of 10 units if you double and +0.31 units if you take one card without doubling — the plain card is worth 0.23 units more, because a blackjack turned up afterwards would take the double as well. Played by the full chart for these rules, the house keeps 0.36% of every bet.

Leo in a work jacket, one open hand held out to the side, pointing something out.

Leoformer dealer · rules and maths

People ask me whether the dealer “checked” for blackjack. Here there is nothing to check: the card that would make it has not been dealt. The dealer has no choices to make either — the same line on every hand, against every player.

When you hold blackjack

An ace and a 10 or a face card as your first two cards is a blackjack. When it is paid depends on the dealer’s one card:

  • Anything but an ace, a 10 or a face card: the dealer cannot make blackjack, and yours is paid at once, at 3 to 2.
  • A 10 or a face card: you wait until the dealer has finished, to see whether the house hand is a blackjack too. When only blackjacks are left at the table, the dealer completes the house hand with one more card, and the most it can do is tie with you.
  • An ace: you wait too, and the dealer first offers you a choice — be paid 1 to 1 at once and take the cards away, or wait for the dealer’s hand. Take the 1 to 1 and your hand is finished: you cannot also take the insurance. The insurance itself is a lesson of its own.

And when only blackjacks are left at the table and the dealer’s card is under 10, the dealer takes no more cards and pays them. The Perfect Pairs side bet, settled at the deal, is a lesson of its own.

At the table, with Maya

Maya with a hand on her chest, speaking gently and seriously.

Mayaformer floor supervisor · manners, money and breaks

A round is quick: six steps, and most of them take seconds. That is why the decision that matters most is made before the first card — how much money the evening gets and how long it lasts. Settle both before you sit down, and stop when either runs out.

If the money on the table starts to feel like money you need, stop there and read the box below: it says where self-exclusion and the regulator are reached.

If it stops being fun

If gambling stops being fun, the SCJ self-exclusion applies in every casino in the country. Minimum entry age: 18 (age of majority under Law 19.221; Law 19.995 bars minors from gaming rooms). The casino may ask for an official ID. More on responsible gaming.

Show all regions
+56 2 2589 3000All regions · Superintendencia de Casinos de Juego — Central Telefónica

Practice: one round, in order

Ten moments from a round at these tables, from the bet to the settlement, each with the question the table puts to you and the line of the catalogue that answers it. Nothing here is scored: it is a reference in the shape of a round.

The practice table needs JavaScript. Here is one moment from it, with the answer.

These table rules · the national catalogue of games · six decks · every card dealt face up

Dealer

99

You

101055

Every hand has its two cards and it is your turn. How many cards does the dealer have on the felt?

The answer: One, face up.

One card, face up. The dealer deals a card to every hand, then one to the dealer, then a second card to every hand; every card is dealt face up, and the dealer finishes the house hand only after the players have played.

Cuando se hayan efectuado todas las apuestas el croupier distribuye una carta a cada mano, comenzando por su izquierda y siguiendo el sentido de las agujas del reloj. Luego el mismo se da una carta.

Free translation: When all the bets have been placed, the dealer deals one card to each hand, starting from his left and proceeding clockwise. Then he deals himself a card.

Después se distribuye una segunda carta a cada mano de los jugadores, siempre en el mismo orden.

Free translation: Then a second card is dealt to each player's hand, always in the same order.

Superintendencia de Casinos de Juego (SCJ) · Catálogo de Juegos que podrán desarrollarse en los casinos de juego (texto de marzo 2023) · section III.1 Black Jack (modalidad Black Jack o Veintiuno); I. Cuestiones generales · read
Cuando se hayan efectuado todas las apuestas el croupier distribuye una carta a cada mano, comenzando por su izquierda y siguiendo el sentido de las agujas del reloj. Luego el mismo se da una carta.

Free translation: When all the bets have been placed, the dealer deals one card to each hand, starting from his left and proceeding clockwise. Then he deals himself a card.

Todas las cartas se distribuyen siempre descubiertas.

Free translation: All cards are always dealt face up.

Una vez que los jugadores han hecho su juego, el croupier termina su mano, dándose a sí mismo una o varias cartas

Free translation: Once the players have made their play, the dealer finishes his hand, giving himself one or several cards

Superintendencia de Casinos de Juego (SCJ) · Catálogo de Juegos que podrán desarrollarse en los casinos de juego (texto de marzo 2023) · section III.1 Black Jack, Distribución de cartas; a) Juego simple · read

The other moments work the same way: one moment of a round, the question the table puts to you, and the line of the catalogue that answers it.

How the practice works

The moments. All ten are fixed, not dealt: each is one step of the round or one of the special cases the catalogue names. The one figure among them comes from the same engine as the figures on this page.

No score. There is no round to pass and no threshold. Your answers stay in this browser, and nothing is sent anywhere.

Check yourself

Maya with a finger raised and a knowing look.

Mayaformer floor supervisor · manners, money and breaks

Five quick ones. Pick an answer, then check it. No timer, no points: just whether it stuck.

A question marked “New situation” asks you to use the lesson on a case it did not show.

1At a blackjack table in Chile, while you decide what to do with your hand, what does the dealer have on the felt?

Show the answer

Answer: One card, face up. One card, face up. The dealer deals a card to every hand, takes one, and deals every hand a second card; all of them face up. The dealer’s second card comes after the players.

  • One card, face up Right. The dealer takes one card after the players’ first cards, and the second only once every player has finished.
  • Two cards, one of them face down Not at these tables: every card is dealt face up, and there is no face-down card at all.
  • None: the dealer deals only to the players at first The dealer takes a card at the start of the round, right after the first card to every hand.
2The dealer’s card is an ace. When is the insurance offered?

Show the answer

Answer: After the second card to every hand, and before the dealer’s second card. To every player still holding a bet, once the second card has gone to every hand and before the dealer takes a second card.

  • After the second card to every hand, and before the dealer’s second card Right: the offer comes between the deal and the dealer’s second card.
  • After every player has finished By then it would be too late: the dealer takes the second card as soon as the players have finished.
  • Before the first card is dealt An insurance bet needs an ace in front of the dealer, and there is no dealer card before the deal.
3You stood on 18. The dealer takes a second card and more, and goes over 21. What happens to your bet?

Show the answer

Answer: It is paid: the dealer over 21 pays every bet still on the felt. A dealer over 21 pays every bet still on the felt — which is every hand that did not go over 21 first.

  • It is lost, because 18 was lower than the dealer’s cards The dealer’s cards add up to more than 21, which is a loss for the house against every hand still in.
  • It comes back, and nothing is paid Nothing to tie with: a dealer over 21 has lost to every hand still in the round.
  • It is paid: the dealer over 21 pays every bet still on the felt Right. Your hand never went over 21, so its bet was still on the felt.
4Your two cards are an ace and a queen. The dealer’s card is a 6. When is your blackjack paid?

Show the answer

Answer: At once, 3 to 2. At once. With anything but an ace, a 10 or a face card in front of the dealer, the dealer cannot make blackjack, and the payment is made immediately.

  • At once, 1 to 1 A blackjack is paid 3 to 2. The 1 to 1 offer is for the moment when the dealer’s card is an ace.
  • At the end of the round, with everyone else A blackjack waits only behind an ace, a 10 or a face card. Behind a 6 it is paid at once.
  • At once, 3 to 2 Right. With anything but an ace, a 10 or a face card in front of the dealer, a blackjack is paid straight away.
5You hold a two-card 11. The dealer’s card is a 10, and a dealer blackjack would show itself only after you have played. On an example bet of 10 units, what do the figures on this page say? new situation

Show the answer

Answer: Take one card without doubling: on these figures it is worth 0.23 units more. The catalogue does not say whether a dealer blackjack also takes the second bet of a double; the figures assume that it does. On that reading, taking one card without doubling is worth 0.23 units more against a 10. A dealer showing a 10 makes blackjack on 7.7% of hands.

  • Take one card without doubling: on these figures it is worth 0.23 units more Right, on the costlier reading the figures take. Doubling is worth +0.08 units on an example bet of 10 units and taking a card +0.31 units: a dealer blackjack, turned up after you play, would take the double too.
  • Double: 11 is the hand made for doubling Against most cards it is. Against a 10, at tables where a dealer blackjack shows itself only after you play, doubling is worth +0.08 units on an example bet of 10 units, less than the +0.31 units of a plain card — if the blackjack takes the double, as these figures assume.
  • Stand: a dealer 10 is too strong to put more money against Standing on 11 throws away a free card: no single card can take 11 over 21.

Where to play, and further reading

18+ across Chile · Play responsibly · the help box is further up this page

Further reading

How it’s worked out

Rules, numbers and hosts

Rules. Every step on this page follows the catalogue of games the Superintendencia de Casinos de Juego (SCJ) sets for every casino in Chile, the modality “Black Jack o Veintiuno”: six decks, every card dealt face up, the dealer’s second card after the players, the dealer drawing on 16 or less and stopping on every 17, blackjack paid 3 to 2. Each button shows the catalogue’s own sentence, in Spanish, with the section and the date we read it. The catalogue does not say whether a dealer blackjack also takes a second bet or a split; the figures assume that it does, the costlier reading. It is a preset for learning, not a statement about any one casino.

Numbers. Every figure is worked out when the page is built, by our blackjack engine. How often the dealer makes blackjack behind a face-up card is counted over every order in which the dealer’s next card can come out of a six-deck shoe with that card taken out; your own cards are not taken out, so with them in view the figures shift slightly. The value of a move is its average result over every two-card hand of the total, on an example bet of 10 units; the house edge assumes the full chart and cards shuffled after every hand. Amounts are in betting units.

Hosts. Leo and Maya are illustrated characters. Their backstories, a former dealer and a former floor supervisor, are written for the course: neither is a real person, and neither speaks for any casino. The rules and numbers on this page come from the sources it cites, not from their experience.

No promise. Blackjack is played against the house. This page describes the order of a round and the price that order carries; nothing here says how an evening will end.

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