Blackjack rules and procedures

Hi everyone, I'm putting together a blackjack game and teaching myself programming skills at the same time, I have some questions about blackjack where I've not had success finding answers on the Web, thanks in advance if anyone can help. I'm trying to get as close to the procedures in a Las Vegas casino as I can.

1) A blackjack on a split hand does not count as a natural blackjack and only pays out 1:1, but does it still beat a dealer's non-blackjack 21? or is that a push?

2) In the above case, if the dealer does not peek at the hole card and gets a blackjack himself is that a push? Or is the player's split hand blackjack inferior?

3) I read that the house rounds chip calculations in its favour, does this include the following...
Surrendering a $25 bet loses $13?
A 3:2 blackjack payout on a $25 bet wins $37?

4) When splitting a hand, is a second card dealt immediately to both hands, or to the second hand only when the first is played out?

5) Under what circumstances does the dealer not play his hand? I imagine that there's no point if everyone has either bust out or has blackjacks.

6) If the dealer does not play his hand does he still turn over the hole card?

Thanks.

Welcome to the forum,

Quote: tmcneil

Hi everyone, I'm putting together a blackjack game and teaching myself programming skills at the same time, I have some questions about blackjack where I've not had success finding answers on the Web, thanks in advance if anyone can help. I'm trying to get as close to the procedures in a Las Vegas casino as I can.

A blackjack on a split hand does not count as a natural blackjack and only pays out 1:1, but does it still beat a dealer's non-blackjack 21? or is that a push?

It would be a push

Quote:

In the above case, if the dealer does not peek at the hole card and gets a blackjack himself is that a push? Or is the player's split hand blackjack inferior?

A ten card and Ace from a split hand is just a 21. A dealer Blackjack would beat it.

Quote:

I read that the house rounds chip calculations in its favour, does this include the following...
Surrendering a $25 bet loses $13?
A 3:2 blackjack payout on a $25 bet wins $37?

I can only confirm that UK casinos do not round: They issue 50 p chips which cannot be played, but when you have two of them, you can colour them up to £1

Quote:

When splitting a hand, is a second card dealt immediately to both hands, or to the second hand only when the first is played out?

When the hand is split, one card is dealt to each of the new hands. Then those hands are played out separately.

Quote:

Under what circumstances does the dealer not play his hand? I imagine that there's no point if everyone has either bust out or has blackjacks.

If there is nothing to decide, then he should not play his hand. If any side bet needs resolving, he would play out. Most casinos I've encountered, reveal the hole card, but they might not. in a no hole card game(European rules), they might not deal it if all players have BJ and the dealers card is not ace or ten.

Quote:

If the dealer does not play his hand does he still turn over the hole card?

In games I've seen, he does. May vary.

Hi tmcneil,
based on my experience where I play, and in some casinos in Vegas as well:
1 - push
2 - loss
3 - Round up in the player's favor. They have pink chips worth $2.5, but if you bet it, for example $12.5 and get a Blackjack, you get $19, so the pink one gives $4 instead of $3.75. That is the only case where rounding is required.
4 - where I play they first play the first hand before, so you don't know your second card on the second hand until you finish the first (which can be annoying)
5 - if he doesnt need to, but he always shows the hole card explicitly.
6 - yes

Thanks to both of you for your useful responses, I have one more question about splitting please.
How common or rare is it to be allowed to split two value '10' cards of different ranks? e.g. can you split a K and Q?
I'm aware it's not best play to split 10s, but I have conflicting evidence of what the normal rules are.

Thanks

I would say normal rules is that you can. I personally have never seen a table where you can't split different 10s, but I haven't played in that many places and I know such tables exist somewhere, although I don't know why..