1. Hitting with a stiff hand when dealer’s upcard is low: In general, you should stand against of a dealer’s upcard of 2-6 whenever you have a stiff hand (12-16). There is an exception when you have a 12 and dealer’s upcard is a 2 or 3. In this case, you should hit. You should hit against a dealer’s upcard of 7 or higher whenever you have a stiff hand (12-16).

2. Standing with a soft hand: A soft hand consists of an ace and other cards. Whenever you hold an ace and 2 through 6, you should always hit. You should double down (if possible) when dealer’s upcard is a 5 or 6.

3. No splitting when you have two 8s: Splitting the 8s significantly reduces the casino edge on this difficult hand.

4. Splitting a pair of two face cards or 10s: Don’t split a pair of faces or 10s easily. You should be aware of most of your gain in blackjack comes from being dealt either 20 or 21.

5. Not doubling down: You should always double down when you hold 10 or 11, except when dealer’s upcard is an ace. You should hit when you have a 10 and dealer’s upcard is a 10.

6. Not taking advantage of a weak dealer’s upcard: Against small upcard (2-6), you tend to split or double down whenever you can.

1. Royal flush: Royal flush is an ace-king-queen-jack-1o of the same suit. Royal flush is the best possible hand and it beats all other hands. The hands tie when two players have royal flushes.

2. Straight flush: Straight flush is five cards in numeric order of the same suite.  A straight flush can be 6-5-4-3-2 or K-Q-J-10-9 of the same suit. A straight flush which runs all the way to ace high is called royal flush.

3. Four-of-a-kind: Four-of-a-kind is four cards of the same rank. For example, four kings, or four 2s. Four-of-a-kind is also called quads. Four-of-a-kind with higher the ranked cards beats the four-of-a-kind of lower ranked cards. For example, four queens beats four jacks.

4. Full house: Full house is three cards of the same rank plus a pair of other ranked cards. For example, three queens and two jacks. The set of three ranked cards determines the value of the full house hand. For instance, a full house of 9-9-9-3-3 ranks higher than 8-8-8-A-A.

5. Flush: Flush is any five cards of the same suit. If two or more players are holding a flush, the flush containing the single highest card wins.

6. Straight: A straight is five cards in numeric order, not all of the same suit. If two or more players are holding a straight, the straight with the highest card wins. For example, Q-J-10-9-8 beats J-10-9-8-7.

7. Three-of-a-kind: Three-of-a-kind is three cards of the same rank with two other cards that are not paired. If two or more players hold a three-of-a-kind, the highest ranking set of three cards wins. For example, J-J-J-9-8 beats 5-5-5-A-K.

8. Two pair: Two pair is a pair of one rank, a pair of a different rank, and an unmatched fifth card. When two or more players hold a two pair, the player with the highest single pair wins. If two players, each have the same top pair, the player with the highest second pair wins.  For example, 8-8-7-7-A beats 8-8–6-6-K.  If two players’ hands each containing the same two pair, the player with the highest fifth card wins. For example, 8-8-7-7-A beats 8-8–7-7-K

9. One pair: One pair is two cards of the same rank along with three cards of different ranks. The highest-ranked pair wins. If two have the same pair, the highest card of remaining three cards determines the winner.

10. High card: A high-card hand is the lowest-ranking hand. It is five unmatched cards not of the same suit. If two players face each other with just high-card hands, the player of the highest-ranked card wins.

Casino Tipping

Offering tips is a customary practice in many casinos. Like most other service industry, casino employees make most of their income from tips. They rely heavily on tips they get from the people they serve in order to supplement their wages.

Tips at table are usually pooled based on shifts. Tips collected during a shift are calculated and divided for dealers who work at the same time. Unlike many other service industries, the extra buck you toss to your dealer does not go directly into his pocket.  Pooling eliminates any direct incentive for a dealer to cheat on behalf of a player.

So, under what circumstances is a tip to the dealer customary? The standard practice is to tip when you are winning. Tipping is a great way to show appreciation. It can change the way dealers and pit bosses treat you while you are sitting at the table.  However, it does not change the odds of the game you are playing.

How to tip the dealer?

The most common way of tipping your dealer is placing an extra bet in front of your regular bet. You can also place any amount on top of your bet for the dealer. Another common way of tipping your deal is leaving the dealer a chip or two when you leave the table after collecting your winning.

How much to tip?

Tipping does not have any hard-and-fast rules. Most dealer tips are based on how much you are winning or how much you are betting.

Below are few useful guidelines for tipping:

• To avoid tipping far more than you should, keep a very rough estimation of how much you have tipped.
• Spread out your tips and make them in small amounts. The frequency of tipping is more important than the amount of tip.
• Make a small side bet for the dealer when you first join a table.
• Observe how more-experienced players at your table give gratuities to the dealers.

Tipping Other Casino Employee

Table below shows the customary tip amounts for all the different casino employees who may serve your needs.

Casino Chips

Casinos make it easy for you to recognize the value of a color chip by having a denomination printed on the chip. The following is a comprehensive list of common casino-chip colors and their corresponding values:

• White color chip is worth $1
• Red color chip is worth $5
• Green color chip is worth $25
• Black color chip is worth $100
• Purple color chip is worth $500
• Burgundy color chip is worth $1000
• Brown color chip is worth $5000.