Your hometown is renovating its small casino into a destination resort by the waterfront. As a casino dealer, you are excited by the changes. However, the town leaders are worried they won't be able to generate enough interest in the casino if people don't know how to play.
They have invited you to explain to a crowd of potential gamblers how to play blackjack. "Casino dealers work in customer service," says Ryan Savelieff, a casino dealer. "They have to have good communication skills to listen to the players and to explain the game."
Read the excerpt below about blackjack, then answer the questions at the end.
Blackjack
The idea is to get closer to 21 than the dealer, without going over 21. Your hand is played against the hand of the dealer. The other players at the table don't matter. Therefore, there's no problem with anyone seeing the cards in your hand. In fact, sometimes the player cards are all dealt face up.
The suits don't mean anything in blackjack.
The value of a hand is simply the total of the points of each card. For example, if you have a three, a seven, and a nine, you have 19.
An ace can be either one or 11, depending on which makes the best hand. Imagine you have an ace and a six. That can be either seven or 17. If you don't take any more cards, it will be 17.
If you take another card and get a three, you will have 20. The ace automatically counts as 11, because that would make the best hand. If you had drawn an eight instead of a three, you would have a total of 15. The ace would automatically count as one, because otherwise you would be over 21.
A "soft" hand is when the ace can be counted as either one or 11 without going over ("busting") 21. If you had an ace and a six, that's a soft 17. You can always take another card with no danger of busting. However, if you had an ace, a six and a 10, the ace must count as one, because 11 would put you over 21. That's a "hard" 17.