Playing blackjack casino online is virtually the same as playing it in a real casino. One of the benefits with playing black jack online - especially if you are a newbie - is that it is much more relaxing and convenient to sit by your computer in the comfort of your own home and learn the game, than have to travel to a casino where everybody is watching all your steps.

Whether you play blackjack at a casino or on a website or even if you just play black jack for fun, you have to follow the black jack game rules. To win the black jack game you have to:

• Score the highest total you can without "going bust" (over 21)

• Beat the dealer's score

Dont let this intimidate you. You can rest assured that the dealer is obligated to obey a strict set of rules to eliminate chance factors that may occur from the dealing process.

The more detailed rules of playing black jack varies from casino to casino, whether online of offline. The first thing you should do before you start to play black jack is to figure out the specific rules that apply to the casino you entered.

Experienced black jack players know that the dealer is required to draw a new card until he reaches 17. In one casino the dealer is allowed to hit a soft 17 in another casino this is not allowed.

A soft-17 hitting means the inclusion of an ace in the hand. Since it represents a value of 1 or 11, an ace and a six is called soft 17. Soft means that it may be treated as a total of 7. By contrast, a 10 and an 18 for example represent a fixed or hard total of 18, under all circumstances.

Other black jack rules can also vary from casino to casino, for example

• dealing style ("face up" versus "face down")

• the number of decks allowed in a "shoe" (a shoe is a collection of decks)

• minimum wagers

So know the black jack rules for the specific casino you play in before your start to play.