How to Set Up a Blackjack Game at Home

A home game is the cheapest way to get comfortable before you ever sit at a casino table. You deal at your own pace, nobody minds if you check a chart, and a bad session costs nothing. This page covers how to run one properly, and what to buy if you want it to feel like the real thing.

You need almost nothing to start. A deck of cards and something to bet with is a game. Everything below is about making it feel like a casino, which matters more than it sounds: the point of practising at home is that the habits carry over.

Run it like a casino

The reason to copy casino procedure is that it is the procedure you will be playing under later. Deal any other way and you practise the wrong habits.

• One person deals, and the dealer does not bet. The dealer plays a fixed rule, not a hunch: hit until 17, then stand. Decide before you start whether they hit or stand on soft 17, and write it down. That single rule is worth about 0.2% to the house.
• Bets go down before any card comes out. Once the first card is dealt, no bet changes.
• Deal face up. Casinos with shoes deal players' cards face up so nobody touches them. It is faster, it settles arguments, and it lets everyone at the table see the cards, which is the whole basis of counting.
• The dealer takes one card face down, the hole card, and only turns it over once every player has finished.
• Say your action, do not just gesture. Hit, stand, double, split. Then move the chips.
• Pay blackjacks 3 to 2. A 6 to 5 game costs the player about 1.4% and there is no reason to inflict it on yourself at home.
• Settle from the dealer's left to right, the same order you dealt.

Write your table rules on a card and leave it out: number of decks, whether the dealer hits soft 17, the blackjack payout, whether doubling after a split is allowed, whether surrender is on, and how many times a hand may be split. Those are exactly the rules the strategy chart on this site takes, so you can print a chart that matches your own table.

Deal a shoe, not a hand

If you want your home game to teach you anything about counting, deal from a shoe of four or more decks and use a cut card. A hand-held single deck plays differently, gets shuffled constantly, and gives you none of the practice at holding a count across many hands.

Set the cut card around three quarters of the way into the shoe. When it comes out, finish the hand and reshuffle. That is your penetration, and it is the single thing that decides whether counting is worth anything at that table.

What to buy

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Cards

Plastic cards cost more than paper and last many times longer. They survive drinks, they do not crease, and they keep a straight edge so nothing flashes as you deal.

• 100% plastic playing cardsCopag, KEM, and Bicycle Prestige are the usual choices. Buy them in the same quantity as the decks you plan to deal, in two colours so you can spot a stray card from another shoe.
• Bridge-size cardsNarrower than poker size, which is what most casinos deal and what fits a shoe best. Worth matching if you want the real feel. The set above comes in this size.

The table

A layout gives you betting circles, the payout line, and a surface cards slide across. A folding table gets you the shape and the padded rail as well.

• Blackjack layout or felt matThe cheapest way to make a kitchen table play like a real one. Roll it out, roll it up.
• Folding blackjack tableThe half-moon shape with a dealer position and a padded armrest. Takes storage space, but it is the real thing.

Dealing

If you want the shoe game this site teaches, rather than a hand-held single deck, these are what make it work.

• Dealing shoeGet one rated for the number of decks you deal, usually 4, 6, or 8. This is what stops the dealer holding a stack and keeps the deal honest.
• Discard trayHolds the dealt cards face down until the shuffle. It is also how players judge penetration, so it matters more than it looks. Usually sold together with the shoe.
• Cut cardA solid plastic card for cutting the shoe and marking where the shuffle happens. Usually comes with the shoe.
• Automatic card shufflerSaves time between shoes with six or eight decks. Note that a continuous shuffler makes counting pointless, which may or may not be what you want at home.

Chips

Chips are what make a home game feel like a casino instead of a card game. Weight and a decent edge design are most of the difference.

• Clay composite chip setHeavier and grippier than plastic, so they stack and cut properly. A 300 to 500 chip set covers a full table, and a set that does double duty for poker is the best value if you play both.
• Chip trayThe stepped rack the dealer works out of. Keeps the bank in order and the payouts quick.

At the table

Small things that settle arguments and keep the game moving.

• Basic strategy cardsPocket-size, plastic, and legal at almost every casino. You can also print the chart from this site for your exact rules, free.
• Dealer buttonUseful if you rotate the deal rather than having one person deal all night.

A reasonable first setup

If you want one answer rather than a list: a six-deck shoe, a discard tray, two colours of plastic bridge-size cards, a felt layout, and a 300-chip clay set. That gets you a table that plays exactly like the shoe games this site teaches, for less than a bad night at a real one.

Add a folding table later if the game sticks. It is the most expensive item here and the least necessary.

Then practise properly

A home game is good for procedure and pace. It is slow for drilling, because you deal maybe fifty hands an hour and you need thousands.

• Drill the chart in the Basic Strategy Trainer, which grades every decision.
• Hold a count through a full table in the Card Counting Trainer.
• Play a full shoe with simulated players in Play Blackjack, with the count and hints on until you no longer need them.