Section 2: The Deck
Required equipment
Schedule 2, section 4 requires blackjack to be played with five to eight standard decks of cards and two additional cutting cards. The combined decks form the stack from which the game is dealt.
Schedule 2, section 3(1) requires a blackjack table with a dealer position on one side and player positions on the opposite side. Section 3(3) requires the layout to be substantially the same as Diagram 2 unless the chief executive approves another layout.
Schedule 2, sections 13 and 14 require a player’s original wager to be made with chips placed in the appropriate betting area before the first card is dealt. An oral declaration does not constitute a wager under section 13(2).
Card values
- Under Schedule 2, section 5(1)(a), cards numbered 2 through 10 have their face values.
- Under Schedule 2, section 5(1)(b), jacks, queens, and kings each have a value of 10.
- Under Schedule 2, section 5(1)(c), an ace normally has a value of 11.
- Under Schedule 2, section 5(2), an ace instead has a value of 1 when counting it as 11 would produce a total greater than 21.
Table markings
Schedule 2, section 3(2) requires the layout to state that blackjack pays 3 to 2, that the dealer must stand on 17 and draw to 16, and that insurance pays 2 to 1.
Cutting and shoe preparation
Schedule 2, section 6 requires the dealer to place the first cutting card at the back of the stack and offer the cards to be cut. If the selected player refuses, the cut is offered clockwise; if no player accepts, the dealer or a gaming supervisor cuts the cards.
Schedule 2, section 6(8) directs the dealer to insert the first cutting card approximately one deck or more from the back of the stack. At a gaming supervisor’s discretion, it may instead be inserted between approximately one deck and approximately two-thirds of the way in from the back.
Schedule 2, section 20 requires all cards to be dealt from a purpose-designed dealing shoe positioned on the table to the dealer’s left. Cards are removed with the dealer’s left hand and placed face up in the proper layout area with the right hand.
Under Schedule 2, section 23, reaching the cutting card during a round does not interrupt that round. The dealer completes the round and then reshuffles; if the cutting card is the first card drawn for a new round, the cards are shuffled immediately.