Guide to Online Blackjack in Canada

Blackjack is one of the world’s most popular card games, especially at online casinos in Canada. Gamblers love the combination of skill and chance that lead to big wins, when they go head to head against the dealer.

If you’re new to the game or need a refresher course, we’ve got you covered with our online blackjack guide explaining everything you need to know to win. Canadian online blackjack has many variations, but in the end, players always try to end up with a score higher than the dealer without going over 21.

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Before you will beat the dealer, you can practice with our free blackjack game (flash based), or head to one of our recommended Canadian online blackjack casinos to start playing:

Best Online Blackjack Casinos

The Rules: How to Play Online Blackjack

Playing blackjack online is easy for veterans and newbies alike. Here’s our step-to-step guide:

• Place your bet (if you are playing Multi-Hand Blackjack you can choose more than one seat and place a bet on each spot).
• You will receive two cards, both facing up. Each card has a value, with the 2-10 cards value equaling their number; face cards (Jack, Queen and King) are worth 10 and Aces are worth either 1 or 11 points, depending on what’s most beneficial to the player.
• The dealer is also dealt two cards, one face up and one face down.
• The value of your hand is equal to the sum of your cards. Calculate the sum of your two cards, then decide if you’d like to hit, stand, split or double down (see the Glossary section below).
• You can continue taking additional cards until you decide to Stand, or if you ‘bust’, which means going over 21. Busting results in an automatic loss.
• The dealer plays his or her hand last, hitting until he/she reaches a certain plateau, often hard 17, or busts.
• You win if the sum of your cards is greater than the sum of the dealer’s cards (but not greater than 21), or if the dealer busts and you don’t.

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Blackjack Glossary

Bust: When your cards add up to over 21, you’re bust.

Bust Card: The single card that takes your hand to over 21.

Basic strategy: A system that you can memorize to tell you the best action to take with any hand.

Double down: When you’ve seen your hand you can double down by putting down a second bet and draw an extra card.

Even money: When the dealer has an ace and the player has blackjack, the player can take even money. It’s a form of insurance against the dealer beating you with their own blackjack.

Face-Down Game: A game where the first two cards dealt to players are face down.

Five Card Charlie: When you reach five cards without busting.

Flat bet: Putting the same bet on successive rounds.

Hard hand: Any hand that does not include an Ace counted as 11.

Heads Up: A single player competing against the dealer.

Hit: To ask the dealer for another card.

Hole card: The dealer’s second card, which is dealt face down and which the players can’t see.

Insurance: If the dealer has an Ace, the player can place a side bet that’s half the value of the original bet. If the dealer has blackjack, the player gets the bet and the value of the original bet back. If the dealer doesn’t have blackjack, all the money is lost.

Natural: Getting 21 with two cards, same as blackjack sometimes and also sometimes called a natural 21.

Paint: Slang for any picture card.

Pitch game: A blackjack game when the dealer’s using one or two decks.

Ploppy: A player who doesn’t understand the basic playing strategy.

Push: When the player and the dealer both have hands with the same total.

Soft: Any hand with An ace valued as 11.

Split: If a player is dealt two cards of the same value, they can opt to play each of them as separate hands and place two identical bets.

Stand: To ask for no more cards.

Stiff: Any hand where drawing another card could result in a bust.

Surrender: To give up on your hand and get back half of your bet.

Third base: The player to the dealer’s right – so the last person to act.

Upcard: The card that the dealer shows

Top 5 Tips for Online Blackjack

Tip 1 – There are a number of strategies players can and should try to use to reduce the house edge. Feel free to try our free blackjack game below while trying the strategies in our blackjack strategy page. Try to bring down the house advantage to less than 0.5%.

Tip 2 – There is no card counting online because the digital cards are shuffled after every hand.

Tip 3 – Be sure to check the bonus rules at your casino. Sites will often credit players only a small percentage of the wagering requirement for cashing out welcome bonuses.

Tip 4 – No matter how well you play, there is always going to be a house advantage in online blackjack, so don’t go chasing your losses.

Tip 5 – Blackjack is fun to play but be sure to cash out after a nice run of winning hands. More importantly, remember it’s just a game!

Progressive Blackjack – This is the big money game, for those in search of the millions! Similar to regular blackjack, Progressive Blackjack differs only in that it offers players an optional side bet for a chance to win an accumulating progressive jackpot. Players take chunks of the jackpot by drawing Aces. The more Aces drawn, the bigger the share of the pot received. If a player draws four Aces in a single hand, he or she wins the entire pot.