Blackjack
Blackjack is the most popular casino game in the world and the only casino game where you can actually have an advantage over the house if played correctly by Basic strategy and using some technics called Card counting.
The object of the game is simple: to achieve a total that is greater than that of the dealer, and which does not exceed 21. The dealer is your only opponent in the game and he must play according to a strict set of rules, leaving no decisions up to the dealer.
Blackjack is played in many variations at casinos with different table rules.
Much of blackjack's popularity is due to the mix of chance, skill and the publicity that surrounds card counting.
Play progress
To begin a game of blackjack you need to place your chips in the betting box.
Two cards are dealt to each player (face up). The dealer is dealt one or two cards depending on the rules. If he is dealt two cards one is face down (called "the hole card"). Each player in turn indicates to the dealer how he wishes to play his hand. After each player has finished his hand, the dealer will complete his hand, and then pay or collect the player bets.

If the player's hand value is greater than 21, he lost (this is called BUST).

The player wins if:
Values of the cards
What is a blackjack ?
A total of 21 in your first two cards is called blackjack. If you split your hand you can't get a blackjack anymore (even if you get 21).
Player decisions
After the initial two cards, the player has next choices:
How the dealer plays his hand
The dealer must play his hand in a specific way, with no choices allowed. There are two popular rule variations that determine what total the dealer must draw to. In any given casino, you can tell which rule is in effect by looking at the blackjack tabletop. It should be clearly labeled with one of these rules:
Basic strategy
An optimal way to play, based on the players cards and the dealers first card (the upcard) is called Basic strategy. These rules were determined by computer simulation and using mathematical probabilities. Basic strategy varies depending on the set of rules used in any given game.
Card counting
Strategy used to determine when a player has a probable advantage over the dealer by tracking the cards is called Card counting. The player tracks what cards have been played and assigns a value (also called tag) to each card. He adds this value to a running total called "the running count" (RC). If you divide the RC by the number of decks that haven't yet been dealt you get the "true count" (TC). This numbers are used to make betting and playing decisions. Advanced players may even deviate from basic strategy according to the count.
The system can be balanced or unbalanced.
If you sum all the tags and get a sum of zero, the system is balanced otherwise it is unbalanced. Balanced systems are more accurate but are harder to implement because you have to track the true count. The main advantage of an unbalanced system is that you don't need to convert the running count into a true count. Any positive value in the true count indicates an advantage for the player. The higher the positive count, the better the advantage. Most unbalanced system begin at a "Initial Running Count" (IRC). Using an IRC also means that zero is the pivot point at which the odds change to favor the player. Using an IRC guarantees that a positive count still signals a player advantage.

 Counting system   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10  J   Q   K   A   Level   BC   PE   IC 
Wizard
Ace/Five
000100000000−1B15450
Knock-Out 11111100−1−1−1−1−1U1985578
Uston
Plus-Minus
01111100−1−1−1−1−1B1955576
Hi-Lo 11111000−1−1−1−1−1B1975176
Hi-Opt I 01111000−1−1−1−10B1886185
Hi-Opt II 11221100−2−2−2−20B2916791
Mentor 1222210-1−2−2−2−2−1B2976280
Zen Count 11222100−2−2−2−2−1B2966385
Unbalanced
Zen 2
12222100−2−2−2−2−1U2976284
Omega II 1122210−1−2−2−2−20B2926785
Revere
Point Count
12222100−2−2−2−2-2B2995578
Uston APC 1223221−1−3−3−3−30B3916990
Uston SS 2223210−1−2−2−2−2-2U3995473
Wong Halves 1223210−1−2−2−2−2-2B3995672
 Revere RAPC  2334320-1−3−3−3−3-4B41005371
In UBJR IRC is calculated as:
Knock-Out-(decks-1)*4
Unbalanced Zen 2-(decks-1)*4
Uston SS-decks*2
Burn cards
After a shuffle and cut the dealer might "burn" several cards (usually 1-2, in some casinos even 6). The burned cards are placed in the discard tray. The impact on card counting is insignificant at best. Main purpose of burning a card is to protect from steering of the top card.
House advantage
The casino (or "the house") holds an advantage on most casino games. This is known as the House Edge. The house edge is defined as the casino profit expressed as a percentage of the player's original bet. It depends on the rules used in the game. Without using basic strategy it varies between 0.5% and 1%. With basic strategy it is 0.5% or less. Card counting can reverse the advantage up to 1% to the player.
Blackjack variations
There are many blackjack variations.
One of them is Double Attack blackjack which is implemented in UBJR.
Main differences to "regular" blackjack are: Other fixed rules are: If the bust bet is won, the payout depends on the dealer's third card:
ten3:1
nine6:1
eight8:1
seven10:1
six15:1

Two additional special payouts are: The house edge is about 0.63 % in this game variation.

Learning to play blackjack is very easy, mastering it needs a lot of practice. For more information search the web, it is full of articles about this interesting game.