21 Blackjack Etiquette Rules You Should Follow in a Casino

Today, we’re going to look at the etiquette of playing blackjack in a land-based casino. We all know that there are lots of rules for playing blackjack, and they’re available to everyone to review – just ask for a copy of the casino’s rules and they’ll be happy to give them to you.

But what about the unwritten rules, the ones you don’t learn at the game?

Here’s the down and dirty on those rules, including for some of them the ‘why’ of those rules being in place.

Once you have finished this article, you will know all the important ‘unwritten rules’ of blackjack in a casino.  You will also know that whatever you do can be fixed, and we’ve probably seen it before.  So it’s no big deal, whatever mistake it is.

Let’s get started:

1. Don't Hand Money to the Dealer

First up, don’t hand your money to the dealer.  The dealer isn’t allowed to take anything from your hand.  No chips (called cheques in the business), no cash, not your player’s club card, nothing.  And the reason is because the cameras cannot see what else you may have handed to him, or what he may have handed to you.

2. Keep Cards on the Table

Never remove your cards from the table.  They must stay over the apron – which means inside the rail that surrounds the table.

Speaking of cameras, every table in a casino has several cameras watching it.  As a sidebar, in a medium-sized casino, there are approximately 900 cameras on the gaming floor.  There is a legal requirement that there is one directly above every table, and it is focused on the entire table, including an area that extends about a foot around the outside rail of the table.  This allows the camera to see (and record) the players’ laps, hands, pockets and so on.  And the dealer’s, too.

3. No Touching Chips Once Cards Are Dealt

Never touch your chips once the cards are being dealt.  As soon as the first card of the hand is out of the shoe, or in the air, no touching of your bet is allowed.  I know it’s hard to believe, but people do try to cheat in casinos.  Amazing, isn’t it?

4. Don't Touch Face-Up Cards

When playing on a game where the cards come out of a shoe, the cards will be dealt face up.  Don’t touch them and definitely don’t pick them up.  That’s a big no-no.

5. Stack Chips Clearly

The chips that make up your bet should be stacked so that they’re easy to read.  Which means they’re just like pancakes – the big ones go on the bottom.

6. Avoid Unsolicited Advice

Don’t tell your fellow players how to play, unless they ask you to help them.  Most players don’t understand even Basic Strategy, so offering unsolicited advice isn’t a good idea because they think they know better than you.

7. Use One Hand for Face-Down Cards

On some blackjack games, the cards are pitched to you, face down.  You should pick them up but only use one hand.  The reason is because it takes two hands to mark cards without being noticed.  A common way to do it is to have a ring with a sharp edge on the inside of your fingers and it’s easy to score the card with both hands.  Not so easy with only one hand.

8. Follow the No Mid-Shoe Entry Rule

Many casinos have a ‘no mid-shoe entry’ rule.  What is that?  It means that players aren’t allowed to join a game midway through a shoe.  Why would they do that?  Because sometimes, card counting teams can gain an advantage by doing it.  So the casino forbids it.  And because the card counters are only going to try it with a massive bet, many casinos have now said it’s okay to join a game in the middle of the shoe for up to a $100 bet.  So what that has done is protected the game from the card counters without inconveniencing the retail players.

9. Be Aware of Superstitions

A lot of players also believe that someone coming into a shoe in the middle can change the run of the cards.  It’s superstitious nonsense, of course, because the cards have no idea whether you’re going to split, double down or get dealt a blackjack.  But gamblers are a superstitious lot – so it’s a good idea to ‘take the temperature’ of the table before you jump in.

10. Asking the Dealer's Advice

 It’s okay to ask the dealer’s advice if you run into a hand that you don’t know how to play.  The dealer will very likely say some version of, ‘well, the book says . . .’ because dealers are trained never to tell a player how to play their money.  Only bad things can happen if the dealer tells the player how to play their hand, and the player then loses the hand.

11. Cut Cards Without Drama

When the cut card comes out, it’s usually up to the player to cut the shuffled decks.  Just slip the cut card into the decks, cutting the cards gently, and more than half a deck from each end of the decks you are offered.  No need for additional drama.

12.  Avoid Blackjack 6 to 5 Payouts

Don’t play any game that pays blackjack 6 to 5.  It increases the House Edge by 1.39%, which makes it almost impossible to win on that game.  So don’t even try – find a game that pays a blackjack 3 to 2.

13. No Cell Phones at the Table

Don’t use your cell phone to take or make a call, or to send a text at the table.  Between hands, get up and step away from the table.  The reason is there is a way that unscrupulous players can cheat by using a cellphone at the table, so the casinos don’t allow cell phone use at the table.

14. Be Careful with  Casino Photos

It used to be that no casino would allow you to take any photos inside the casino.  The reason?  Because this player may have told his wife he’s on a business trip to Detroit, and you have a picture of him playing blackjack with his administrative assistant.  Or the real life Ocean’s Eleven crew are actually taking pictures of the Cage and how the count team operates.  These days, everyone has a cellphone, so the casinos are more amenable to photos – just make sure you don’t have anything in the background that might make the security guys nervous.

15. Use Respectful Language

Don’t refer to the dealer as honey, sugar or sweetie.  It’s not okay and it’s a ‘where were you in 72’ moment.

16. Don't Blame the Dealer for Bad Cards

The dealer has no control over the cards.  They really don’t.  I remember dealing one afternoon, and a player said to me, give me a six’.  So I hit his hand with a King, and he started yelling at me, that’s not a 6, I asked for a  ^*#*&$^  6!’  All the other players were embarrassed, and of course, I couldn’t say anything.  So please, don’t blame the dealer for your losses.

17. Don’t Play While Drunk

You may think that you’re handling it fine, but you’re not.  And you make the other players uncomfortable.

18. Place Doubling/Splitting Chips Next to Bet

If you want to double down or split your hand, put the cheques next to your initial bet, not on top of the initial bet.  Putting more chips on top of your bet is a classic cheating move, and I’m sure you’re not trying to do that. 

19. Use Standard Hand Signals

Casinos are loud places, and it’s too easy to make a mistake if the player is telling you what they want.  With possible thousands at stake, it’s a concern for the casino.  So there is a standard set of hand signals that they like the players to use so the dealer (and the other players) all know what course of action you would like to take.

20. Tipping the Dealer is Encouraged

If the dealer has been friendly, helpful and a lot of fun, it’s totally okay to tip them.  In fact, in the US, dealers live on their tips.  In most of Europe, the casinos pay the dealers a living wage, because tipping isn’t allowed because the regulatory bodies don’t want the dealers beholden to the players.  In the US, they’re much more sanguine about that.

21. Respect Table Minimums and Maximums

Always pay attention to the minimum and maximum of the table.  Make sure your bet is within those parameters.

Expert's Advice

Playing blackjack is supposed to be fun, and it should be.  Don’t let anything bother you if you make a mistake.  Because everyone at the table learned how to play and how to deal at one time and didn’t know anything about the game.

I used to tell the newbie players that there wasn’t a mistake they could make that I didn’t make when I first started.

The dealer is there to help you.  It’s a part of their job, and I can assure you that whatever mistake you may make, the dealer has seen it before, and probably many more.

And the players made all the mistakes and a whole bunch more, too.

Always be aware that there is nothing you can do on a blackjack game that cannot be fixed.

Here’s a perfect example that actually happened in the pit I was dealing in. 

Playboy Club in London, break-in bunny dealer taps into her first ever live game. 

She’s very nervous – in fact, terrified.  Of course.

The air conditioning in the casino had gone out, it’s hot, so we deployed large table fans around the casino, on the floor.  They couldn’t be on the tables or up above table level, because they would interfere with the surveillance cameras and the sight lines for the supervisors.

She shuffles the 6 decks of cards, which were brand new, and as I’m sure you know, extremely slippery.

As she’s picking up the six decks (312 cards, a huge stack for her tiny hands) to load into the shoe, they slip out of her hands and fall to the floor.  But before they get to the floor, they have to go through the wash from one of the large table fans that is situated virtually under her left arm.

The cards are splashed all over the casino floor.  Literally, splashed into a ten-foot circle or more.

Was it fixable? 

Of course, we picked the cards up, sorted them, counted them and reshuffled,  and got the game started.  And she was fine – after a couple of weeks, she began to look like a real dealer. 

So no problem -  all was well.

So don’t worry and have fun.  Its why casinos were invented.

And btw – we have many articles on casino table games and slots in our Academy.  All articles are written by experts about the most popular casino games and how to play them.  They’re all written from the ‘what’s best for the player’ point of view, and they’re all free.

Conclusion

As I said, there is no mistake you can make that we haven’t seen before, and whatever it is, it can be fixed. 

Here are a few:

• Spilled drink on the table?  Most nights.
• Spilled drink into the chip tray?  Sure, too many to count.
• Player vomits into the chip tray?  Sadly, yes.  Only once, but what a mess.  Closed the table, cleaned all the chips, no problem.
• And of course, all the usual ones.  Signaled for a hit, didn’t want a hit.  Got a blackjack and tucked their cards.  Bust their hand and tucked their cards.  Dealer gives the wrong change?  Of course, too much, too little, you name it.

So don’t worry, the dealer will help you, especially if you ask.  It’s a part of their job, and they take it seriously.

Don’t pay too much attention to what the other players may say.  Many of them think they know a lot about the game and have a lot to say, but generally most of them don’t know the game very well.

And good luck out there. 

Someone has to win, it may as well be you!