1. Card values:
In blackjack, the cards are valued as follows:
An Ace can count as either 1 or 11.
The cards from 2 through 9 are valued as indicated.
The 10, Jack, Queen, and King are all valued at 10.
The suits of the cards do not have any meaning in the game.
2. How the cards are being dealed?
The dealer makes two passes around the table, so that everyone have two cards.
3. What's the purpose of the game?
Gaining a bigger hand than the dealer. The value of a hand is simply the sum of the point counts of each card in the hand. The maximum hand value is 21. Going over 21 means a loss. For example, a hand containing (5, 7, 9) has the value of 21. The Ace can be counted as either 1 or 11. You need not specify which value the Ace has. It's assumed to always have the value that makes the best hand. An example will illustrate: Suppose that you have the beginning hand (Ace, 6). This hand can be either 7 or 17. If you stop there, it will be 17. Let's assume that you draw another card to the hand and now have (Ace, 6, 3). Your total hand is now 20, counting the Ace as 11. Let's backtrack and assume that you had instead drawn a third card which was an 8. The hand is now (Ace, 6, 8) which totals 15. Notice that now the Ace must be counted as only 1 to avoid going over 21.
4. What is a Blackjack?
A blackjack, or natural, is a total of 21 in your first two cards. A blackjack is therefore an Ace and any ten-valued card, with the additional requirement that these be your first two cards. If you split a pair of Aces for example, and then draw a ten-valued card on one of the Aces, this is not a blackjack, but rather a total of 21. A player blackjack beats any dealer total other than a dealer's blackjack, including a dealer's regular 21. If both a player and the dealer make blackjack, the hand is a tie or push.
5. Hit or Stand?
Hit means you want another card from the pack. Stand means you stop at the current total. This is the most common decision a player must make during the game.