Blackjack Anyone?
If you love the casino game blackjack of 21, then you are not alone. This game is undeniably still the most popular casino game and coincidentally the game in which the player has the best chance against the casino. Anyone who has played with even a little success can remember the excitement of a well played session or even better yet, a good run at the Blackjack table.
Maybe you are like me and many others out there who had the thought of trying to enjoy the game at home with friends. What an enjoyable experience. It is fun from either side of the table. Whether you are playing the house and dealer or if you are one of the players going against the house the fun and excitement are there. Just make sure you keep it small enough so nobody is going to lose a significant amount. In order to get set up to host a game, you will need some sort of blackjack table. This can be as simple as a screen printed felt layout or as fancy as a casino style table. The choice is yours, but you may want to go cheap until you are sure that you and your group will want to play regular enough to justify a nice table
You will obviously need some poker chips and once again these can range from a set of very nice clay casino poker chips to an economical set of 500 chips for as little as $40. While personal taste will factor in here, I recommend getting a chip of decent quality even to start out with. Something at least 10 grams in weight will do nicely. Keep in mind that these chips may also be used for other games such as poker (if you play this as well)
There are many other blackjack accessories you may opt to purchase to make the game authentic and easy to mange. Three items we can hardly do without are a dealing shoe (so you can use multiple decks, like the casinos), a discard holder (to keep up with the used cards until it is time to shuffle again), and an automatic card shuffler (since you will be shuffling multiple decks of cards all together). We also use a cut card to mark the shuffle point in the dealing shoe and if your dealer wants to seriously get into character he may want a green dealer visor.
Remember, whatever you do make sure everyone has fun win or lose. By doing this you will ensure the longevity of your game and may encourage others to host their own game.