Dealer’s Playing Rules

After all the players have acted on their hands, the dealer turns over her hole card for all to see and either stands or hits her hand. She can not double down or split - those are options reserved for the players. Assuming she doesn’t have a natural, the dealer has to play her hand according to a fixed casino rule. In most casinos that rule is: Dealer must draw on all totals of 16 or less, and stand on all totals of 17 or more. The rule is always imprinted on the felt tabletop, and is usually stated as: Dealer must draw to 16 and stand on all 17s.
This blackjack rule is standard in most venues, including Atlantic City and Europe. However, many casinos have modi-fied the rule so that their dealers have to take a hit if they have a soft total of exactly 17. In that case, the rule imprinted on the felt is stated as: Dealer must hit soft 17s. It is understood that the dealer must draw to 16 and stand on hard 17.
When the dealer hits soft 17s, it is less favorable for the player and increases the casino’s edge by 0.2 %. This rule is mainly applied in downtown Las Vegas, some casinos on the Strip, and some casinos in Mississippi. At least it is easy to tell what rule applies by glancing at the tabletop, which is more than can be said for rarely posted rule variations on player doubling and splitting.

Payoffs

When the dealer has finished playing her hand, she compares it to all players’ hands that haven’t busted. As you’ve learned, any player who has a natural is an automatic winner if the dealer doesn’t also have a natural, and is paid off at 3 to 2. If the dealer peeked at her hole card at the start of the round, the naturals will already have been paid. If the dealer also has a natural, it is a push and no money is exchanged.
Of the rest of the players, those with a higher total than the dealer are paid even money; that is, the dealer will pay them an amount equal to their total wager. Players with a total count less than the dealer lose their bets. Any hand with a point total equal to the dealer’s is a push.