Looking at "What is live blackjack?" means looking past the camera. Live dealer games stream a real table, a real dealer and real cards or a real wheel to a screen, with bets placed through buttons. Almost every classic game now has a live version, from blackjack and baccarat to roulette, craps and poker. How these tables work, how they compare with software versions and what happens behind the camera explains most of what players ask before taking a seat.
Online live blackjack works like a table in a casino, filmed from above, with the player's decisions sent through the screen and the dealer acting on them. Anyone can play live blackjack online wherever the operator is licensed and the player's age allows. Whether live blackjack is better than online software blackjack depends on taste: live tables are slower and more social, while software games deal faster and often allow smaller stakes.
Other classics have live versions too. Live dealer European roulette spins a real single zero wheel, often with a slow motion replay of the ball landing. Live dealer craps online uses a real layout and dice thrown by a dealer or a mechanical shooter, with bets placed on a screen version of the table. Live dealer Texas holdem poker is a casino game against the house rather than other players, dealt by a croupier in front of the camera.
People who ask how to become a live dealer usually find that studios hire and train their own staff. The job asks for clear speech, steady hands, comfort on camera and, for some tables, a second language, and training covers the rules, the pace of each game and the procedures for errors. Shifts are long and run through the night, since studios stream around the clock, and pay usually depends on the language and the games dealt.
Craps and holdem also run live, with the dice or cards on screen and the bets placed on a digital layout.
Players get the same starting chips and play set rounds, and the ranking goes by chip count at the end.
Live blackjack deals real cards from a shoe at the pace of a table, while software deals instantly from a random number generator.
Real dealers run the games in a studio, filmed from several cameras, and every round is logged with its result.
One of the scoreboards that record past results. It shows streaks, which help to follow the game but do not predict the next hand.