Your goal is to draw cards that total 21, or come closer to 21 than the dealer without going over. The dealer and each player start with two cards. The dealer's first card faces up, the second faces down. Face cards each count as 10, Aces count as 1 or 11, all others count at face value.
A soft 17 includes an Ace being counted as 11. Ace-6 is a soft 17, as are Ace-2-4, Ace-3-3, Ace-Ace-5 and others. When the dealer hits soft 17, the house edge against a basic strategy player is about two-tenths of a percent higher than if he stands.