10 Blackjack Variants You Should Know About

Blackjack is the most popular casino game in most of the Western world.  In many European casinos, roulette comes in a close second, with baccarat being the favored game in the casinos of Asia, but blackjack is the king of games in the West. 

In the beginning, single deck blackjack was the most common game and over the years, there have been many blackjack variations introduced. 

The most notable change was the addition of the multi-deck game – offering what was essentially the same game but dealt from a shoe and using 6 (sometimes 4 or as many as 8) decks.

Today we’re going to take a look at the most successful types of blackjack and how to play them to give yourself the best chance to win. 

We have compiled a series of articles explaining the rules and the most effective way to play the different types of blackjack we’re going to look at today. 

Access Chipy Academy and find a complete list of the games with in-depth explanations of how to play the various games, written by experts.  And the best part? They’re all free. 

Vegas Strip Rules

These are a defined set of rules that used to be a standard set of blackjack rules in the casinos on the Las Vegas Strip. 

They are:

• Blackjack pays 3 to 2.
• The game is dealt using 4 decks from a shoe.
• The dealer stands on Soft 17.
• You can double down on any two cards.
• Double down after a split is allowed.
• You can split up to three times into four hands.

These days, most of the casinos in Las Vegas, including the major Strip casinos such as Caesar’s Palace, Bellagio, and the Venetian have their own rules that may or may not reflect the old Strip rules.

The most important rule to look for is that a blackjack pays 3 to 2. 

Many of the Las Vegas Strip casinos have gone to a 6 to 5 payouts on blackjack for their retail games – that is their lower limit games. This is a terrible deal for the players, and games that only pay 6 to 5 for a blackjack should be avoided if possible.

You will find the higher minimum games in the High Limit rooms will pay 3 to 2 for a blackjack.

Generally speaking, the higher minimum games will have the more liberal rules, and frequently there will be blackjack games with different sets of rules within the same casino.

The games in the High Limit areas will have the most liberal rules but also the highest minimums and maximums. 

American Blackjack

American Blackjack is the standard game that most US players are familiar with.  

The game is the most popular casino game in the US and can be found in every casino in Las Vegas.

The object of the game is to get more than the dealer, without going over 21.

The players get two cards as part of the initial round of dealing, and the dealer gives herself two cards, an up card, and a face down hole card.

These days it is usually dealt out of a 6-deck shoe, although back in the day it was most commonly dealt from the hand using a single deck.

There are at least 30 or 40 variants, and today we’re going to explore a few of the more popular versions of the game.

European Blackjack

European Blackjack is a very similar game to the American version, with the major difference being that the dealer only gets one face up card in the initial deal.
 
Otherwise, the game is almost identical to American Blackjack, with double downs, splits and very similar rules to the American version.
 
It is most commonly found in the casinos of Europe but may also be found in Macao, Malaysia and Singapore.
 
I’ve never seen it or heard of it being anywhere in Las Vegas, although there may be a game or two hidden somewhere on the Strip.

Spanish 21

This is a popular version of the game that has a small but dedicated following in Las Vegas and across the US.  Spanish 21 is usually dealt from a shoe with 6 decks, with all the 10s removed – but the face cards all remain.

By removing all the 10-value cards, it increases the House Advantage up to approximately 2%, which means that the casino is free to offer much more liberal rules to make the game more attractive to the players. 

Pontoon

An Australian version of the game, very similar to the American game of Spanish 21, but also called Pontoon when played in it’s British form.  It has it’s own language, with a hit being called ‘Twist’, and if you want to stand, you tell the dealer ‘Stick’.

The game has some of the European Blackjack rules such as the dealer doesn’t receive a hole card, and you can redouble up to three times, even after receiving a hit card.

Pontoon is not offered in any Las Vegas casino.

Blackjack Switch

Used to be one of the most popular games in Las Vegas, although lately has fallen out of favor and now can only be found in a few casinos. 
 
All players must play two hands with an equal bet on each. 
 
The Blackjack Switch rules allow the players to switch the second card dealt to each of their two hands if they choose to.  Most of the other rules are similar to standard blackjack, including doubling down, splitting pairs and so on, but a dealer total of 22 means that all the remaining players’ hands are now a push.

Free Bet Blackjack

Today Free Bet Blackjack is probably the most popular true variant of the game in Las Vegas, with double downs and split bets being advanced to the players by the casino.  Geoff Hall, the inventor of this game also included the ‘a dealer 22 is a push for the player’s remaining hands’ rule on this game, which he took from the other game he invented, Blackjack Switch.

Single Deck Blackjack

In the mid-1950s, single deck blackjack was the most popular game on the casino floors throughout Nevada. In the early 1960s, Ed Thorp’s book, ‘Beat the Dealer’ explained to players how they could beat the game, and it became a much less profitable game for the casinos.  

So the casinos responded by changing the rules to make it more profitable again. 

They started dealing the game out of a multi-deck shoe, and added some other rules that would increase the House Advantage and limit the players’ ability to win.

Nowadays, it’s difficult to find a single deck game anywhere that pays 3 to 2 for a blackjack because the casinos have reduced the blackjack payout to 6 to 5. 

Which makes it impossible to win.

The casinos did this to discourage the advantage players from playing the single deck, because if you put card counting into the mix with a single deck, the game has a positive expectation for the players – and no casino wants to offer a game where the player is favored to win.

By making the blackjack payout 6 to 5, the casinos changed the House Advantage by 1.39% in their favor, making it virtually impossible to win.

Consequently, I can only recommend that you don’t play single deck blackjack with a 6 to 5 payout for blackjack.

Double Deck Blackjack

Double deck, on the other hand, is perhaps the best game to play.  As long as it pays 3 to 2 for a blackjack.  Again, many casinos have introduced the 6 to 5 pay out for a blackjack on their double deck games, limiting the players’ opportunity to win.

If you can find a double deck with a 3 to 2 blackjack payout, that’s the game to play.

The fewer decks in play, the lower the House Advantage working against the players, so the better it is for the players. 

You can find a good 3 to 2 double deck game in many of the casinos in Las Vegas.  And by ‘good’, I mean one where the dealer stands on a Soft 17.  That improves the HA in the player’s favor by 0.22%, and with a 3 to 2 blackjack payout, the game is a good one for the players to play.

Double Deck Blackjack is in most of the high limit rooms on the Strip with a $50 or more minimum bet.

You can also find it with a $10 or $15 minimum at Treasure Island and The Sahara on the Strip.

It is available in Las Vegas at many off-Strip locals casinos, including Arizona Charlie’s, Boulder Station, The Cannery, The M Resort, Sam’s Town, South Point, Silverton, Santa Fe Station, Red Rock, The Suncoast, The Rampart, Jerry’s Nugget, and Sunset Station.

In downtown Las Vegas it is also available at The California, the El Cortez, The Fremont and The Plaza.

Double Exposure Blackjack

Double Exposure Blackjack Is a game that I first saw at Bob Stupak’s ‘Vegas World’ when I first moved to Las Vegas. 

The Strat is there now – Bob Stupak and Lyle Berman made a deal that Berman would assist Stupak complete the property build-out after Bob ran out of the financing to complete the Stratosphere. (Full disclosure – I was part of the opening corporate team at the Stratosphere)

When I went to work at the Lady Luck downtown, Double Exposure was one of the most popular games we had.

The game is very similar to a standard blackjack game, except as follows:

• Both the dealer’s cards are dealt face up.
• The dealer wins all ties, except on a natural blackjack.
• A player blackjack pays even money.

The following rules yield a House Advantage of 0.66%.

1. The game is dealt from an 8-deck shoe.
2. Dealer stands on a Soft 17.
3. Double down only allowed on a hard 9, 10, and 11 and a soft 19 and 20.
4. Double down after a split is allowed.
5. Split only allowed once.

Because both the dealer’s cards are dealt face up, there is no guess work as to what you’re playing against.

Which means it’s very easy to make the ‘hit/stand/double down/split’ decision.

But it makes for some difficult decisions, too.

If you have a hand tied with the dealer’s hand, then you lose.  So you will find yourself hitting a 20 against a dealer’s 20.  Or a 19 against a dealer’s 19 and so on.

And a player blackjack pays even money, not 3 to 2, or even 6 to 5.

The game is still available in a few Las Vegas casinos, although it is becoming less popular as time goes on.

Expert Advice / Tips

We have many articles in the Academy that go into all the games listed above, with the exception of Double Exposure Blackjack. 

Each game comes with an article explaining how to play the game, what to look for when playing it and they all come complete with an in-depth analysis of all the features of the game.

And good luck.