What changes
The goal is the same as in Blackjack: get closer to 21 than the dealer without going over. Four rules make the difference.
- No hole card. The dealer doesn’t check for blackjack before you play: the second card comes after you.
- Fewer doubles. You double only on a hard 9, 10 or 11 with two cards, and never after a split.
- One split. A pair becomes two hands, no more.
- A dealer blackjack takes everything. If the dealer makes blackjack, you also lose what you added to double or split.
Card values
- Cards 2 to 10 are worth their number. Jacks, queens and kings are worth 10.
- An ace counts as 1 or 11, whichever helps your hand. A hand where the ace counts as 11 is soft.
A blackjack is a two-card 21: an ace and a card worth 10. It beats every other 21.
Bets
The main bet goes from €5 to €10,000.
How a hand goes
The deal
You get two cards face up. The dealer gets just one, also face up.
Insurance
If the dealer’s card is an ace, you can take insurance for half your bet. It pays 2 to 1 if the dealer’s second card makes a blackjack.
You play
Hit, stand, double or split, as explained below. Over 21 you bust and lose your bet. A blackjack pays 3 to 2, unless the dealer makes blackjack too: then the bet is pushed.
The dealer plays
The dealer draws a second card, then keeps drawing to 17 or more. The dealer stands on all 17s, soft ones included. If the dealer goes over 21, every hand still in play wins.
Your decisions
- Hit: take one more card, as many times as you like.
- Stand: keep your total and hand over to the dealer.
- Double: on a hard 9, 10 or 11 with two cards, double your bet and take exactly one more card.
- Split: two cards of the same value become two hands, each with a bet equal to the first. You split once only. Split aces get one card each, and a 21 made after a split counts as 21, not blackjack.
Pays
| Result | Pays |
|---|---|
| Blackjack | 3 to 2 |
| Winning hand | 1 to 1 |
| Tie | Push |
| Insurance | 2 to 1 |
Basic strategy
Without a hole card, doubling or splitting against a dealer 10 or ace can lose it all to a blackjack, so the right play is more careful there. The “Show best play” option gives you the play worth the most, hand by hand, for this table’s rules. Following it, you lose €0.52 for every €100 bet on average.
Return to player
The return to player (RTP) is the share of all money bet that comes back to players over the long run, stakes included.
| Bet | Return to player | Method |
|---|---|---|
| Main bet | 99.48% | simulation of 2 billion hands, basic strategy (± 0.005%) |
| Insurance | 93.20% | exact count |
The 2-deck shoe is shuffled by the server before every hand with the operating system’s cryptographic random generator, so counting cards gets you nowhere.