» Different Blackjack Variations
Short history of Blackjack
Rules of different variations explained
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Variations of Blackjack
Blackjack’s earliest version was created during the 17th century. Since then, a number of blackjack variations have been developed with each version having it own online casino game. The differences of these blackjack variations can be seen in the deck number, payouts, doubling rules, side bets and splitting. However, most of them maintain the basic objective of getting a better hand than the dealer’s.
Vegas Strip Blackjack
Vegas strip blackjack is the typical American hole-card game that has some special rules that are not in the regular blackjack game. One of these rules is that doubling is allowed on any first two cards. Also, players can also double after split aces and the re-splitting of cards can be done three times.
Perfect Pairs Blackjack
Meanwhile, perfect pairs blackjack features special payouts for a side bet that a player can win if his first two cards are a pair of the same value, a pair of the same color or a pair of the same suit. For this blackjack variation, doubling is allowed on any first two cards and splits can be done twice. However, aces can only be split once.
Normally, the perfect pairs side bet wins a payout of 5:1 while the same color pair gives out a 10:1 payout. Meanwhile, the perfect pair payout is at 30:1. Despite the huge bonus payouts, side bets have low winning odds.
Progressive Blackjack
Progressive blackjack requires an additional bet per hand of $1 and it gives a chance to win the blackjack game’s progressive jackpot. Getting two aces wins you $25 while two aces of the same suit is worth $50. A combination of any three aces gives you $250. Hitting three aces of the same suit wins you $2500 while quadruple aces win you 10% of the progressive jackpot. Four aces of the same suit lets you take home the progressive jackpot.
Pontoon
Pontoon is a British-style blackjack game that has “Stick”, “Twist” and “Buy” options. Also a ten card and an ace hand is called a Pontoon and not a blackjack. Hitting a Pontoon pays 2:1 while a five-card hand that is equal or less than 21 beats all other cards except a Pontoon. Splits can be done twice while doubling can be done only once in a two to four-card hand.
Pontoon also allows hits after a double and a player can hit on a combination of 14 or less. Also, the dealer wins all tied hands. There is also a switch blackjack wherein the second cards of the two hands can be swapped. However, a blackjack combination for this variation only pays 1:1.
Super 21 Blackjack
Finally, Super 21 blackjack offer a lot of bonuses and special payouts for five or six-card hand variations that amount to 21. For a five-card hand, the combination must be five, two, three, jack and ace. For the six-hand combination, it is two, three, four, five, six and ace. For the Diamond Blackjack, it must contain the jack of diamonds and the ace of diamonds.
Super 21 is played with one deck and the Diamond Blackjack pays 2:1. In the case of blackjacks of both the player and the dealer, the player wins the pot. Splits can be done thrice and double downs can be achieved after a split. If a player has a six-card hand with a combination amounting to 20, it still beats the dealer’s blackjack. Getting a total of 21 in a five-card combination or more pays 2:1.
Blackjack pays 1:1 while aces can only be re-split once.
These are just some of the blackjack variations available. There are still other variations such as the Chinese Blackjack, Spanish 21 Blackjack and Double Exposure Blackjack. To know more about these games, you can check out the blackjack variations catalog in your favourite online casino. You might as well check the rules of the different variations of blackjack before playing the game.
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 Written By Lawrence |
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