Commonly Used Blackjack Terms
Before you sit at a live blackjack table, it helps to know the rules and the basic terms.
Our list here gives an insightful retrospective of the most commonly used terms in Blackjack, heard in both land-based and online casinos. Keep reading to find out more about house edge, side bets, shoe penetration, and other important expressions.
House Edge
In blackjack, the house edge is the average share of each bet the casino keeps over time. The edge comes from the rules, mainly that the player must act first and can bust before the dealer plays. It does not come from the dealer watching your cards.
With basic strategy, the house edge at live tables is usually well under 1%, but it depends on the rules. Wizard of Odds lists Ezugi Unlimited Blackjack at 0.35% and Evolution’s Infinite Blackjack at 0.45% (source). A 6:5 blackjack payout adds about 1.39 percentage points (source). Mistakes cost more again.
Decks Used
Outside the casino, this game can be played with as little as one or two decks. On the other hand, when played on the casino floor (be it land-based or digital), around six to eight decks are used. For a game of BJ, an international 52-card deck is utilized, without jokers.
The number of decks is of particular interest to players who like to implement card counting techniques. As the number of decks increases, counting gets harder and the player’s edge shrinks. Wizard of Odds puts a single deck about 0.48% better for the player than eight decks, all else equal (source). Most live tables use six or eight decks, and some reshuffle often, so counting is rarely practical.
Surrender
Surrender in BJ is a strategy in which the punter may fold the hand risking only half of the bet rather than the entire amount. There are two different types of BJ surrender- Early and Late. Early Surrender is done before the dealer checks for blackjack, while Late Surrender is done after that. Late surrender lowers the house edge by less than 0.1%. Early surrender is worth more, about 0.24% to 0.39% depending on the dealer’s up card (source). Most live blackjack tables do not offer surrender at all.
A player’s decision to (or not to) surrender depends on whether the dealer hits or stands on soft 17. With late surrender, basic strategy surrenders in seven situations when the dealer hits soft 17, and four when the dealer stands on soft 17.
Dealer Hits Soft 17
First of all, we need to define what soft 17 represents. Any hand that features an ace valued at 11 is called a soft hand. So, there are several possible combinations such as an ace and six, or an ace in combination with two 3s.
When a hand has no aces or has one or more but they count as one, it’s called a hard hand, such as 10-7, ace-7-9. Soft and hard hands are not played in the same way. A soft hand cannot bust on the next card, so you can hit more freely. You hit soft 17 or less, and you stand on soft 19 or more. Soft 18 depends on the dealer’s card. A hard 17 or more always stands. Each casino decides what a dealer will do in this situation, meaning whether he/she “must stand on all 17s” or “hit soft 17”. When this rule is in effect, it favors the casino, as it reduces the player’s expected return by about 0.22% (source).
When the dealer hits a soft 17, punters will surrender 15 and 17 against an ace. A pair of 8’s is split against every hand except for when the dealer has an ace, in which case, it should be surrendered.
In the other scenario, when the dealer stands on all 17’s, players should surrender 16 against a 9, 10, or an ace. The exception is a pair of 8’s, which are never surrendered. They should be split against any dealer door card. In a situation when there’s a dealer’s 10-value card versus a 15 hand, the latter one should be surrendered.
Double On Any Two
When a player doubles his/her bet in the middle of a hand and receives one more card after that- this is called Double on Any Two or Double Down. This move is both profitable and risky because if a player is dealt a low card, he/she cannot hit again. For that reason, a player needs to learn in which situations it is smart to make this move, and in which ones to avoid it.
Basic strategy doubles a hard 11 against most dealer cards, a hard 10 against a 2 to 9, and a hard 9 against a 3 to 6. It also doubles some soft hands (soft 13 to 18) against a weak dealer card of 3 to 6. You should not double when the dealer’s card is strong, and you should not double hard totals of 12 or more.
Although particular situations may not always be favorable towards a punter, this tactic can increase the winning in the long run, if properly implemented. It should, by no means be utilized all the time with all hands, as it leads to a significant loss. Only when a punter is a clear frontrunner, as implied in these three scenarios, Doubling Down makes sense.
Double After Split
Double Down After Split (DDAS) is believed to be one of the best options for players. It represents the following scenario- when a player is dealt a pair and then decides to split it, and when again dealt to those split cards he/she can place an additional wager, equal to the original, and double the stakes on whichever half of the split.
The majority of casinos nowadays allow Doubling Down on any two original cards, and most of them also allow Doubling Down after splitting. It’s very important to check out the specific set of rules for each venue before sitting at the table- a player should never feel uncomfortable inquiring about the rules before the game.
Re-Split Rules
Analyzing the rules venues-wide, a player can notice that some of them even allow for re-splitting not only for 2 or 3 hands but until the player has as many as four hands. Some tables also allow you to double down after a split. That lets you double the bet on a split hand, which is a separate rule (see Double After Split).
When it comes to specific cards, aces and eights are the ones that split, while tens, fours, and fives should never be split- these are some general recommendations. In addition to this, there are situations when splitting depends on the dealer’s up card. Again, each player should check the rules before the game begins.
Hit Split Aces
When aces are not split, one of them values as 1 while the other counts as 11. For that reason, splitting a pair of aces is a move that makes sense, as there are many cards with a value of ten.
In case they remain unsplit, only a nine as the next card can result in 21. Also, most casinos give you only one card on each split ace.
Most casinos do not allow you to draw more cards to split aces, because allowing it would lower the house edge by about 0.19% in the player’s favour (source). Also, when this is permitted, it boosts the variance- one of the most illustrative examples would be four aces in a row, split in four hands, with the ability to hit and/or double down.
Insurance Pays
The Insurance bet is a side bet offered in the situation when the dealer has an ace as the up card. A player is then allowed to bet half of the original wager and it pays 2 to 1. In case the dealer’s second card is a ten, J, Q, or K, a dealer makes blackjacks, meaning- the Insurance bet wins.
Insurance pays 2 to 1, so it breaks even only if more than one third of the unseen cards are ten-valued. Normally it is less than that. The house edge on the insurance bet is about 5.9% with one deck, 6.8% with two, 7.4% with six and 7.5% with eight decks. Eight decks is the usual live table, so expect about 7.5%. Unless you count cards, avoid it. Card counting is rarely possible at live tables.
Blackjack Pays
This is one of the crucial things to pay attention to, as the payout percentage determines whether a table is worth sitting at or not. Casinos-wide, one may spot 3:2 as the most common ratio, while there are those offering 6:5 games on single decks or low limit games.
Expressed in money, the situation would look like this- in 3:2, for every 2 dollars placed, a player would get paid 3 dollars (1.5:1 odds), for a winning blackjack hand. In 6:5, for every 5 dollars placed, a punter is paid 6 dollars (1.2:1 odds).
The difference matters. A 6:5 payout raises the house edge by about 1.39 percentage points compared with 3:2 (source). Avoid 6:5 tables.
Dealer Peeks for BJ
When a dealer checks to see if he/she has Blackjack before the players start taking hits, this rule is called Peek or Dealer Peek. In case a dealer doesn’t check for blackjack if the up card is an ace or ten, it is called No Peek. On the other hand, Full No Peek means that the dealer will not check for Blackjack until all punters have taken their turn, regardless of the dealer’s up card.
Dealer Peeks is a fine rule from the player’s perspective, as it prevents him/ her from splitting and doubling down, increasing your bet only to find the dealer has Blackjack. In most establishments, the dealer can pay or take an insurance bet immediately after a peek at the down card, while in others, the payoff waits until the end of the play.
Bet Behind
This possibility allows punters to place a bet on another player’s hand, in both situations- when they are already participating in the game and when they are waiting. Even though this used to be an option exclusively reserved for brick and mortar facilities, it can be found in online casinos as well.
Some players like this option because it allows them to play even when all seats are occupied, or get more action if they are already in the game, placing a bet Behind on some other player. The opponents of this option say the biggest downfall is that the one betting behind cannot make strategy decisions and is “at the mercy of the player”.
Multi-Seat
The number of seats differs from venue to venue, but in online parlors, a provider also plays a significant role in determining how many players will be allowed per table. Some of them have 7 seats and also allow Bet Behind which creates massive multi-player scalability. The newest achievement in the field sees “infinite” tables, meaning an unlimited number of participants can play. Evolution launched Infinite Blackjack in October 2018 (report).
There are three different seating positions- First base, Third base, and Shortstop position. From the dealer’s perspective, the First is the one on the far left, while the Third represents the far right (the anchor). Shortstop is the one in the middle.
Shoe Penetration
Also known as deck penetration, the term refers to the percentage of cards that have been dealt before the dealer reshuffles the cards. Let’s take a single-deck of 52 cards as an example-if 34 cards have already been dealt, it means the shoe/deck penetration is 65%.
This is not as important to punters implementing basic strategies, however, it is of vital importance to card counters. The larger the shoe penetration, the situation is more favorable for the player, as it means more cards are dealt and “counted”, so the counting of the remaining part will be more accurate.
For this reason, many casinos limit card counting by reshuffling when one or more decks remain undealt. This applies to multi-deck games.
Multi-Table
As assumed from the name, this option allows one to play multiple tables at the same time. Whether permitted or not, each player should have a thorough knowledge of optimal strategies for a single table before he/she proceeds to playing on two or more simultaneously.
After mastering the skills and decision-making process on one table, a punter should then try two, then three, etc. Also, if one is interested in multi-tabling, a big bankroll is a must as well.
21+3 Side Bet
This is a type of side bet in BJ, based on the first two cards dealt to the player and the dealer’s face-up card. A player wins if the combination of these cards is some of the following: Suited trips (three identical cards, for example three Queens of Diamonds; this needs more than one deck), Straight Flush (such as J, Q, and K of Diamonds), then Three of a Kind (J of Diamonds, J of Clubs and J of Hearts, for example), Straight (such as 6 of Diamonds, 7 of Clubs, and 8 of Hearts), as well as Flush (e.g. J, K, and Ace of Diamonds).
The odds significantly vary from one venue to another, and before deciding whether to place it or not, players must familiarize themself with the odds. Side bets have a higher house edge than the main game. The house edge depends on the pay table and the number of decks. A common 9-to-1 version at six decks is 3.24%, while one low-paying version reaches 13.39% (source).
Perfect Pairs Side Bet
The start of the hand looks the same as in the standard game- both player and the dealer get two cards, but the side bet is different. In case one gets perfect pairs, one wins, but it also depends on how good a pair is.
Here are the possible combinations: a mixed pair (same rank, different colours), a coloured pair (same rank and colour, different suits) and a perfect pair (same rank and suit). Keep in mind that the payout for each of them varies from one facility to another, which dictates whether one should or should not play it. A common pay table is 25 to 1 for a perfect pair, 12 to 1 for a coloured pair and 6 to 1 for a mixed pair. The house edge is several percent and varies with the pay table (source). Always check the table’s own pay table.
Honey Bonus Side Bet
This type of side bets can be seen in venues powered by BetConstruct. In this one, wins are usually based on the punter’s initial two cards and the dealer’s up card. Here, a player bets on his/her and the dealer’s hands to make a poker style hand.
Those are the following: a three-of-a-kind (20:1), a straight (10:1), and a flush (5:1). The one exclusively added here is the suited blackjack bet, and what makes it particularly interesting is that it pays out 3:1 on top of a normal pay-out for a blackjack. In terms of HE, it can go as high as 15%.
Lucky7s Side Bet
One more type of side bet commonly seen in BetConstruct-equipped facilities, and it comes with the following payout: One 7 pays out 3:1, a pair of 7s (different suits) 25:1, a pair of suited sevens – 50:1, then three unsuited sevens – 100:1 and three suited sevens 500:1.
Overall, they don’t come with good RTP, and they are usually avoided by experienced players. Expressed in percentage, this bet comes with 50% HE.
Live blackjack provider FAQ
Who is the biggest live blackjack provider?
Evolution is the best known and, by most trade accounts, the largest live casino supplier. It runs studios in Europe, Canada and several US states. It also owns Ezugi and took over NetEnt in 2020. Playtech and Pragmatic Play are the other large names on this page.
Are live dealer games rigged? How are they tested?
Live games use real cards and dealers in a studio, so the result does not come from a computer-generated number. Regulators still set rules for live studios, and independent test houses such as eCOGRA audit them. Only play at casinos licensed in your country, and read the rules for each table.
What is the difference between Evolution and Pragmatic Play?
Evolution has been in live casino since 2006 and offers the wider choice of blackjack games, including unlimited-seat tables. Pragmatic Play entered live casino in 2018 when it bought Extreme Live Gaming, and it now streams from a studio in Bucharest. It also builds dedicated studios for single operators, such as Unibet. Compare the rules at each table, since these matter more than the brand.
Can I play live blackjack on mobile?
Yes. The main providers stream to phones and tablets in a browser. The difference is the layout. Tables with many side bets or several seats can feel crowded on a small screen, so try a table before you raise your stake.
Which providers offer infinite blackjack?
Evolution launched Infinite Blackjack in October 2018. It has unlimited seats, so you never wait for a place. Evolution has since added Power Blackjack to the same family. Ezugi, which Evolution owns, offers Unlimited Blackjack. Read more in our guide to infinite blackjack.
Speed
