Blackjack’s biggest allure lies in its simplicity. The rules of this classic casino staple are easy to comprehend, or at least if one is playing the game in its purest form. You play against the house and your purpose is to get a hand total that is as close to 21 as possible without exceeding it. If your total is higher than the dealer’s, you receive a payout, if not, you lose. It really is as simple as this.

Deviations vary based on the rules of the game offered, and the rules of the region. For example, in some games, the dealer must stand on a Soft 17, that is, an Ace, plus any combination of cards equaling 6. This is called a “Stand 17” game. In other games, the dealer must hit on any Soft 17.
Blackjack usually plays with one to eight full decks of cards, but deck penetration and the depth of dealing also do matter, especially if one is counting cards. There is a general consensus among skilled blackjack players that fewer decks give the house the lowest advantage. The casino edge increases proportionately to the number of decks in play.
TIP: There is an comprehensive section on Blackjack Deviations in our Card Counting Training Course. To get a complete walk-through of the what, why, and how, along with memorization tips, check out the Video Training Course. Betting Deviations are times when you will change your bet. As the true count changes, the edge changes.

I use 21 deviations from K3. Then true count the start point as each deck is played out. Vegas is but a small section of blackjack on this planet.

The enormous popularity this casino mainstay enjoys worldwide has caused dozens of blackjack variations to pop up over the years. Some of those have only minor rule deviations while others are so odd that it almost feels like you are playing an entirely different game, so much so that at BlackjackExpert.com we have dedicated separate pages to some of these variations.

Blackjack Deviations

Rule deviations make the game all the more exciting, presenting players with more winning opportunities but it is also important to recognize that some adjustments are there for the simple purpose of giving the house a higher edge. Because of this, it is important to differentiate between the variations that work to your advantage and those that are in the casino’s favor. Continue reading to learn all the fine points of blackjack rule variations and why do they matter.

Common Rule Variations

The thing about casino games, including blackjack, is that they are always slightly rigged against the player so that the house can extract advantage and profit from its tables. This is not to say the casino is cheating you out of your money. There are various legal ways for the house to gain an edge over players and the simplest of them is by enforcing various adjustments to the rules that have a direct effect on the odds. Some of these adjustments actually work in your favor improving your odds while others are designed to hurt your long-term chances of winning.

For those of you who are not familiar with what the term “house edge” refers to, this is the built-in percentage the house collects from each bet made at its tables in the long run. The house edge in blackjack fluctuates wildly but it is safe to say it generally ranges between 0.50% and 1.00% when you follow basic strategy to the tee, making 21 one of the games with the lowest casino advantage.

So for example, if you join a blackjack table with a 1.00% house edge, bet $10 per hand, and play about 60 hands per hour, your action would amount to $600 per hour. Respectively, you are expected to lose $6 on average to the house over the course of time. This is not to say you will not turn a profit over the short term but the more hands you play, the closer you will inch to these expected results.

The house can improve its long-term edge by adjusting some of the basic rules of play at the blackjack tables. The most common rule deviations pertain to the number of decks in play, the dealers’ standing totals, the payouts on naturals, to splitting pairs, and doubling down. We cover all these rule variations in further depth below.

Number of Decks in Play

Blackjack usually plays with one to eight full decks of cards, but deck penetration and the depth of dealing also do matter, especially if one is counting cards. There is a general consensus among skilled blackjack players that fewer decks give the house the lowest advantage. The casino edge increases proportionately to the number of decks in play. From this, it follows that the most profitable tables are the ones using a single deck of cards.

The reason for this is quite simple – the number of decks affects your opportunities to profit from double downs as well as your odds of getting dealt blackjacks. You can easily figure out the probability of obtaining naturals when you know the number of cards in play.

For the purpose, you multiply the odds of receiving an ace by the odds of being dealt a ten-value card. A full deck contains 52 cards and respectively, there are only 4 aces and 16 cards that are assigned a value of ten.

We use the following formula: Pb = n(ace) x n(ten-value cards) x 2 where n indicates the number of aces and ten-value cards, and Pb corresponds to the probability of being dealt a blackjack. The result is then multiplied by 2 as we also take into account the order in which the cards are dealt, which can be either ace/ten or ten/ace.

Therefore, the calculations for a single-deck game run in the following manner: Pb = (4/52) x (16/51) x 2 = 0.04826 x 100 = 4.82%. We multiply by 100 to obtain the figure in the form of a percentage. Also, the overall number of cards in the second brackets is reduced to 51 instead of remaining 52 because you have supposedly already drawn one card, the ace.

We can use the same formula to calculate the probability of receiving a blackjack when multiple decks are in use. Respectively, the likelihood of getting naturals in a six-deck game will be Pb = (24/312) x (96/311) x 2 = 0.04748 x 100 = 4.74%. The difference of 0.08% appears minuscule but when it comes to gambling, things unfortunately do add up in the long run.

The smaller your chances of receiving blackjacks at a given table, the more the house edge increases because it is the naturals that give players the best value in this fascinating game. In a single-deck game where you use perfect basic strategy, the house edge is -0.013% whereas eight decks give the casino an advantage of 0.57%

Dealer Standing Rules

If you are reading this, you probably already know that blackjack dealers make no decisions whatsoever when playing their hands because they need to abide by fixed rules. The house gains an edge over players by forcing them to act on their hand before the dealer acts on theirs. However, the rules the dealer follows also bear consideration because can vary, sometimes even from table to table in the very same casino.

The general consensus in the blackjack community is that tables where the dealers stand on all totals of 17 are the best ones to play at. You may come across blackjack tables whose dealers are required to hit soft totals of 17. This gives the casino an extra 0.22% edge over you. Dealers who hit soft 17s have a higher probability of improving their totals to 18, 19, 20, or 21 as opposed to their colleagues who stand on all 17s. Luckily, the dealers’ standing rules are clearly written on the baize of the tables, making it easy to figure out which games to avoid.

Payout Variations

We already talked about how blackjacks are the most valuable hands in this game. Eagles landing casino reopening. This is so because naturals pay out at higher odds than regular winning hands which only offer you even money. So instead of profiting from a hand that occurs more rarely, you are paid the same amount you would receive for any other winning total.

Any table with a reduction in the casino odds of blackjacks is not worth your time and especially, your money. Always shoot for the games where naturals return at a rate of 3 to 2 and your net profits amount to one and a half times your original stake. A blackjack payout of 6 to 5 is a no go.

Beware of variations like Blackjack Switch, for example, where the dealer pushes with you on totals of 22 instead of going bust. There is no need to clarify that the tables where the dealers take all ties are also to be avoided.

Pair Splitting and Doubling Rule Variations

Doubling down and splitting are two of the most important betting actions at the blackjack table for the simple reason they help you to extract more value in favorable situations. Casinos would often resort to rule modifications to prevent this from happening. You may come across tables where doubling down is restricted only to some totals, usually, 9, 10, and 11. This cripples your chances of increasin