Blackjack Online Games

Beginner Guide on How to Play Blackjack

We have many versions of online blackjack you can play for real money at Ignition Casino or try for free before making the move, including two single deck games, one double deck, two basic six deck, European, Perfect Pairs and Zappit Blackjack.

Single Deck Blackjack

Fewer decks mean a decreased house edge, so if you have the opportunity to play Single Deck Blackjack, take it. But don’t forget that some casinos will add rules to Single Deck Blackjack to counteract the decreased house edge, such as offering 6-5 payouts for landing a blackjack. A 6-5 payout for blackjack removes 1.39% from your expected return.

We have two options for single deck blackjack games: The New Blackjack, and 21 Blackjack Classic. The New Blackjack game has a streamlined user interface and the buttons show up as they’re needed, making the screen less cluttered. It uses one deck that gets shuffled after each round, and the dealer hits on soft 17. The classic version replicates a blackjack table at a casino. It uses one deck and the dealer hits soft 17.

Double Deck Blackjack

Double Deck Blackjack game is almost as good as Single Deck Blackjack, and in the case of our casino, it’s even better. That’s because our Double Deck Blackjack requires the dealer to stand on soft 17 – a rule that favors players. The two decks are shuffled after each round.

European Blackjack

For all versions of online blackjack except European Blackjack, the dealer peeks for blackjack at the start of the round. In European Blackjack, the dealer does not peek for blackjack at the start of the round, so it’s possible that you could double your bet and lose to a dealer blackjack. Other European Blackjack rules include doubling being restricted to hard totals of 9 to 11, and the dealer standing on soft 17.

Perfect Pairs

Perfect Pairs is blackjack with a side bet that pays out when you land any pair in your initial two-card hand. You can win up to 25-1 on this side bet.

Zappit Blackjack

Eliminate hands of 15, 16 and 17 by using the “Zap” button in Zappit Blackjack. To compensate for this advantage, dealer scores of 22 result in a push – not a dealer bust.

 

How You Can Win Blackjack

The way you win a round of real money online blackjack dictates the size of your payout.

Blackjack

The best result is landing a 10-rank card and an Ace in your initial two-card hand. That’s called a blackjack (or a natural), which pay 3-2.

Normal Win

Standard wins in blackjack pay even-money, meaning you win exactly what you bet.

Push

When you and the dealer end up with the same score, it’s a push (a tie). Your bet is returned to you.

Insurance Payout

When the dealer’s upcard is an Ace, you’ll be asked if you want a side bet called Insurance, which costs half the amount of your original wager. The side bet pays 2-1 when the dealer does indeed have a blackjack, which would make you break even.

Surrender

In all of our blackjack games except Single Deck and Double Deck Blackjack, you have the option to surrender a hand. You’re essentially forfeiting the round, but you get to retrieve half of your bet.

If you fancy yourself a gambling pro or aficionado, then you better know your blackjack like the back of your hand.

True fact: Masters of the game can whittle the house edge under 1% - sometimes as low as 0.28%. This is significantly lower than other casino games.

Of course, that enticing percentage isn’t free though (nothing good ever is), and it takes dedication along with a measure of patience to learn the ins and outs of this action-packed table game.

The goal of blackjack is to get a better hand than the dealer without exceeding a score of 21. You can increase the number of cards in your hand in order to improve your score, but if you go over 21, you bust. Cards 2-10 are worth face value. Jacks, Queens, and Kings are worth 10, and Aces are worth 1 or 11; you control your Ace’s value.

 

Online Blackjack Rules

The rules generally depend on the online casino you play, so to make things easy we’re going to cover standard six-deck blackjack – available at Ignition Casino.

One rule you’ll always see written on the tables dictates what a dealer does with a score of 17. In our casino, when you play standard blackjack, the dealer has to hit on soft 17. In regular speak, that means the dealer will hit (take another card) if his 17 contains an 11-point Ace (it’s soft because the 11-point Ace can be converted to a 1-point Ace). He will stand on all other 17’s and above. You can adjust your strategy according to the dealer's actions.

In all the blackjack games available to gamble at Ignition, blackjacks (a hand containing an Ace and 10) pay 3-2.

There’s one exception: If you get a blackjack after splitting, it pays even-money – not 3-2.

You're free to split up to three hands, meaning you might have three blackjack hands going at once – pretty cool, right? Or,   surrender any first two cards. Split Aces receive only one card, and you can’t re-split them.

You can also double any two cards for a higher payout.

Six decks are used and shuffled after each round of our standard blackjack game.

Hit, Stand, Split, Double or Surrender

To improve your initial two-card hand, you’ve got the following basic options: Hit or Stand, Split, Double, Surrender.

• Hit will get you another card.

• Stand means you don’t want any additional cards. 

• Split divides your two-card hand into two individual hands. The dealer then add another card to each. You may only split a pair (two Sixes or two 10-rank cards).

• Double doubles your bet and deals you one more card.

• Surrender ends the round prematurely and retrieves half of your bet.

 

Blackjack Basic Strategy

Listen up. When professional blackjack players make quick decisions at the table, they’re not relying on intuition or their lucky rabbit’s foot.  The power lies in memorizing the right kind of blackjack strategy chart, one that details all the possible choices for every hand.

This is the first step to playing online blackjack for real money.

So if you want to start playing like a pro, then better school yourself and memorize a few charts. After that, it’s all about practice, which might not make you perfect but it’ll get you to the point when your decisions will come automatically.

We’ve included the three charts you need for a basic strategy for our standard six-deck blackjack. The first chart is the main one; this one is used in all situations except for splitting and soft hands. The second chart is for when you have a soft hand, and the third chart is for splitting. The number on the very top row of the charts are the dealer’s upcard. The numbers on the leftmost column represents your hand.

 

Table Legend

• H: Hit  

• S: Stand  

• D: Double  

• Sp: Split  

• Sr: Surrender