Tropez Casino
888
Monaco Gold Casino
Club Dice Casino
Home

 Noble Poker     

CDPoker

 

Titan Poker

 
 
Blackjack Rules

If you play regular Blackjack, you don't know what you're missing.

Blackjack is one of the most popular games in the world. Chances are you know how to play it. But chances also are that you don't know how to play it correctly. If you're a Blackjack fan, then you've heard about Basic Strategy, the universal strategy that minimizes the house edge to the point where a skilled counter can actually overcome the edge. But for some strange reason, very few people know about a very simple variation of Blackjack, called Blackjack Switch, that, when played correctly, yields a Perfect Strategy that can give you the edge. Let me ask you this, did you know that Blackjack Switch existed? Part of the reason for why few people know about this variation is because most Casinos don't offer it. There's a reason for that: Casinos are in the business to make money and this variation of Blackjack, when played correctly, actually gives the player the edge. The casinos that do offer it are betting that you don't know how to play it correctly. Blackjack Switch could not be simpler: it allows you to play 2 Blackjack hands simultaneously. To the lay person, this variation seems more complicated and the Basic Strategy less obvious Yet this variation allows you to do what is normally considered a classic cheating maneuver: trading cards between those two hands. The only catch is that a dealer 22 results in a push and Blackjack pays even money. If you're confused, don't worry, you don't need to understand any of this to win. And if the benefit of this type of switching does not seem obvious to you, then consider the following: say your two hands dealt are a 10,10 and an A,A. A simple switch of the cards and you have A,10 and A,10, two Blackjacks paying you even money each! The magic lies in knowing WHEN to switch. That's where Blackjack Wizard comes in to play, an advanced new program that makes you play every hand using Perfect Strategy so you start winning consistently at Blackjack while showing you where Blackjack Switch is offered so you can start winning today.

 

Blackjack Switch Rules (the technical stuff)

In Blackjack Switch, you are dealt two Blackjack hands against the same dealer card with the option of switching the 2nd card of each hand before any other cards are dealt. The following rules are followed in Blackjack Switch:

  • All rules are based on conventional blackjack unless otherwise noted.
  • Six decks are used.
  • Dealer hits a soft 17.
  • The player must make two bets of equal size.
  • Cards will be dealt face up.
  • The player may switch the 2nd card dealt to each hand. For example if one hand has 5,10 and the other has 10,6 the player may switch the 10 and 6 to have two hands of 11 and 20. The player may also switch cards to form a blackjack.
  • Player may double on any 2 cards.
  • Player may double after a split.
  • Player may only split once.
  • Winning player blackjacks pay even money.
  • A dealer total of 22 will push against any player total of 21 or less. A player blackjack will still beat a dealer 22.

    Blackjack Switch...playing 2 hands at once!

     

Blackjack Switch Basic Strategy (this is easier than it looks)

The Blackjack Switch Basic Strategy is a bit different from regular Basic Strategy due to the Dealer Push on 22 rule. This Basic Strategy chart tells you exactly how you should play every hand and depends on the cards you AND the dealer were dealt (player cards on the left, dealer cards on the top):
 

 

A Simple Example

What do you do if you are dealt a 3,6 against a Dealer 5?

Dealer Card

Your Hand

3 + 6 = 9

To find out what to do, first look at the dealer card, in this case a 5. Now you will concentrate solely on the 5 column in the Basic Strategy card above. To find out which row to look at, simply add your cards up, 3  + 6 = 9,  so we will look at row 9. If you confer with the card above, you will notice that the cell in column 5, row 9 has a 'D', which stands for "Double if allowed, otherwise Hit." That's exactly how we play that hand. This Basic Strategy is applicable at all times, regardless of how many cards have been dealt.

 

The Player's Advantage: To Switch or not to Switch (the hard part)

The Blackjack Switch Basic Strategy is not enough to give you an edge. You still need to know when to switch, and THAT'S where the player's advantage lies, if done correctly and used in conjunction with the Basic Strategy outlined above. The switch decision is complicated, however. Most of the time it will be obvious, but at critical times, it will be next to impossible to guess what to do without thoroughly calculating and comparing your options. To help you out, I have provided a table with the Expected Return of each and every single possible combination of hands. The Expected Return is based on every single possibility that could occur with that hand. The player hand is along the left column and the dealer's up card along the top column. To figure out when to switch, simply add the expected values by not switching and then by switching and play the pair of hands with the greater expected value.

Blackjack Switch Switching Strategy

Dealer 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 A
Player
5

-0.2699

-0.1888

-0.1506

-0.1108

-0.0711

-0.1565

-0.2214

-0.2975

-0.3952

-0.5506

6

-0.284

-0.2009

-0.1624

-0.1225

-0.0807

-0.1894

-0.2523

-0.3253

-0.4185

-0.568

7

-0.2556

-0.1723

-0.1342

-0.0938

-0.0546

-0.1166

-0.2561

-0.3268

-0.4105

-0.5802

8

-0.1696

-0.0882

-0.0516

-0.0152

0.0195

0.0351

-0.1047

-0.2526

-0.3466

-0.5216

9

-0.0719

0.0084

0.0399

0.0752

0.137

0.1253

0.0539

-0.0956

-0.2578

-0.4256

10

0.0616

0.2242

0.2827

0.343

0.3977

0.2728

0.171

0.0723

-0.0944

-0.3164

11

0.1752

0.3341

0.3885

0.4441

0.4959

0.337

0.2295

0.1151

-0.0104

-0.2657

12

-0.3561

-0.3002

-0.2778

-0.2524

-0.2104

-0.2488

-0.3064

-0.3734

-0.454

-0.5945

13

-0.4027

-0.3436

-0.2981

-0.2542

-0.2106

-0.3027

-0.3562

-0.4126

-0.4927

-0.6229

14

-0.4389

-0.3435

-0.2987

-0.2544

-0.2106

-0.3534

-0.3973

-0.4549

-0.5292

-0.6497

15

-0.438

-0.3434

-0.2987

-0.2549

-0.2116

-0.3939

-0.4402

-0.4941

-0.563

-0.6748

16

-0.4385

-0.3443

-0.2993

-0.2555

-0.2134

-0.4331

-0.4759

-0.5259

-0.5906

-0.6954

17

-0.3079

-0.2174

-0.176

-0.1378

-0.0988

-0.1737

-0.4451

-0.4788

-0.5155

-0.7004

18

-0.0414

0.0405

0.0709

0.1024

0.1313

0.3341

0.0437

-0.2427

-0.2912

-0.4994

19

0.2266

0.2983

0.3179

0.3441

0.3616

0.5508

0.5313

0.2264

-0.0672

-0.212

20

0.4829

0.5459

0.5587

0.5752

0.5874

0.7074

0.7304

0.6995

0.3847

0.0757

A,2

-0.09

-0.021

0.0106

0.0441

0.0774

0.075

0.0103

-0.0725

-0.2059

-0.4075

A,3

-0.1231

-0.0449

-0.0116

0.0224

0.0573

0.0332

-0.0238

-0.109

-0.2368

-0.43

A,4

-0.1471

-0.0663

-0.0338

0.001

0.0371

-0.0056

-0.0665

-0.1477

-0.2688

-0.4542

A,5

-0.1681

-0.0869

-0.0534

-0.0184

0.0242

-0.0474

-0.1066

-0.1855

-0.3022

-0.4786

A,6

-0.147

-0.0653

-0.0319

0.0105

0.0769

0.0039

-0.1184

-0.1904

-0.2961

-0.4926

A,7

-0.0394

0.045

0.0767

0.1203

0.1796

0.3369

0.0479

-0.1426

-0.2486

-0.4511

A,8

0.2276

0.3028

0.3226

0.3474

0.3638

0.5519

0.536

0.231

-0.07

-0.2178

A,9

0.484

0.5494

0.5606

0.5772

0.5887

0.7092

0.7308

0.7027

0.3858

0.0683

A,10

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

0.9255

0.6922

A,A

0.1841

0.3435

0.3982

0.4539

0.5083

0.3538

0.2471

0.1303

-0.0734

-0.3834

2,2

-0.2548

-0.175

-0.1386

-0.0809

0.0076

-0.1122

-0.1925

-0.2712

-0.3723

-0.5341

3,3

-0.2841

-0.2022

-0.1619

-0.108

-0.0167

-0.169

-0.2524

-0.3251

-0.4185

-0.568

4,4

-0.1693

-0.0882

-0.0508

-0.0136

0.0219

0.0367

-0.1036

-0.2524

-0.3459

-0.5206

5,5

0.063

0.2255

0.285

0.3488

0.4064

0.2775

0.1719

0.0718

-0.0946

-0.3163

6,6

-0.3573

-0.3001

-0.2592

-0.172

-0.0792

-0.2536

-0.3102

-0.3758

-0.4564

-0.5964

7,7

-0.4363

-0.2908

-0.2082

-0.123

-0.0375

-0.2061

-0.4026

-0.4611

-0.5367

-0.6551

8,8

-0.3168

-0.1276

-0.0523

0.0195

0.0952

0.0965

-0.1984

-0.5056

-0.5906

-0.6952

9,9

-0.0395

0.0432

0.0948

0.1642

0.2286

0.3362

0.1104

-0.1926

-0.2881

-0.4991

10,10

0.4829

0.5459

0.5587

0.5752

0.5874

0.7074

0.7304

0.6995

0.3847

0.0757

A Simple Example

You are dealt a 2,6 and a 4,8 against a Dealer 9, with the option of switching the 6 and 8, as shown below:

Dealer Card

Hand 1

            

Hand 2

 
2 + 6 = 8   4 + 8 = 12

The questions is: what is better, an 8 hand and 12 hand, or two 10 hands against that 9. To find the Expected Return of NOT switching, we add the cells of the table above corresponding to the 2,6 x 9 and the 4,8 x 9. To find those cells, we simply add the cards, 2+6 = 8 and 4 + 8 = 12, so we add the 8 x 9 and 12 x 9 cells together: -0.2526 + -0.3734 = -.626 (confer above in the table). In other words, you have two losing hands each with a negative expected return at this point which, together, have an even lower Expected Return. Now, if we switch the 6 and the 8, we get a 2,8 and 4,6 both equaling 10:

Dealer Card

Hand 1

            

Hand 2

 
2 + 8 = 10   4 + 6 = 10

In order to find the Expected Return of Switching, we add the 10 x 9 cell twice since we have two 10 hands: 0.0723 + 0.0723 = 0.1446. In other words, you now have two winning hands each with a positive expected return, which together give you an even bigger Expected Return. Since the Expected Return of switching is higher, you would switch the cards in this case.

You just went from having a very bad losing game to having a winning one!

To an experienced player, the switch decision in the previous example may have been obvious since a 10 hand against a 9 is "clearly" better than either an 8 or 12 hand due to the possibility of getting Blackjack. But what about a 2,8 and 10,9 against a dealer 2? It would take a very experienced and mathematically-gifted player to calculate that one without looking at the table (the answer is NOT to switch).

 

Blackjack Switch Perfect Strategy (putting it all together)

So we've seen the Basic Strategy for playing the Blackjack Switch rules and now know how to calculate whether to Switch or not. Either of these alone is not enough to make us win, though. Putting these two together, however, gives us an amazing edge over the house! All you have to do to keep winning consistently at Blackjack Switch is:

1) Determine correctly whether to switch or not at the beginning of every game as per the table above.

2) Play each hand according to the Blackjack Switch Basic Strategy given before. 

Doing this will give you the most Perfect Strategy that exists today for Blackjack!  Think about it. With Blackjack Switch you get to play two hands simultaneously, so it's twice the fun.  You get to Switch cards, which gives you twice the advantage.  And now, you can play the Perfect Strategy, which gives you twice the wins!  There is absolutely no reason you would ever want to play any other Blackjack game at a Casino that offers Blackjack Switch as it is the ONLY Blackjack game that gives the player the edge without having to count cards.