Sidebet Blackjack
Free Blackjack is one of the most popular table games that can be played at online casinos and at land based venues and no matter where you decide to play, the thrills remain the same. The rules of the game are very simple, your ultimate goal is to beat the dealers hand without busting – if you can do this, you can scoop quite a fortune.
There are many variations of blackjack, which allow bets from high rollers to low limits as well as the inclusion of side bets – all of which are designed to add a little more excitement for the player. Read our review to see which bets are the best and how to beat the dealer.
How to Play
Prior to the game commencing, every player at the table will be dealt 2 cards from the dealer’s deck of cards – one of the dealer’s cards will be face up whilst the other is face down until the end of the game. Aces are worth 1 or 11 – whichever suits your hand, the face cards of 10, J, Q and K are all worth 10 and the number cards from 2 to 9 are at face value. Take a look at your cards and if you like what you see, you stand – if you need another card, you hit – this will see the dealer give you another card.
If you have a hand worth more than 21 – you will have bust and its game over for you. The dealer will continue until their hand is worth 17 or more. You can ask to double whilst playing, this will award you 1 card with the bet value doubled. You can choose to split if you have 2 of the same value card, this will split the hand into two hands. A double split is permitted on the first hand only and you cannot play two aces after a split. Doubling on a hand after a split will see your bet tripled or quadrupled.
Side Bets Time
Taking insurance against the dealer is not always the right thing to do – it’s an optional side bet and on that favours the house immensely. With insurance, players bet half their original bet when the dealer shows an ace – if they then turn a 10 straight after to get 21 (blackjack), the payout is 2:1. The odds of the dealer achieving a blackjack are just over 9:4 against with the payout being 2:1 – this is a house edge of 12% for every insurance bet made. Perfect pairs is another side bet – this is the bet that allows out to place a wager on your first two cards being a pair, which inevitably pays out a larger sum if the pair is the same colour suit. The typical payouts offered with perfect pairs are:
- 5:1 for mixed colour pairs
- 10:1 for same colour pairs
- 30:1 for same suit pairs.
Triple 7s (or super sevens) payouts are determined on the number of 7s you have in your hand and it is a relatively low house edge game. Standard payouts are:
- First card being a 7 is 3:1
- Two mixed 7s is 50:1
- Two same suit 7s is 100:1
- Three unsuited 7s is 500:1
- Three suited 7s is 5,000:1.
There are also options to place side bets on progressive jackpot bets and bonus blackjack, these will offer added incentives for more of your cash.
Worth the Deal?
The odds with free Blackjack sit with the player, on whether they bust or win. No matter what hand you are dealt, the house edge favours the casino and not the player, so you have got to know when to stop and cash in. If you are looking to beat the dealer, you should bet with your head and not your heart. Don’t fall for Blackjack strategies, where companies claim to know how to beat the dealer for a large fee – if this was so, everyone would be winning – apart from the casino itself. We are fans of Blackjack, but rarely make side bets, because this is where you can lose a shed load of cash in a blink of an eye. Try the online Blackjack game for fun before risking your own cash.
