Pontoon
As mentioned previously, Pontoon is believed to be an early version of blackjack. You can throw all the previous odds out the window because, before dealing a hand of Pontoon, as shown in Figure 6.1, the house gets its cards face down. One achieves a pontoon, the same as a blackjack, by reaching 21. The dealer will check his two hole cards for a pontoon at the beginning of each hand and collect automatically if he has 21. Unlike the standard game, hands of 21 are considered blackjack and pay off 2:1 even after splitting.
All other player wins pay even money.
Any hand of fi ve cards, regardless of point total, is also considered a pontoon. Five 2s or fi ve Kings, for example, would both qualify as a pontoon. Players call such hands a fi ve-card trick or a fi ve-card Charlie. The dealer takes both of his cards face down, checks them, and if he has a pontoon, collects all bets on the table. If he has less than 21, he waits for the player(s) to run out their hands, then shows his two cards and continues to draw up to three more. A dealer will stand on a hard 17 but hit on a soft 17. Once the dealer fi nishes, he will compare his hand to each of the others on the table, winning all ties. Table 6.1 shows the basic rules of Pontoon.
Figure 6.1 Pontoon
Table 6.1 Pontoon Rules
Decks Eight 52-card decks
Card Values Same as in Standard Blackjack
Multi-Hand Not available
Player Cards Dealt Two up Dealer Cards Dealt Two down
Surrender No surrender
Push Dealer wins push.
Blackjack Pays 2:1
Dealer Stands/Hits Stands on Hard 17, Hits on Soft 17 Player Stands/Hits Must hit on 14 or less
Splitting Splitting Allowed
Hit after Splitting Yes
Aces Resplitting Yes
Resplitting Up to three hands
Blackjack Paid after Splitting No
Doubling Up to four cards,
only once per hand Double after Splitting Once per hand Hit after Doubling Yes
Special Note Players must stand on soft 21s at casinos run- ning Cryptologic software Secret Strategy Split 8s and Aces only
Chapter 6: Online Variations of the Classic Game
Double Exposure (Face-Up 21, Dealer Disclosure)
Double Exposure, also called Dealer Disclosure or Face-Up 21 (shown in Figure 6.2), lets you see both of the dealer’s cards, as the name indicates. Of course, the house changes other rules to offset the elimination of the hole card and actually enjoys better odds than in standard blackjack. Key changes include but are not limited to the following: all ties go to the dealer except blackjack, blackjack pays 1:1, no blackjack paid after splitting and not hitting for additional cards after doubling.
Since you’re allowed to see both of the dealer’s cards, you’ll have a better idea of what card will come next—but not by much. This version of blackjack uses eight decks, so the software will account for that when calculating what strategy cards to generate. (Again, I can’t repeat enough that online blackjack games shuffl e after every deal.) I provide the new strategy cards for you in Appendix A, along with those for the other varieties of blackjack. You’ll fi nd your moves for Double Exposure change quite a bit, so if you’re used to making your moves based on a single dealer up-card, break your old habits thoroughly in Play for Fun games before risking any money. Table 6.2 shows the rules for Double Exposure.
Figure 6.2 Face-Up 21 (a.k.a. Double Exposure) blackjack game
Table 6.2 Double Exposure
(Face-Up 21, Dealer Disclosure) Rules
Decks Eight 52-card decks
Card Values Same as in Standard Blackjack
Multi-Hand Not available
Player Cards Dealt Face up Dealer Cards Dealt Face up
Surrender No surrender
Push Dealer wins push,
except Blackjack
Blackjack Pays 1:1
Dealer Stands/Hits Hits on Soft 17 Player Stands/Hits Unrestricted
Splitting Splitting Allowed
Hit after Splitting Yes
Aces Resplitting Yes, dealt one card only
Resplitting Up to four hands
Blackjack Paid after Splitting No
Doubling On 9, 10, and 11 only
Double after Splitting Yes
Hit after Doubling Yes, except Aces Special Note Any pair of ten-valued
cards can be split Secret Strategy Since it requires an
entirely different strategy, this variation of the game can confuse the master player and novice alike.
Focus on one strategy at a time.
Chapter 6: Online Variations of the Classic Game
Blackjack Switch
Blackjack Switch, shown in Figure 6.3, takes a classic cheating technique—playing two hands at once and swapping the top cards—and makes it part of the game. The house deals you two hands at once. You place a bet on each one, and then have the option to swap the top cards any time before hitting. For example, if you’re dealt top/bottom hands 3, A (hard 4, soft 14) and 10, 5 (hard 15), you could elect to swap the Ace and Five. This would give you a blackjack (10,A) in one hand and seven (3, 5) in the other.
Prior to your fi rst hit, the casino will offer a Switch button. This option disappears once you hit. The casino uses a large, animated arrow to indicate which hand the standard Hit/Double/
Stand buttons control in Multi-hand games such as this (something you’ve already experi- enced if you’ve split hands). Of course, the house doesn’t give something without getting something. The Switch game pays 1:1 for blackjacks, and the house wins any blackjack push.
The house also helps itself out by doing something unheard of in blackjack—valuing a hand totaling over 21! Instead of busting, a dealer hand of 22 will tie all player hands ex- cept blackjack. So you don’t win if the dealer busts with 22. You simply get to keep your original bet as in any other push. Unfortunately, you will still bust with 22.
Blackjack Switch also offers you an optional Super Match side bet before your two initial Figure 6.3 Blackjack Switch
chance those fi rst four cards will contain a pair or better. Super Match bets pay 1:1 for a pair in those fi rst four cards, 5:1 for three of a kind, 8:1 for two pairs and 40:1 for four of a kind. So if you’re dealt a Five and a Ten on the left and King and a Five on the right, you win 1:1 for that pair. Table 6.3 shows the rules for Blackjack Switch.
Table 6.3 Blackjack Switch
Decks Six 52-card decks
Card Values Same as in Standard Blackjack
Multi-Hand Not available
Player Cards Dealt Two up
Dealer Cards Dealt One up, one down
Surrender No surrender
Push No winner in ties. Player
blackjack beats dealer 22, which pushes all player hands for a dealer win.
Blackjack Pays 1:1
Dealer Stands/Hits Hits on Soft 17
Splitting Splitting Allowed
Hit after Splitting Yes, except Aces
Aces Resplitting Yes
Resplitting Yes
Blackjack Paid after Splitting No
Doubling Yes, anytime
Double after Splitting Yes Hit after Doubling No
Special Note Dealer 22 pushes all player hands
Secret Strategy Forget doubling down with a 10 or 11 against a nine and always hit on 12. This helps offset the dealer’s advantage of a 22 hand pushing all player hands.
Chapter 6: Online Variations of the Classic Game
Bonus Blackjack
Bonus (similar to Royal Match) Blackjack, shown in Figure 6.4, offers you the option to bet on your chances of drawing certain favored hands for which the casino pays higher odds. When choosing this game, you’ll see the usual bet circle and an additional, smaller circle for the Bonus bet. Since brick-and-mortar casinos play the game with only two decks, you can have some better idea if a bonus hand is coming up. The shuffl ing be- tween hands of the online game makes such predictions harder to make, but nonetheless this option is out there.
The Bonus bet is paid only if your fi rst two hands hit 21. The dealer will check for a black- jack if it deals itself a 10 or Ace. Harkening back to the origin of the game’s name, the Jack of spades and Ace of spades, pays 50:1 in Bonus blackjack. A Jack and Ace, suited diamond, heart, or club, pays 25:1. A pair of suited cards equaling 21 pays 5:2. Other blackjacks pay 3:2. Note you may not surrender if you’re thinking of doing so in pursuit of the lucrative payouts.
Remember, your Bonus bet pays only on your fi rst two cards and not on any subsequent cards. Your odds of drawing an Ace or Jack of spades for your fi rst card is 1 in 52. Your odds of drawing the second card to complete the hand from which blackjack gets its name are 1 in 51. Combining these odds equals 0.038 percent, far less than the 50:1 Figure 6.4 Bonus Blackjack
payout for that hand, which is half as much for the 25:1 suited blackjack payoff. You have one in seven odds of drawing two suited cards, which pays 5:2. Royal Match is a similar side bet. If your two-card starting hand contains two suited cards, the bonus bet pays off 5:2. A Royal Match, two suited face cards, such as a King and Jack of spades, pays 25:1.
Table 6.4 shows the rules for Bonus blackjack.
Table 6.4 Bonus Blackjack
Decks Two 52-card decks
Card Values Same as in Standard Blackjack
Multi-Hand Not available
Player Cards Dealt Two up
Dealer Cards Dealt One up, one down
Surrender No surrender
Push No winner
Blackjack Pays 3:2
Dealer Stands/Hits Hits on Soft 17
Splitting Splitting Allowed up to 4 hands
Hit after Splitting Yes, including Aces
Aces Resplitting No
Resplitting Up to four hands
Blackjack Paid after Splitting No
Doubling Any two cards
Double after Splitting Yes Hit after Doubling Yes
Special Note Any pair of ten-valued cards (e.g., a 10 and Jack) can be split.
Secret Strategy I don’t recommend the bonus bet, and since you won’t be making it, why play a game where the rules are skewed in the dealer’s favor because of the bonus bet payout?
Chapter 6: Online Variations of the Classic Game
Triple 7s Blackjack
Triple 7s Blackjack, shown in Figure 6.5, offers bonuses if one or more Sevens show up in your hand, with added payouts for matching suits. It also features a progressive jackpot. A mandatory, fi xed side bet per hand (usually for a single unit of currency) funds this jackpot. So like a slot ma- chine or a Powerball-type lottery, the Triple 7s jackpot grows over time, as more people play, and pays out all the accrued cash to the player who draws three Diamond 7s in a row.
The size of the Triple Diamond payout depends on the individual casino, so check before you take a shot. It would be simple enough to program gaming software so that it never deals three of these crucial cards in a row. For this reason, you should be careful to play only at casinos that responsible governments, such as the United Kingdom, regulate to ensure fair play. Note also that because their jackpots depend on a mandatory bet, Triple 7s casinos don’t offer practice games.
The odds of drawing a single 7 (pays 5:1) from a 52-card deck are just over 7 1/2 percent.
The odds of drawing an unsuited pair of 7s (pays 25:1) drop to two-fi fths of 1 percent. The odds for two suited 7s fall to a quarter of that probability, while the payoff only doubles to 50:1. You can expect to receive unsuited and suited triple Sevens (paying 250 and 1,000 to 1, respectively) in 0.03 percent and 0.001 percent of your hands. The odds of drawing Triple Diamond 7s plummets to 0.0003 percent of the time and has no fi xed odds. It’s based on Figure 6.5 Triple 7s blackjack
Table 6.5 Triple 7s Blackjack
Decks Two to fi ve 52-card decks
Card Values Same as in Standard Blackjack
Multi-Hand Not available
Player Cards Dealt Two up Dealer Cards Dealt Two up
Surrender No surrender
Push No winner
Blackjack Pays 3:2
Dealer Stands/Hits Stands on all 17s, draws on all 16s
Splitting Splitting Allowed
Hit after Splitting Yes, including Aces
Aces Resplitting Yes
Resplitting Yes
Blackjack Paid after Splitting No
Doubling On 9,10, and 11 only
Double after Splitting No Hit after Doubling Varies
Special Note If you’re going for the bonus bet, DO NOT split 7s. This invalidates any payoffs.
Secret Strategy It’s just so easy to picture 7s turning up in a Black- jack hand, especially since they’re splashed all over casinos and in clichés such as “Lucky Sevens.” However, you can expect not to receive a seven from the dealer about 92% of the time.
Chapter 6: Online Variations of the Classic Game