While there’s no doubt that slot games are the bulk of the game library and are the easiest for that matter, it’s a mistake to sleep on the meteoric rise of blackjack. When you sit and think about it for a moment, it’s easy to understand the growing fascination for blackjack. Besides having a fantastic RTP rate of over 99%, it is the best card game that gives players a 50% chance of topping the dealer. If you’re new to the fantastic blackjack experience, this article gives you the inside scoop about the top features to expect playing an excellent blackjack hand.
A Phenomenal RTP Rate
The beauty of most blackjack games is that they come with an exceptionally high RTP rate. For the most part, Classic and American Blackjack have an RTP rate of 99%, if not higher. As a great measuring stick for blackjack games to play, we recommend only sticking with these types of blackjack games. For those new to RTP, the return to player is a rough gauge of how much a player can expect to get back from a $100 wager.
Six to Eight Decks
While this feature might not seem all that important, a crucial component of playing online blackjack or even in person boils down to having plenty of chances to form blackjack or at least a stronger hand over the dealer. The high-value playing cards in blackjack are tens, aces, and royalty cards.
So, you want to focus on the specific blackjack games with six to eight decks to boost your winning chances. Fortunately, the best real money and the top social casinos have an extensive selection of live dealer blackjack games that easily play with eight decks.
Side Bets
Depending on the particular blackjack game, you might or might not have the option to make one or more side bets. A side bet is 100% optional and doesn’t take away from the main blackjack gameplay. Depending on your budget and skill level, you may or may not want to take them up.
Fortunately, most blackjack games offer insurance bets. The insurance bet kicks in when the dealer’s upcard is an ace. In these circumstances, the player can play an additional wager, at least half the original bet, to help prevent the likelihood that the dealer has blackjack. While on the surface it sounds like fun, if you wind up winning the round anyway, you still unfortunately lose money because the insurance side bet didn’t pay off.
Other side bets like the 21+3, Royal Match, and Perfect Pairs carry a substantial house edge. For example, the house edge for Perfect Pairs is over 10% in most cases. The second complication is that even if you win the playing round and the side bet doesn’t pay off, you might still have issues building your bankroll because many of these side bets cost more than the original blackjack game bet.
Advanced Splitting
It’s a foregone conclusion that most blackjack games allow you to break up and split a pair of aces, the rules might differ outside of that. Splitting high-value hands like aces brings immense value and potential to the blackjack experience because you have the chance of having two potentially winning hands for the price of one.
Fortunately, most online blackjack games support advanced splitting. That means you can usually split other pairs like tens, nines, eights, and sevens. With the intrigue of possibly having two playing hands for the price of one, the allure and excitement for blackjack continue to grow.
Late Surrender
Fortunately, many of today’s new online blackjack variants feature the chance to surrender weak playing hands late in the round. Losing some money helps you lose the whole shebang and, most importantly, your confidence. We recommend playing games like Blackjack Xchange to get the most bang for your buck.
