How to play Bitcoin Blackjack

What is Bitcoin Blackjack

If you've played regular online Blackjack before, the Bitcoin version won't surprise you at all. The only fundamental difference is the fact that in the latter you wager Bitcoin instead of regular money. The rest remains the same in terms of game rules, the aim of the game, and all other features of the popular casino card amusement. However, in the following article, we’re going to go through the BTC Blackjack specifics in detail and perhaps let you in on a few aspects of the game you weren’t aware of.

Bitcoin Blackjack Basics

When playing this game, a conventional deck of 52 cards is employed, and here suits don’t matter.

The values of the cards are assigned as follows:

  • All the cards, save for the Face Cards (J, Q, and K) and Ace, count at their face value. This means that card values from 2 to 10 count at their face value.
  • Face cards (J, Q, and K) are 10.
  • Ace can count as either 1 or 11, whichever option favors the hand.

In Blackjack, the players and the dealer are initially dealt two cards but the dealer only has one card facing up. The dealer’s face-down referred to as the “Hole” card.

Normally croupier only 0view the hole card when the house has a card of value 10 or an ace. The card decides whether the dealer has hit 21, which ends the game with the house winning and all the players losing their wagers.

A hand is the cards dealt to a player. You are lucky to have a hand with an Ace. At this point, the odds of winning are highly bent in your favor. There are two such hands:

  • The Blackjack hand: An Ace with a ten-point card at the opening of the game. You win the game straightaway.
  • Soft hand: A hand with an Ace and a card other than a ten-point card. With a soft hand, you are better positioned in the game. For instance, if you have an Ace and five, you have a total of either 6 or 16. So you can draw one more card without the risk of losing the game. If the dealt extra card is greater than five, you value your Ace at one to prevent a bust. Otherwise, you count the Ace as 11.

While understanding these variants is important to know what’s happening, these distinctions should not stress you as the computer automatically deals the cards on the screen.

How to play Bitcoin Blackjack

The objective of the game

The true objective of blackjack is to beat the dealer in getting the face value of your cards as close to 21 as possible by either outscoring the dealer or force the dealer to bust.

Please note that while a Blackjack game may be played by multiple players, you wager against the dealer, not the other players. The other player's hands at the table will not determine whether you win or lose the game. That only happens in Poker games. In Blackjack, it's you against the dealer.

The Moves

As a player, once you receive your cards, your calculation must be centered on the dealer's single face-up card. You then must decide whether to "stand," "hit", "double-down", "split" or "surrender".

Here is what these moves mean;

  • Stand: You don’t need any more cards. You stand when you are close to or have hit 21.
  • Hit: You add a card to get closer to or get 21. You need to be careful, though. You may just bust yourself with this extra card. For example, if you have 9 and 8 cards, that means your hand total is 16. Requesting one more card may bust you if it is greater than five. It is up to you to decide if it is worth the risk.
  • Double down: Double your original bet amount and receives an extra card.
  • Split: This only happens if you were dealt two cards of the same value at the start. You divide the hand into two equal bets by doubling the wager but receive two fresh cards in return; one for each of the original cards. In essence, you play with two hands against the dealer.
  • Surrender: Allows you to save part of your bet. By surrender, you forfeit part of your initial wager.

The Decisions

When dealt the card and you get an Ace plus a ten-value card, you stand and that ends the game. This is an automatic winner card combination is called the blackjack or the natural.

Suppose both the dealer and the player have the natural, then it’s a draw, and consequently a push. This also happens whenever a player stands and both the player and the dealer have the same hand value. A push means all the wagered amount is returned to the player.

If neither side has blackjack, then each of you plays out their hand, one at a time.

You win the Blackjack game when you decide to stand, and;

  • Your hand value is higher than the dealer’s hand value.
  • Your hand value is 21, and the dealer does not have the same.
  • The dealer busts. If the dealer draws a hand value greater than 21.

So you lose either when your hand is lesser than the dealer’s, the dealer’s hand is 21 or you bust.

BTC Blackjack rules

The rules of 21 are pretty simple. Mastering these rules gives you an advantage and you can easily manipulate them in your favor to beat the house quite often and win more bitcoins. But careful there, a casino may ban you if it considers you highly skilled to outplay the casino every other time.

Player Rules

  • The game starts when each player has put their bet.
  • Every player independently plays against the house represented by the dealer.
  • Each player is dealt with two cards in the initial deal.
  • The players decide in succession to “stand,” “hit”, “double-down”, “split” or “surrender”.
  • After each player is satisfied with their hands, or have busted themselves out, the dealer reveals the hole card.
  • Any player remaining in the game with a hand value higher than the dealer’s hand but less or equal 21 is a winner. 
  • The player who surrenders losses part of his wager as stipulated by the casino beforehand.
  • When a play hand total is the same as the dealer, then it is a tie. In this case, it is a push and the player maybe be refunded the bet amount. However, there are cases in which some casinos do not have the tie-option.

Dealer Rules

Even though the dealer represents the house, they play under the same rules as the players. All the blackjack rules are however designed to give the house a slight advantage in the long-run. So the dealer has to play strictly by these rules avoiding even the slightest mistake. This particularly applies to live dealing Bitcoin blackjack. As for the online variant the cards are dealt by random number generator. But still you need to beat the house, you need to understand how the dealer is affected by these rules.

Other than the other rules already mentioned, the dealer pays close to the following checkpoints;

  • The dealer “stands” if the total hand is at least 17 without an ace. In case of a soft 17, which is an Ace and a 6, the dealer will continue to draw the card until the house hand achieves the target or bust by going over 21.
  • The dealer plays after the player.

BTC Blackjack Strategies - how to win in Blackjack

Bitcoin Blackjack winning tactics remains the same to those applied in the conventional game. And there's a different strategy for every type of hand. The goal is to play in an optimum way, and as such, your primary consideration for strategy should be the dealer's up card.

Strategy to play against different dealer’s up card;

The drill here is to get the dealer to hit and hopefully bust over 21.

Good card

  • A good card is 7, 8, 9, 10, A, J, K or Q.
  • The player should deal cards until at least a hand total of 17 is achieved.

Fair Card

  • A fair card is 2 or 3.
  • If the dealer's up card is fair, the player should target a total of at least 13.

Poor Card

  • 4, 5, or 6 are considered poor cards.
  • When the up card on the dealer deck is poor, your target should be slightly lower. A total of at least 12 is good enough.

Strategy to play with a Soft Hand

A soft hand, as earlier mentioned, is a combination of cards with an Ace. The Ace presents you with an opportunity to choose between 11 and 1. Suppose you have an Ace and a six, it means you either have a total of 7 or 17. If you hit one more time, the highest you could reach is 18, but only if you pick a 10-valued card. Therefore, your target gets a unit higher than all the other cases, so you target at least 18.

Doubling Down Strategy

You should double down, in either of the following situations.

  • A hand total of 11.
  • With a hand of 10, provided the dealer does NOT show a ten-card or an ace.
  • With a hand total of 9 and the dealer shows a fair or poor card.

Split Strategy

While blackjack rules only allow you to split your bet when you are dealt two cards of the same value, not all pairs are wise to split.

A pair of 10s, 5s, and 4s should not be split either. Here is why:

  • With a total of 8, the maximum value you can achieve by drawing a card is 18, so it is a good number to receive.
  • Identical 10s total to 20, only 1 shy of the natural winning combination. You are better off standing your ground here than split or draw another card.
  • Twin 5s gives a total of 10, a perfect situation to double down. Unless of course if the dealer shows an ace or a 10 card. Even then, you are better off drawing one more card than splitting.

The best conditions for splitting is when:

  • You have a pair of aces or 8s.
  • You have a pair of 2s, 3s, or 7s but the dealer has a display card of value equal or greater than 8.
  • You a pair of 6s yet the dealer's card is fair or poor.

Different Types of Blackjack

There are different types of Blackjack, and all are available on the Bitcoin network. While they may seem a little different from each other, the premise of the game remains the same, get a hand total greater than the dealer by getting closer to 21 without going over it. The only distinguishing features come in the number of decks used, payouts, the gaming options, and a few other tweaks.

Some of the most common BTC blackjack games include;

Classic Blackjack

As its name suggests, it is the standard Blackjack game with rules that are most commonly known, even among less experienced players:

  • Uses 1 or up to 8 decks of cards.
  • The dealer gives out the cards, 2 cards to each player.
  • For the dealer, one card faces up, while the other one (the hole card) faces down.

As usual, all the rules of blackjack apply and so you only win if your hand total is greater than the dealer’s but less or equal to 21. You bust and lose the game if your card total is over 21.

Progressive Blackjack

Let the name not confuse you, this is just the traditional blackjack game with an opportunity to make a side bet for a chance to win a progressive jackpot.

You side bet, the Jackpot, only wins if you are dealt one of the several specific card combinations. In most cases, it is the Aces.

 European Blackjack

Unlike the classic Blackjack, in European Blackjack there are certain differences:

  • The two cards dealt to the players face up.
  • Only one card is handed to the dealer. This card faces up. The croupier draws the second after the player has a made decision on how to play. The decision could be to stand, hit, split or double down.
  • All the other features remain the same as the traditional Blackjack.

Spanish 21

Spanish 21 is perhaps the most difficult version of Blackjack to win. The game is played with six or eight deck cards. However, all the 10 value cards are not used, which implies that only 48 of the 52 cards are used. This slightly increases the house edge but disadvantage the players.

  • Another fundamental difference is that the dealer can peep on the hole card.
  • To make the game attractive, the game allows surrender after doubling down.
  • All the other rules are predominantly similar.

Blackjack Switch

Suppose you are playing the classic blackjack and you have split your bets. But when the croupier deals the cards, you realize that you have two weak hands. However, after examining your hands, you see they could dramatically improve if you switch the two last cards dealt. That's how Geoff Hall conceived Blackjack Switch patented it in 2009.

Basically, in Blackjack Switch players are dealt two pair of cards, or what we say two hands each. The player examines the cards and decides if switching the last two cards might improve the hands. However, if the dealer has the blackjack in the initial draw, the switch is not necessary as the game is over and the house wins.

Online Blackjack Advantages

There are numerous advantages of playing online blackjack, from the comfort and convenience to efficiency and reduced costs. You can also access the game in various languages. Other advantages include;

Variation of Blackjack

Most brick and mortar casino may not offer as much a variety as those available at an online BTC casino. You get an opportunity to access a variety of blackjack games online.

Apart from the ones discussed here in details, you get to enjoy Atlantic City Blackjack played with 8 decks yet allows the dealer to stand on a soft 17. Even interesting about this option is that you can re-split a split hand to have 3 hands. This is in addition to open late surrender and insurance options.

Other variations include Pontoon, Super-fun 21, and Vegas Strip Blackjack.

Betting Limits and Bonuses

When playing blackjack at an online bitcoin casino, you get to enjoy higher betting limits and wager amount is quickly reflected into your betting account.

If there's one place you can get lots of free games and crazy bonuses is the internet. There are also Bitcoin blackjack freerolls that allow you to take part in real money tournaments for free.

Online casinos offer great opportunity to play free games as you make baby steps into playing blackjack. Bonuses, such as free signup bonus, help you horn your skills without putting a cent in line.

Cashbacks

There is also the Blackjack cashback available online that gives you a chance to take back your money and withdraw from the game. The amount available as cashback is calculated by your chance of winning against the dealer based cards facing up. The cashback allows you to salvage part of the stake you are at the risk of losing, or take a part of the profits without necessarily finishing the game.

Live Dealer Blackjack Advantages

Live dealer blackjack devolves the casino environment right to your computer gadget. It’s like watching a live match at home, except that in this one you are a player. It gives adds the personal touch to online gaming, and makes the experience even more exhilarating, without inconveniencing you.

The most outstanding benefits of live dealer games include;

A common environment for gamblers

Imagine seating at home but seeing everything that happens at a casino! Yeah, that’s one of the biggest allures of the live dealer casinos. They take a player from wherever they are and place them in a gambling environment. As you play you hear the noises that synonymous with the casino environment and also get a glimpse what’s happening on other tables.

Interaction with Dealer

Once you log in and ready to play, you get to interact with the dealer, through chat, and you get to follow everything as the game plays. You get an immersing experience and you hardly notice that you are not in a casino because the thrill is just overwhelming.