LIVE BLACKJACK

Once you hit 21, you become an adult. You can buy liquor, drink it legally and you can move out of your parents' house to rack up a series of bad decisions as a self-proclaimed adult. Everyone will agree that hitting 21 is a milestone that warrants a celebration unlike any other. In this post, we'll explain why hitting 21 in live blackjack at our Live Casino warrants the same kind of celebration, albeit dressed in nothing but flimsy pyjamas, in the comfort of your own home.

Live blackjack and online blackjack aren’t plaayed in uncomfortable, sweat-drenched clothes as happens in every classic casino game at land-based casinos. In fact, dressing up and making your way to a real casino is a thing of the past if you prefer the comfort of playing live games with your feet rested atop your desk. In a Live Casino, a live dealer will take care of conducting the game, explaining what's going on as well as chatting with you — as long as you keep the conversation appropriate.

There are quite a number of live dealer games out there, especially at HotSlots, so it's just a matter of trying them out and discovering what tickles your pickle. In any case, having a crack at live blackjack games is a perfect starting point. But first, make sure to read through this post before trying to play with real money! Here's all you need to know about one of the most popular games in our Live Casino: live blackjack.

HOW TO PLAY LIVE BLACKJACK

Blackjack is one of the simplest table games you can ever grasp. Here, you'll be playing against a professional dealer. Your goal is to accumulate cards worth a value of 21, or as close to 21 as possible. Exceeding that number is a 'bust', meaning that you've lost the round.

CARD VALUES IN BLACKJACK

Just like online blackjack, live blackjack card values are as follows:

Aces are worth either one or 11 — depending on the state of your hand.
Picture cards, such as jacks, queens and kings, are worth 10.
The rest of the cards are worth their pip value, meaning that a nine of spades is worth nine.

Don't worry if your skills in addition are a plain embarrassment, the sum of your cards is always displayed in a little circle at the bottom in live and online blackjack.

LIVE BLACKJACK MECHANICS

Here's how the action in live blackjack goes down. You first place your initial bet, the limits of which can vary from one online casino to another and will depend on the table. The dealer then shuffles portions of the pack of cards and gives players one card each, facing up. After that, the dealer does the same for themself.

At this point, you have a glimpse of what the result of the round will be, but there are more cards to follow. The dealer gives players another card each, facing up, but the dealer's second card remains face down. Now, it's decision time.

You can either stand or hit. Standing means that you don't want to be dealt any more cards and that you'll remain with your current hand. Hitting means that you want to be dealt another card to attempt to get closer to 21. If you choose to hit, the dealer will give you another card and keep asking if you want another, unless you decide to stand, reach 21 or bust.

Great, you've chosen to stand since you're pretty optimistic about your hand. Now, it's you against the dealer — whoever gets closer to 21 wins. Remember the dealer's second card facing down? This is when the dealer flips it up to see what the value of their hand is. If the blackjack table is S17, the dealer will stand on 17. If the table is H17, the dealer will hit on a soft 17, but stand on a hard 17. Whoever gets a card total closer to 21 wins the round.

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT LIVE BLACKJACK GAMES

Don't play blackjack just yet! We'd advise you to watch some demo videos before making the dive and playing with real money on live blackjack tables. The more you get used to the game, the more you'll get to know about the nitty-gritty of live blackjack games. So far, we've gone over how the game is played but we've barely touched the surface of what different situations the game could offer.

Playing live blackjack isn't simply a matter of leaving your fate up to a Random Number Generator (RNG). Mind you, there aren't any sure-fire ways of winning on any casino game out there either, in a serious online casino at least. Your best option is to play live blackjack tactically. It's a matter of making calculated decisions to get the most of your hands while reducing the house edge through strategy.

NATURALS

A natural is when a player's first two cards are a blackjack. The only possible combination of cards to get a blackjack from the get-go is an ace and a ten-card. If you get a natural and the dealer doesn't, great! The dealer will pay you depending on the blackjack table you’re playing at. Most tables pay 3:2, but other odds do exist. Different rules also exist for different blackjack tables when it comes to naturals. In some cases, the dealer wins outright with a blackjack, but this may vary. Should you and the dealer both have naturals, it's a tie and you'll get your money back.

SPLIT PAIRS

So what happens if your hand consists of two cards of the same value, for example, two threes? You then have the choice of splitting your hand, but don't worry — it's much less painful than it sounds! All that means is that you can treat each card as two separate hands. This means that, should you choose to split your hand, you'll have to add the same bet you started with to your 'new' hand, thus doubling your initial bet. The dealer will then treat your split hand as if they were completely separate.

SIDE BETS

You'll learn how players manage to spice up their live blackjack tables as you read on, but one of the most popular ways of doing it is through side bets. Before the round starts, you might be prompted to place a side bet. The most common side bets are Any Pair, Perfect Pair, Hot 3, Bust It and 21+3.

This kind of bet carries a very high risk to reward ratio, so don't be surprised that it might not often work out. If it does, it will bring a pretty penny to your pockets, so it's up to you to gauge where your luck meter is at.

INSURANCE

Let's say that the dealer's face-up card is an ace. In this case, players may be offered the option to take insurance, depending on the table rules. Once this bet is placed, the dealer will check if their second card is a ten. If it is, the dealer will pay each player who took insurance double and the round ends, unless another player has a blackjack. In which case, the player is paid back their wager. Insurance bets are extremely risky unless you're confident that there are still quite a number of ten-cards remaining.

DOUBLE DOWN

In some live blackjack variants, you'll be able to double down when your hand is a total of nine, 10 or 11. Doubling down means that you'll be given an option to double your bet. Should you place this wager, the dealer will give you one extra card and your round will end. Players usually double down when they are confident that a ten-value card is likely to appear.

PLAY LIVE BLACKJACK ONLINE AT HotSlots

If you think that we've gone over all that the live blackjack game has to offer, then you've got another thing coming! Once you nail down the traditional live blackjack tables, you’ll want to expand your live blackjack experience. One way to do this is by exploring the other live blackjack variants out there at our Live Casino.

What we talked about so far is the live version of classic blackjack. We'll now have a look at other live blackjack games you can find at HotSlots. The following four live blackjack variants are all Evolution productions that feature at HotSlots, which also means that if you want to play live blackjack games while on the road, these variants are all available on mobile devices.

PLAY LIVE BLACKJACK ON MOBILE

Nowadays, the best game providers are constantly refining their casino games to run flawlessly on a mobile device, be it through mobile apps or web browsers. This means that you can rest assured that you can play live blackjack online at your favourite Live Casino wherever you may be. To make sure that your game runs flawlessly, try not to opt for that dinosaur-era Android device rotting in your drawer to play online blackjack! You can thank us later.

POWER BLACKJACK — EVOLUTION

If you're playing live blackjack and want to begin switching things up, Power Blackjack might be the perfect game to play. In this variation, the nines and tens are removed from the deck, so you'll need a different strategy to cater to that difference. In Power Blackjack, you'll be able to double, triple or even quadruple down on your first two cards. On the other hand, the dealer has to stand if their hand is a soft 17. If their hand is below 17, the dealer will have to keep taking cards until they reach that amount or bust.

FREE BET BLACKJACK — EVOLUTION

Free Bet Blackjack lives up to its name to some extent, since you'll be able to double down and split for free. In this variant, you can split for free on all pairs except ten, jack, queen and king pairs. Also, you’ll be able to double down for free on hard nine, 10 and 11 totals.

Here's an example: if you're dealt a pair of sevens, you can split for free. If another seven is dealt, you get another free split. The catch? The dealer won't bust if they get a total of 22; in this case, the players’ bets will be returned.

LIGHTNING BLACKJACK — EVOLUTION

Is your head beginning to spin with all these different live blackjack rules? We get it, so here's a breather. Lightning Blackjack sees no change to the mechanics of the classic game. If you love the element of multipliers in a casino game, you'll be glad to hear that multipliers feature in Lightning Blackjack. In fact, that's the only real difference between traditional blackjack and this variant.

The possible multipliers range from 2x to 25x. They are randomly assigned to specific totals; for example, winning hands valued at 4 to 17 may offer a 2x multiplier on a win.

Sounds neat, right? As always, the small catch is that you'll have to pay a fee to fund the multipliers. This is payable at the start of each game round. Also, the multiplier is effective on your next winning hand, so it's important to not get carried away with your shiny multiplier. In fact, you don't have to use your multiplier immediately, since you have up to 180 days before it expires. That's almost six months to prepare for your perfect round of blackjack!

INFINITE BLACKJACK — EVOLUTION

Don't be fooled! Explaining Free Bet Blackjack and Infinite Blackjack in succession is just our way of giving you a break before breaking down another two intricate blackjack variations. Infinite Blackjack has a few differences from the traditional blackjack game.

First off, the game is played without a player limit. Secondly, the dealer must stand on soft 17. The great thing about Infinite Blackjack is what is called Six Card Charlie rule, meaning that if you gather a total of six cards without reaching more than 21, you win! Lower value cards are thus desirable in Infinite Blackjack because of this very mechanic.

SPANISH 21

One of the first alternatives you'll find to classic blackjack is no other than Spanish 21. Don't worry, this variant won't make you revolutionise your idea of live blackjack. Here, all blackjack rules apply, except for the fact that there are no tens in the deck. If you're an aspiring card counter, you'll have a harder time in Spanish 21. Without tens, your chances of winning the hand are lower and the advantage shifts even more towards the dealer in some instances. For example, insurance bets are already risky in traditional blackjack, but in Spanish 21 they're even riskier since there aren’t as many tens with which the dealer can get a natural.

However, your hope of winning bets shouldn't be lost! Since the removal of tens means that the house edge increases in some cases, the rules of Spanish 21 are slightly less strict. For example, you'll always win if you get a blackjack, regardless if the dealer also gets a blackjack, and you may enjoy more lenient rules on doubling down and splitting. If you're willing to give Spanish 21 a shot, we'd advise you to really brush up your blackjack game. Spanish 21 is a tougher playing field with a different spin to blackjack for those who feel like switching up the game.

BLACKJACK SWITCH

Do you enjoy splitting pairs in online blackjack? If so, this variant might just be what you're looking for. In Blackjack Switch, you'll be playing two hands instead of one, but apart from that, you can switch cards from one hand to another to improve either one. This makes for a really fun game, where you can tweak your hands as you see fit. Here's the catch: the dealer won't bust if they get a total value of 22. Instead, he'll push against any player hand that isn't a natural (excluding blackjacks obtained after splitting or switching). Since you can switch cards between your hands, the rest of the rules heavily favour the dealer. Having said that, this blackjack variant has real potential for entertainment!

PLAY LIVE CASINO GAMES AT HotSlots

How long are you going to play live blackjack online before exploring the other Live Casino games out there? If your eagerness to play live blackjack games hasn't faded just yet, you can check out other live blackjack games at HotSlots to discover your next favourite variant. You can continue playing the best live dealer blackjack games on the market at our one-stop-shop Live Casino!

As you can imagine, live blackjack is barely a fraction of what our Live Casino has to offer. At HotSlots, you can find live game shows, live roulette, live baccarat, live poker and many other games that feature live dealers. Our collection boasts some of the most popular games out there, expertly developed by the best game developers the iGaming industry has ever seen. If you're a lover of the game of poker, you should really check out Live Ultimate Texas Hold'em!

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