Online Blackjack Vs. The Casino
Many of the differences between of land-based casino blackjack vs. online blackjack have been found to be environmental. Meaning, the majority of the disadvantages of playing in a land-based casino stem from the environment the casino places you in. You’re being constantly distracted, and all of variables involved play part in depreciating your game-play.
This is particularly important because unlike online keno, blackjack is a game of skill, not luck. Here we want to take a closer look at the differences between playing online blackjack and playing the game in a real casino.
Just like online free slots, the basics of the way you play will be identical online, or at least very close to a regular . What we need to find out before placing our bets online, is whether the variables within the game are friendly towards us or not. Any online blackjack proprietor worth his salt will answer email or phone questions about their game fairly efficiently. Don’t be too discouraged though if the general operator in the call center doesn’t know if you can double after a split or not.
The variables that affect blackjack game-play include the following:
- The number of decks the game is dealt from
- If and when the decks are reshuffled, and how often
- If the dealer must stand on a soft 17 or must hit all 17s
- If you can double down on any two cards, or are limited to 9, 10, 11, or simply 10, 11
- If you are allowed to double down after you split
- If surrender is offered, and if so, is it late or early
The pit-boss at your favorite online casino should be able to answer these questions for you, and once you know the answer to each of them, you can find out if the online blackjack game you’re playing is as good as, better, or worse than where you normally play.
The following chart shows how simple rule changes affect the house edge. The deviations represent how different a game with these variables is from the classic single deck Las Vegas Strip game of the early eighties.
| Rule | Effect on Player Expectation |
| Two decks | -0.32% |
| Four decks | -0.48% |
| Six decks | -0.54% |
| Eight decks | -0.58% |
| Dealer hits soft 17 | -0.20% |
| Double down only on 11 (no soft, no 10, no 9, no 8) | -0.78% |
| Double down only on 10 or 11 (no soft, no 9, no 8) | -0.26% |
| Double down only on 9, 10, 11 (no soft, no 8) | -0.14% |
| No re-splitting of any pairs | -0.03% |
| Dealer wins ties | -9.00% |
| Natural pays 1 to 1 | -2.32% |
| Natural pays 2 to 1 | +2.32% |
| Double down on any number of cards | +0.24% |
| Double down after splitting pairs | +0.14% |
| Late surrender | +0.06% |
| Early surrender | +0.62% |
| Six-card winner | +0.15% |
| Players 21 pushes dealer’s 10-up Blackjack | +0.16% |
| Re-splitting of aces | +0.06% |
| Draw to split aces | +0.14% |
When the effect on player expectation is positive, you’ll make more money, when it’s negative, you’ll make less. Most land-based casinos use a fairly standard set of rules, but they can always throw something different in without mentioning it. The same goes for online blackjack games, though you have every right to ask detailed questions ahead of time before playing online, whereas the same lines of questioning may gain you unwanted attention in Las Vegas.