Beat the dealer’s hand without going over 21. Cards count their number, faces count 10, and an ace counts 1 or 11. An ace and a ten-card in your first two is a blackjack, and it pays 3 to 2 (6 to 5 at the Five Spot). Everything else that wins pays even money.
Play money only: nothing to buy, no sign-up. The same rules and payouts as below.
The idea
Tap a chip on your rail and it goes in your circle — tap again for more, or tap the circle — or drag one in; drag a chip back off to take it back. Then deal. You get two cards face up; the dealer gets one up and one down. Get closer to 21 than the dealer without going over — go over and you bust, and lose whatever the dealer does. A tie is a push: your bet comes back.
Your choices
Hit takes another card. Stand keeps what you have. Double puts up as much again for exactly one more card — on any two cards, and after a split too. Split a pair into two hands, each with its own bet — up to 4 hands. Split aces get one card each and can’t be split again.
The dealer’s hand
The dealer has no choices. They hit until they reach 17, and hit a soft 17 (a 17 counting an ace as 11), as on the Strip. With an ace or a ten showing, the dealer checks for blackjack before you play, so you never double or split into one.
Insurance and even money
When the dealer shows an ace you’re offered insurance: up to half your bet, paying 2 to 1 if the dealer has blackjack. Holding a blackjack yourself, it’s offered as even money. The odds say to leave it alone — and you can tell the dealer not to ask in Settings.
The tables
Main Floor — 6-deck shoe, $25–$2,500, blackjack pays 3 to 2, side bets (Royal Match, Lucky Lucky) $5–$100. Five Spot — 6-deck shoe, $5–$500, blackjack pays 6 to 5, side bets (Perfect Pairs, 21+3) $1–$25. Free Bet — 6-deck shoe, $10–$1,000, blackjack pays 3 to 2, Pot of Gold $1–$25 — a variation (below). Blackjack Switch — 6-deck shoe, $10–$1,000 a hand, blackjack pays 1 to 1, Super Match $1–$25 — a variation (below). High Limit — double deck, $100–$10,000, blackjack pays 3 to 2, no side bets, dealt by hand face down: you hold your own cards.
Free Bet
Geoff Hall’s game, under “Variations”, played on royal purple felt so you know it from the standard game. Two cards to a hard 9, 10 or 11 — after a split too — and the double is free: the dealer sets a gold FREE BET button beside your bet instead of your chips. Any pair but tens splits free the same way (resplit to four hands). A button wins even money, as if it were chips, and costs you nothing when it loses or pushes. Double any other two cards, or split tens, with your own chips. The catch: a dealer 22 pushes every hand still standing — except a blackjack, which still pays 3 to 2. Pot of Gold pays on the buttons you’re given in a round: one pays 3 to 1, seven or more 1,000 to 1.
Blackjack Switch
Also Geoff Hall’s, played on marigold-orange felt: no mistaking it for the usual game. Your bet plays two hands (the same again comes off your chips at the deal). Once the dealer has checked for blackjack, your turn starts with a choice: switch the two hands’ second cards, or keep them. Your top cards are lit: tap either to switch them (and again to switch back) — then hit, stand, double or split to play them as they lie. A blackjack as dealt pays only even money (and still beats a dealer 22); a 21 made by switching is just 21. A dealer 22 pushes every other hand. Double any two, double after splits, split to four hands. Super Match pays on your first four cards: a pair 1 to 1 up to four of a kind 40 to 1.
Side bets
The shoe tables print two side bets in small circles beside your bet: Royal Match, Lucky Lucky, Perfect Pairs, 21+3, Pot of Gold, Super Match. Drag a chip onto one, or tap it to put down your chip (the one lit on your rail). You need a main bet, and a side bet can’t be bigger than it. Most are settled right after the deal, win or lose, whatever happens to your hand. Tap the little “i” beside a circle to see what it pays.
Ask the book
Not sure what to do? On your turn, tap your cards (or press B): the button for the book’s play — basic strategy, the same one your stats measure your calls against — lights up for a moment. Nothing’s played for you. Not at a table with friends.
Gestures
Like at a real table: swipe down on the felt to deal and to hit (once a hand’s paid, it clears the cards and deals the next), swipe across to stand, and double-tap to double down. The buttons still work. Turn gestures off in Settings.
What every bet pays, and the house edge
The house edge is how much of each bet the casino keeps over the long run — the lower, the better for you.
Bet
Pays
House edge
Your bet — Main Floor 6-Deck Shoe. Edge playing by the book.
1 to 1; blackjack 3 to 2
0.62%
Your bet — Five Spot 6-Deck Shoe. Edge playing by the book.
1 to 1; blackjack 6 to 5
2.01%
Your bet — Free Bet Free doubles on hard 9, 10 and 11 and free splits, paid in gold — but a dealer 22 pushes. Edge playing its own strategy.
1 to 1; blackjack 3 to 2
1.00%
Your bet — Blackjack Switch Two hands, and you may swap their second cards — but blackjack pays even money and a dealer 22 pushes. Edge playing its own strategy, per hand.
1 to 1; blackjack 1 to 1
0.58%
Your bet — High Limit Double Deck. Edge playing by the book.
1 to 1; blackjack 3 to 2
0.45%
Insurance The dealer has blackjack under an ace. Up to half your bet.
2 to 1
7.40%
Royal Match Your first two cards are the same suit. Royal match (K-Q) 25 to 1 · Suited cards 5 to 2. At the Main Floor.
Up to 25 to 1
6.70%
Lucky Lucky Your first two cards and the dealer’s up card total 19, 20 or 21 — with big bonuses for 6-7-8 and 7-7-7. Suited 7-7-7 200 to 1 · Suited 6-7-8 100 to 1 · 7-7-7 50 to 1 · 6-7-8 30 to 1 · Suited 21 15 to 1 · 21 3 to 1 · 20 2 to 1 · 19 2 to 1. At the Main Floor.
Up to 200 to 1
2.70%
Perfect Pairs Your first two cards are a pair. Perfect pair 25 to 1 · Colored pair 12 to 1 · Mixed pair 6 to 1. At the Five Spot.
Up to 25 to 1
6.10%
21+3 Your first two cards and the dealer’s up card make a three-card poker hand. Suited trips 100 to 1 · Straight flush 40 to 1 · Three of a kind 30 to 1 · Straight 10 to 1 · Flush 5 to 1. At the Five Spot.
Up to 100 to 1
4.70%
Pot of Gold The free-bet buttons the dealer gives you this round — each free double and each free split is one. The more you collect, the more it pays. 7+ buttons 1000 to 1 · 6 buttons 300 to 1 · 5 buttons 100 to 1 · 4 buttons 60 to 1 · 3 buttons 30 to 1 · 2 buttons 12 to 1 · 1 button 3 to 1. At the Free Bet.
Up to 1000 to 1
6.20%
Super Match Your first four cards — both hands’ two — hold a pair or better. Ranks only; suits don’t count. Four of a kind 40 to 1 · Two pair 8 to 1 · Three of a kind 5 to 1 · One pair 1 to 1. At the Blackjack Switch.
Up to 40 to 1
2.70%
Tips
Swipe down on the felt to hit, across to stand, and double-tap to double.
Insurance is a bet the odds say to leave alone.
Drag a chip onto the small circle for a side bet.
Match play from your host (a comp) waits by your rail: tap it and it goes beside your main bet. Put at least as much of your own on the main bet to match it. Your first hand wins and the coupon pays even money — a blackjack too; it loses and the coupon is taken; a push and it stays for the next hand. Doubles and splits are your own chips. Never on a side bet.
Blackjack pays 6 to 5 at the Five Spot — that costs you more than any decision you make. The other tables pay 3 to 2.
Free Bet: always take a free double or a free split — except a pair of fives, which you double free instead.
Blackjack Switch: switch when the two hands it makes are better together — a 21 made by switching is only 21 (no blackjack), but 10 or 11 to double is gold.
Tip the dealer: drag a chip onto their name tag, or tap the name. Tips are their own line in your stats.
A bet for the dealer, the blackjack player’s tip: drop a chip on the felt above your circle, up and to the right (or tap the dealer’s name and pick one under “Bet one for the dealer”). It rides your first hand. You win and the dealer is paid it at the same odds — 3 to 2 on a blackjack — and keeps both; you lose and the house takes it; a push and it stays up. It can’t be more than your own bet, and it counts as a tip in your stats either way.
Basic strategy
Every hand has one best play. The basic strategy chart shows it for every total against every dealer card.