Blackjack Variants Compared

"Blackjack" is not one game. The number of decks, whether the dealer takes a hole card, whether they hit or stand on soft 17, what you may double, whether you can surrender, and above all what a blackjack pays — every one of these moves the odds, and some of them change the correct play.

The single most important number on any table is the blackjack payout. A game paying 6:5 instead of 3:2 costs roughly 1.4%, which is more than every other rule difference on this page put together. Check it before you check anything else.

Side by side

House edge assumes perfect basic strategy for that variant's rules. Figures are approximate and move with the exact rule set on offer — each page states the rules its number belongs to.

The six games

European Blackjack

≈0.39% house edge

vs

The no-hole-card game — the dealer takes a second card only after you have finished acting.

European Blackjack is defined by one structural difference: the dealer does not take a hole card. They deal themselves a single face-up card, wait for every player to finish, and only then draw their second card. If that card completes a blackjack, the hand is over.

Rules, strategy and counting notes →

American Blackjack

≈0.46% house edge

vs

The hole-card game that every standard basic strategy chart is written for.

American Blackjack is the game most people picture, and the game virtually every basic strategy chart on the internet — including ours — is calculated for. The dealer takes two cards, one face up and one face down, and when the up-card is a ten or an Ace they check the hole card for blackjack before anyone acts.

Rules, strategy and counting notes →

Atlantic City Blackjack

≈0.35% house edge

vs

Eight decks, but one of the most player-friendly rule sets you will find.

Atlantic City Blackjack is proof that deck count is not the whole story. It uses eight decks, which sounds unattractive, and still delivers one of the lowest house edges available — around 0.35% — because almost every other rule favours the player.

Rules, strategy and counting notes →

Vegas Strip Blackjack

≈0.35% house edge

vs

Four decks, dealer stands on soft 17, and no surrender to fall back on.

Vegas Strip Blackjack is the classic four-deck game: the dealer stands on soft 17, you may double on any two cards and after splitting, and you can re-split to four hands. It is a genuinely good rule set, and the fewer decks make it a common recommendation for players stepping up from six- and eight-deck shoes.

Rules, strategy and counting notes →

Single Deck Blackjack

≈0.15% at 3:2 house edge

vs

The best odds in blackjack — or the worst, depending entirely on the payout.

One deck, dealt from the hand, often shuffled every few rounds. With a 3:2 payout and the dealer standing on soft 17, single deck blackjack offers the lowest house edge of any blackjack game on the floor — under 0.2%, and better still with liberal doubling.

Rules, strategy and counting notes →

Spanish 21

≈0.40% house edge

vs

Every ten removed from the deck, and a pile of player bonuses to make up for it.

Spanish 21 is played with a 48-card Spanish deck — a standard deck with all four tens removed. Jacks, queens and kings stay, so there are still sixteen ten-value cards, but losing the four actual tens is a serious blow: it costs the player around 2%.

Rules, strategy and counting notes →

Which rules actually matter

Effects are approximate, apply to a typical six-deck game, and are not perfectly additive — rules interact. They are accurate enough to rank tables by.

Put it into practice