People will always love the classic version of blackjack – a.k.a. “21.” But if you play blackjack long enough, it’s likely that you’ll become interested in some of the other blackjack variations. This being said, here is a look at the different blackjack variation rules.
Double Exposure Blackjack – The Double Exposure blackjack variation is every player’s dream because you get to see both of the dealer’s cards, instead of just one face-up. But since you have the advantage of seeing both of the dealer’s cards, the house reduces natural blackjack payouts from 3:2 to even money, and the dealer wins all ties. These two rule variations help the house maintain their edge.
Spanish 21 – The big rule change in Spanish 21 is that the house removes all 10’s from the deck; this also reduces the deck-size from 52 cards to 48. The removal of all 10’s gives the house a 25% edge, but the casino also includes big bonuses and other rule changes to drastically reduce the overly-high 25% edge.
Caribbean 21 – This is a very fun blackjack variation that allows players to split any two cards (instead of the same valued cards like in traditional blackjack), and also double down twice in a hand. Two more important things to note about the Caribbean 21 blackjack rules is that players lose ties, and aces are only worth 1 point instead of either 1 or 11 points.
Pontoon – The Pontoon blackjack variation rules are fairly basic since the dealer is dealt two face-down cards, and the player tries to beat this hand by drawing between 2 and 5 cards. The best possible hand is a Pontoon (two cards totaling 21), the second best hand is a Five Card Trick (five cards totaling 21), and the third best hand is a three or four card hand totaling 21.