What Are Blackjack Side Bets About?
The best way to put into words this phenomenon in gambling will probably be “bet’s that have nothing to do with the actual game”. Irrespective of that, another look at the rules of blackjack will only be of help to you. An analogue can be found in sports betting, where the forthcoming of bookies would lay odds for pretty much anything that can be observed in a competitive game. Similarly, if you have a gut feeling about the cards that are coming, you could back a wager that the dealer will go bust, for example.
If you think it’s more likely that your first two cards will be of the same kind, again, you can put your money where your mouth is and back such a prediction. The same dynamic precedes the placement of any of the available live blackjack side bets.
Live Blackjack Side Bets – Should You Peel One Off?
Twenty-One is a game with record low house edge and that’s one of the reasons the preaching advantage play gamblers love it. What’s the deal with blackjack side bets then? Why fix something if it’s not broken? The widespread narrative is that they are believed to bolster players’ chances of success. In reality, does the story check out? Some find that extremely hard to believe, but others gladly take the opportunity to spice up their wagering pattern. Some players go even further and combine this possibility with a great PayPal casino UK operator for a better financial experience.
Is there evidence beyond the anecdotal to prove that this type of bets are actually working in players’ favour? We’ll cut to the chase – there’s not a shred of evidence for that. Even the best blackjack side bets have abnormally high house edge when compared to the other outcomes listed in the traditional rules of the game. We don’t mean to discourage you from trying side bets at UK live blackjack casino sites or best mobile blackjack casinos – but that’s what the empirical evidence suggests.
How to Place Blackjack Side Bets
To place wagers of this nature, you have first to find a casino that will accommodate you in your gambling endeavours. Sure enough, we have something in mind – a list of rated and reviewed blackjack casinos. Having the list at your disposal, we’ll take it that you are in the hands of true casino card game experts. The only thing required form you is to take your seat at an RNG or live table. There’ll be blackjack side bet areas where you should place your chips on the proposition you think are worth taking. Nothing out of the ordinary, right? The wagers that are in play are usually displayed somewhere in plain sight – the felt or on the left-hand side of the viewport. You should, most definitely, check what the winning conditions of a certain wager are before opting in.
List of The Best Blackjack Side Bets
Firstly, we owe you an explanation what ‘the best’ means in our humble opinion. This is, the kind of wagers that are advantageous for the player. Looking at it from this perspective, we picked some of the popular blackjack side bets that stood the test of time. You are sure to find them in the top online casinos that are part of the regulated gambling sites on the web. Discoverability, easy to follow the rules, low house edge, and high payouts are the characteristics we considered before making the list. The pros and cons of each individual bet, we are going to discuss shortly. We’ll make known also common practices that are tie up with the nature of each of the wagers.
21+3
21+3 blackjack side bet is commonplace these days. The long and short of it is that if the dealer’s face-up card and your first two cards form one of the poker hands flush, straight, three-of-a-kind, or straight, the winning conditions of the wager are fulfilled. If you choose to stake this proposition, you’ll benefit from the low house edge – only 3.24%. That’s easy to deduce, provided that the payout is usually 9 to 1. Which is incomparable to Lucky Ladies, for example, given that the latter has an estimated house edge of 17%. It’s too a very recognisable wager, however.
Royal Match
Royal Match is bet that can be found in most online blackjack variations circulating the web. It has a commendable house edge – only 3.7%. The goal is to catch two suited cards, ideally a king and a queen. The payout for two suited cards is 5:2, while a suited King-Queen pays 25 to 1. A classical bet, and one of the most player-friendly ones, Royal Match, is the favourite of many punters around the globe. You should know that the percentages and payouts quoted above depend on how many decks make up the shoe and the operator itself. The payouts in a single deck blackjack variant will be very different than the ones in a six-deck variation
Over/Under 13
Another wager with great-looking house edge – 6.5% for Over and 13% for Under. In the first case, the player predicts that the sum total of his first two cards will exceed 13, while in the second case, they are hoping for the opposite outcome. Here’s the kicker – if the sum of your first two cards is 13, you lose. Aces count as ones, so keep that in mind as well. It’s also worth pointing out that with a decent –card counting system, you should be able to lower the house edge even more. There are tailor-made card counting strategies specially designed for this prop bet.
List of the Popular Side Bets in Blackjack
While those side bets in blackjack may not be the most lucrative ways to learn, they enjoy huge popularity among casino regulars. You’ve probably seen some of them already, it will not be a surprise. For this one, we’ll leave the factual aside and acquaint you with the trending wagers in Twenty-One. We won’t recommend doing this under other circumstances but do try one of these wagers – just to get a feel for it. Without a shadow of a doubt, they pay wonderfully, so in case you get lucky, you’ll have something to show for it. Let’s take a look at the blackjack side bets we’ve featured in this paragraph.
Insurance
You can hardly find a blackjack side bets guide that doesn’t talk about insurance nowadays. This isn’t in the least surprising because this wager is quite the fundamental one. You are essentially backing the outcome that the dealer will show a blackjack. Should this happen, players who have insurance are paid out 2:1 on their money. The option to take insurance becomes available if the face card of the dealer is any of those: ace, ten, all face cards. The house edge on this one isn’t the highest but it makes the wager unfavourable enough for the player so that we can’t say it’s worth it in the long run.
Super Sevens
‘The more the better’ will do you justice should you go for this wager. That is, only if you catch lots of sevens. This side bets usually covers the cases where the player has from 1 to up to three sevens. One seven wins only if tit’s the first card to be dealt to the player. The payout in this case is 3 to 1. From thence on, depending on whether the sevens are suited or not, the player can win the startling 5,000 times their bet. Because of the extremely high potential, bets are usually capped at $1. Not that it’s a piece of cake to catch three sevens, but it’s definitely something to be looking forward to.
Lucky Ladies
That wager is pretty straightforward, which is why it entices a lot of players to take their chances with it. The fulfilment of a seemingly simple objective is enough to get paid. If the first two cards of the player total 20, and they have backed the wager, they get paid 4 to 1. The highest payout possible is 1,000 : 1, but it’s extremely hard to take advantage of. In case you are interested, that is the situation when a player is dealt two queens of hearts and the dealer – a blackjack. Of course, the odds of that coming to pass at all are minimal, but even if this particular case doesn’t come into play, any suited and/ or matched 20s will also pay off nicely to the opportunistic players.
What to Make of the Best Side Bets for Blackjack?
The importance of this type of wagers should not be overstated because they play some, but not a very significant, role in the game as a whole. What’s more, they are a feature that often serves as an advertisement, which means they are likely to be more profitable for the casino rather than the players. Even if not the dream money-making feature we are all hoping for, side bets put an interesting spin to the game and could give you a brand-new appreciation for it. Remember to not stake your whole game plan on them, but to play small and simple bets, similar to the ones you would place at the best higher or lower card game sites in the UK and you should be fine.
