How to Play Live Dealer Blackjack

Multiple Players

Just like in land-based casinos, multiple players can sit on a live blackjack table. Usually, there are up to 7 seats and players have 15 to 30 seconds to place a bet. The table may be full or a single player may be taking part in the game. This is one of the greatest improvements from RNG games where you play solo against the software.

Interestingly, some live casinos now offer blackjack tables with unlimited seats. Instead of seeing 7 positions on the table, each player bets from the central seat. For this to work, however, all players receive the same hand – each of them can decide how to play it, of course. There are a few restrictions for Splitting but other than that, the game is significantly faster. Playtech’s Unlimited Blackjack is a great example.

Gameplay

Once bets are made, the game starts with the number of players who have placed a wager. The dealer deals two cards to everyone, starting from his left, and, depending on the type of blackjack, he may draw one or two cards for himself, as well.

The game is played in a traditional fashion – starting from the player’s right, every player chooses what to do with the hand he or she has received. Several options appear on the screen – Hit, Stand, Double, or Split. Depending on the blackjack variation, Surrender and Insurance may also be available. The majority of live blackjack tables also offer different side bets such as Perfect Pairs or 21+3.

After players end their turn, the dealer also plays out his hand and the round is resolved – some bets are lost while winning players receive their payouts. The dealer does not handle the payments – all winnings are paid automatically and added to the players’ balance. Overall, live blackjack is slower than blackjack games in land-based casinos. Depending on the software development studio and the number of players, each round lasts from a minute and a half to two minutes. Usually, 30 or 40 hands could be played per hour.

Dealing Shoes vs. ASMs

Usually, live blackjack games are played with 6 or 8 decks. The cards are normally shuffled offscreen but the dealer places the cut card in front of the cameras. The rules and methods for shuffling vary from one software developer to another but there are two main ways for shuffling we can identify.

The first one includes manual or automated shuffling offscreen after roughly half of the dealing shoe has been dealt. The cards are dealt from a standard shoe that is used in many brick-and-mortar casinos, as well. Other live casino games use automatic shoes that also act as shuffling machines. Some live casinos have introduced continuous automatic shuffling machines, which guarantee that cards will be randomized continuously.

Speed of the Game

Usually, card counters manage to gain a small advantage over the casino (around 1%) by determining when to apply small changes to basic strategy and more importantly, when to increase their bets. This small advantage does not show in every hand played, however – it is realized over a long period. In other words, the more hands they play per hour, the closer they get to the expected returns from the game.

When playing blackjack in a brick-and-mortar casino, counters could realistically play anything from 60 to 120 hands per hour. Rounds in live dealer blackjack, on the other hand, last longer because players are given time to place bets and decide how to play their cards. As a result, around 40 hands per hour could be played. Even if card counting was possible, it would yield profits that are too insignificant to make it worthwhile.

Penetration

The main reason why card counting is unproductive in live blackjack is the poor deck penetration. It is usually around 50%, which means that the cards are shuffled after only half of them have been dealt. The deeper the deck penetration, the more accurate counting will be. That is why it is often recommended that counters play games with penetration of 75% or more.

Rules and Additional Things to Consider

To gain as much advantage as possible, card counters should look for blackjack variations with very favorable rules. Currently, many of the live blackjack games are played under very liberal rules, indeed. But some live casinos are starting to use continuous shuffling shoes. These devices continually shuffle the cards that are used in the game – in this process, the cards that have already been dealt are shuffled with the rest of the decks. In addition, several cards are “burned” at the beginning of a new shoe.

More importantly, the live blackjack games are monitored by software, which keeps a running count of the cards. It also observes the bets that have been placed on each table. Whenever the software detects a pattern in the betting, it signals that this player is counting cards. Such patterns are easy to identify as they always include increasing the bet size when the count is high. The worst thing is that if suspected of counting, players can be instantly blocked from the online casino without even an explanation.