European Blackjack
Loading...Play’n GO made a multihand version of European Blackjack with up to three hands playable at a time, a format opted by many players from South Africa. This type of blackjack is also promoted in many bitcoin casinos to play. A player’s goal is to get a hand value closer to or equal to 21 without exceeding it. Game controls are intuitive and simple even for a first-timer. A real money bet ranging between $1 and $100 is placed by clicking (or tapping) on any of the three betting spots. As soon as the bet is placed, a player clicks (or taps) Deal to start a round. Two animated cards are dealt quickly on each player’s hand, while dealer gets only an open card.
The online casino game is governed by a famous European No-Hole-Card rule that dictates the dealer against taking the second card at the very beginning of the deal. This means Dealer receives only one card visible to the player and no second card is on the table, whether opened or down. Although this means a player can potentially lose the additional money bet on Split or Double, this increases house edge by just a non-essential 0.11%.
No instant prompts as per the best decision are given in European Blackjack. However, everyone may use a basic strategy chart devised specifically for this kind of game. Other rules applicable to this online casino game a player should know:
- The game is played with six decks in the shoe. They are shuffled after each deal
- Dealer takes no more cards on all 17. Even when having a soft 17 hand (an ace and another card), the dealer still stands
- When hard nines through elevens are in player’s hand, the Double option gets highlighted and can be used
- No peeking for blackjack
- Split only once (thus two hands can be played at a time, or a total of six if splitting all the three initial hands)
- Only one card is given to split aces.
In regards to payoffs, they are rather traditional: natural blackjack (A+10) pays 3:2 (an ace with 10 formed after split is treated as regular 21, not blackjack), insurance pays double the original stake and a regular win pays even money (i.e. 1 to 1 – you get exactly what has been wagered). A player return is stated to be 99.37% under perfect play.
Written & published:
20.11.2020 By author
Emma O.
Reviewed & updated:
06.11.2024 By gambling expert
Andrew R.
