Monday 23 September 2019

How To Play Pontoon Blackjack and Beat a Dealer's 21

Play Pontoon Blackjack
The next blackjack version that we'll look at in this Blackjack Games Guide is a game that is most popular in the UK, Pontoon Blackjack which is also referred to as British Blackjack.
Pontoon Blackjack Rules
The similarities between Classic Blackjack and British Black jack include the use of eight standard decks of cards and forcing the dealer to Hit on a soft hand of 17. But these are the only rules that Classic Blackjack and British Blackjack share.
For starters, Pontoon Black jack is not a Hole-Card game, which means that the dealer will not show an up card at any point during the game.
Secondly, the game will kick-off with the dealer first checking for a Pontoon hand, that's an Ace plus a Face or 10 card.
One other difference between Traditional Blackjack and Pontoon Blackjack is that if there's a draw in hand value between the dealer and the player, the Push will be won by the dealer, not the player.
Beating the Dealer's Hand
There are two ways in which you can beat the dealer's 21 in Pontoon Blackjack, by getting a Pontoon hand or building a 5 Card Trick.
A Pontoon hand is effectively a Twenty-one hand using an Ace and any of the Face or 10 cards. A typical hand of natural Blackjack would pay your stake at 3:2 payout but a Pontoon hand will payout at 2:1.
Another way to beat the dealer's 21 is with a 5 Card Trick. This is when you draw Five cards or more without going bust regardless of the total hand value. Beating the dealer's hand using a Five Card Trick will yield a 2:1 payout on the player's bet.
Other Rule Variations
Different to what you would expect from other popular versions of blackjack, there's no Insurance option in British Blackjack. This isn't something to worry about if you take into account that the dealer has just a 4.82% odds of getting a natural 21 are just 4.82%. Luckily, there is no limitation on Doubling nor the number of cards that you can draw.
Pontoon blackjack allows you to split any two pairs including a pair of Aces and Pontoons are possible after splitting. The only limitation is that if you split a pair of Aces you're only entitled to receive one more card.
The House Advantage in Pontoon Blackjack
Similar to various other games of blackjack, different online casinos could alter the playing rules of Pontoon Blackjack.
For example, if you choose to play Pontoon Blackjack at any of the Microgaming online casinos, the house advantage over the players is 0.39% whereas if you were to play on a Playtech site, the house will have a slightly lower advantage of 0.38%. Other casinos could retain a higher advantage of up to 0.73%.
One way in which you can effectively reduce the advantage that the casino has over you and improve the odds of winning is to follow the basic blackjack strategy sheet.
And lastly, you should always pay attention to the number of card decks used in Pontoon Blackjack because the higher the number of card decks used, the lower the house edge will be. This is due to the higher odds of creating 5 Card Tricks.

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