Blackjack is more about trusting your own skill than anything else in the world. It’s you, other players, and the dealer. But remember that other players do not affect your outcome. This elevates blackjack to a place that poker just can’t follow. But if you’re looking for different blackjack variants to adjust your game with, here are some variants to think about. No, you won’t find all of these in an online casino. We’re not going to try to limit you with just the online world. Many of you gamblers out there are world travelers, and if you hunger for a little land based casino action, these variants should keep you entertained for at least a few hours. Did we mention there’s often a well stocked bar very close by to the blackjack table? 🙂
Anyway, without further delay, here’s that list.
1. Blackjack Switch
Blackjack switch is a great variant for people that like to play on the wild side. Have you ever played regular blackjack and perhaps wanted to switch your hand out for something better? Well, that’s against the rules of the main version, but this variant gives you want you want. You get to trade between hands, but there’s a few catches to this. If the dealer busts on 22, every other non-busted hand is a push. Blackjacks are even money in this variant, rather than a 3:2 payout. You have to make equal side bets, but you can double on just about anything, and even redouble, then split. Very neat variant if you’re looking to play.
2. California No Bust Blackjack
Yes, you read this variant’s name right: it’s California “no bust” blackjack! What makes this blackjack so special is that jokers are in the game. Multiple jokers add serious spice to this variant, so make sure that you watch the action carefully. If you get two jokers in the hand, it’s a 2 to 1 win. Jokers, as you might assume, are wild. To get the game off the ground, you have to declare naturals. This would be two jokers, two aces, or an ace and a joker. If you get an ace with a 10 point card, it is indeed a blackjack but it doesn’t make you the automatic winner of the hand. The “naturals” would rank higher in this variant.
You can surrender on any two cards except for a joker on the dealer’s side, and you can split up to 3 hands. Our advice? Make big bets.
3. Panama Blackjack
This is a blackjack variant that’s mostly played around Panama City, Panama. Who knows, maybe you’ll get out that way sometime soon. Anyway, this variant is played with six 52-card decks. No jokers, so if that’s your thing then you’ll need to find another variant. You are indeed allowed early surrender, as long as there’s no ace involved. You can do doubles and splits as well. This blackjack variant is interesting because instead of a shoe, the cards are fed through a continuous shuffler. The dealer has no hole card, and hits on soft 17.
4. Power Blackjack
Like Panama blackjack, you get six decks of 52 cards. Thankfully, a blackjack here pays 3:2. Keep in mind that the dealer will stand on soft 17, so make sure that you adjust your strategy accordingly. You can double after a split, and there is no surrender. Quite frankly, we think that surrender bets usually aren’t in your favor anyway, so this is no big loss.
Two interesting things, though. You have the Power Double and the Power Split. The Power Double is where you can push away the 3rd card and exchange it for the very next card out of the shoe. The Power Split is on a hard 15 or a hard 16 and acts like a regular split. The only difference is that the two initial cards don’t have to be from the same rank.
5. War Blackjack
This is basically War and Blackjack fused together. You can indeed bet on War and Blackjack separately, and then parlay the war bet into the blackjack bet to make it bigger.
Let’s talk about the War side first. Your war bet is limited to the table limit, and aces are ranked low in War rather than high. So the dealer gets a card, and you get a card. The dealer wins ties in War. If you can make the War side profitable, then your blackjack winnings can be seriously awesome. Don’t skip this variant if you see it.
We could talk about literally hundreds of blackjack variants, but we had to narrow it down to five. Can you chime in with any neat variants we should know about? Land based casino or online casino…it doesn’t matter; we just want to talk about all things blackjack!