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Single Deck Blackjack, since it offers players one of THE best possible opportunities to win, has been viewed for a long time as a bit of a holy grail in the world of casino gaming.

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The out and out fact that it offers the house a much lower edge (at just 0.15%) than most other games do, means that players who stick to Single Deck Blackjack games are at an advantage.

Yes, there are reasons to get excited and some fair reasons to believe that Single Deck Blackjack is the best thing ever…

But, you will find that there are also a few disadvantages to look out for as well.

Read one to find out more about this intriguing and exciting game!

Single Deck Blackjack – The Main Advantages

One of the first and most obvious advantages to playing Single Deck Blackjack is, as mentioned in brief above, that you will be getting the lowest possible house edge.

Indeed, with the house edge on this variation of the game sitting at only a measly 0.15%, you are in fact very nearly on a level playing field with the casino, something which is both rare and potentially highly profitable.

If you want to really take full advantage of the low casino edge though, you must, of course, still make sure that you know some good basic blackjack strategy before you start to play.

If you don’t take the time out to familiarise yourself with this strategy, then it really won’t matter how many decks you’re dealing with, as you will always be at a disadvantage.

If you do this take the time to learn however, then your chances of making a profitable win can appear as simple as making a coin flip.

Another big advantage of Single Deck Blackjack comes for card counters.

As, overall these days, card counters have to deal with either six or eight deck shoes, playing Single Deck Blackjack means that they have a lot less time to wait before getting favourable counts.

This means that they get to make a big bet much sooner.

Single Deck Blackjack – TheDisadvantages

Taking into account what we’ve already said, it would be easy to think that there aren’t any disadvantages to playing Single Deck Blackjack, but sadly there are some pitfalls to keep an eye out for.

The main issue with this game, is that a lot of casinos try to compensate for their low house edge by creating extra rules, which are unfavourable for players.

When they do this, it can mean that the house edge ends up being a fair chunk higher than you’d see with the six or eight deck blackjack games.

Indeed, in the worst-case scenario, casinos will bring the house edge way up from 0.15% to 1.45% by only making blackjack payouts of 6:5 instead of payouts of 3:2.

When this is the case it doesn’t seem worth the effort of searching for single deck games in the first place.

Casinos may even add other unfavourable rules to their versions of single deck games, so keep an eye out for this possibility too.

You’re also unlikely to earn many comp points with this version of the blackjack game, as the casinos who don’t radically change their rules to suit them are unlikely to be generous, when they won’t make much money off you in the long-term if you’re playing Single Deck Blackjack.

Single Deck Blackjack Strategy and The Rules

At this very moment, there is someone, somewhere in the world, who is already playing blackjack like a total champion!

Apart from the ever-popular game of Poker, Blackjack has the next largest number of professional players.

And, despite them being fairly commonplace at casinos world wide, watching true blackjack playing connoisseurs, with their controlled confidence, whilst they’re making all the right moves, is nothing short of spellbinding.

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When you are lucky enough to be able to watch one of these players at work, it is easy to presume that they’re natural born players, and however impressed you are it can at times feel a little daunting to new players.

It is important however to remember, that every single one of them also started from scratch and took time to learn about and reach that level of play.

So, if you’re a newbie to the noble game of 21 then have no fear, as you’ve an exciting journey ahead.

The first step of this journey is learning the rules.

Single Deck Blackjack Rules

As the name suggests ‘’Single Deck Blackjack’’ is indeed played with one single deck of cards, which is shuffled after each and every round.

It begins before the cards are dealt, which is the point when you have to place your bet.

Different casino’s will allow you to bet between differing amounts.

Once you’ve placed your bet you will be dealt a face-up two-card hand.

The dealer will also deal themselves out a two-card hand, which will consist of one face-up and one face-down card.

Your hand’s value will be shown beside your bet, but in order to help you learn card values, it is worth noting the following:

• All Aces are worth a value of either 1 or 11
• All Twos to Nines all have their face value
• Where as Tens, Jacks, Queens AND Kings are all worth 10 points each

The aim of the game is to get a higher score than the dealer’s, but without going over 21.

Getting over 21 instantly results in a bust, and this is the case for both you and the dealer.

So, if the dealer busts, you win that round of the game.

Blackjack Deck

If, however, the dealer and you both have the same score at the end of the round, then it becomes a ‘Push’, and your bet is returned.

• By choosing to Hit and get another card you can improve your score.
• Or, you could choose to Stand with your current hand and to face off with the dealer.
• If your odds of winning are high, you may want to Double Down. Double your wager (which gives you double the payout) and get one more card.

In some particular circumstances, you can also choose to do the following:

• Split– To Split your hand your original hand must have two cards which are of an equal value. When you pick this option, you choose to take each card and instead of having just the one original hand you create two individual hands out of them. You have the ability to split up to two hands when playing Single Deck Blackjack. Note here though that when splitting Aces, your hands receive only one extra card.
• Insurance – For half of the cost of your wager you can buy Insurance. This becomes an option to you when the dealer’s visible card is an Ace. At this point there’s about a 33% chance that he has blackjack. If the dealer does get a blackjack, which consists of an Ace and a 10-value card making the perfect score of 21, then your Insurance bet will pay 2:1.

Single Deck Blackjack – Payouts

The insurance bet pays out 2:1, as you now know but what about the other payouts?

The best payout you can get in Traditional Blackjack is 3:2 and that is for being dealt an Ace and a 10-value card in your initial two-card hand. This is a Blackjack. Any other win results in a standard even-money payout.

Live Online Single Deck Blackjack

It is not fun to have to disappoint, but we feel it is important to inform you that you are highly unlikely to find any online casinos which offer players a Live Online Single Deck Blackjack gaming option.

We can’t say exactly why this is, but our best guess would be that it would take the dealers too long to shuffle the deck after every hand played, and since they want to squeeze in as many hands as possible during an hour of play, they prefer the multi-hand blackjack option instead.

Although it’s very sad that you won’t find any live online casino offering single deck blackjack games, you might find comfort in the fact that you will still be able to play 6 deck blackjack and 8 deck blackjack at just about any of the other live dealer casinos out there.

Will We Ever See Live Online Blackjack with a Single Deck?

Well that’s anyone’s guess really.

Our view is that, although it would be nice, live dealer single deck blackjack tables aren’t really that necessary. After all they would be way too slow, leaving the tables empty whilst everyone else flocks to the faster paced multi-hand blackjack tables.

We feel that it would be much more beneficial for players if online casinos spent their time on improving the quality of the live streams and implementing good comp systems, for loyal players, like all the major Las Vegas casinos are doing.

Single Deck Blackjack – Card Counting

If the time issue isn’t enough to scare off the live dealer casinos from attempting to implement single deck blackjack games, then the issue of single deck blackjack counting at the live dealer blackjack tables surely will.

In fact, we’re pretty certain that it has given them plenty to think about and is sure to have had a hand in their reluctance to launch this game.

Having a live online casino with blackjack tables is very different from a land-based casino.

A Vegas casino like the Wynn will be able to watch your every move thanks to their ‘eye in the sky’, while live dealer casinos don’t have any way of telling what you are up to while playing at their blackjack tables.

When playing live online blackjack it is easy to sit with a blackjack strategy chart in front of you, and to at the same time write down all the cards on a piece of paper.

This makes card counting very simple, even if you don’t have any particular card counting skills, and as such makes it much easier to turn the house edge to your advantage.

With a single deck blackjack table and this obvious advantage, the skilled players could potentially bust just about every live online casino out there within a month.

So, it’s fair to presume, that this is probably one of the main reasons that we won’t see any single deck blackjack tables on offer at any of the live dealer online casinos for the foreseeable future.

Summary

To summarise, Single Deck Blackjack has indeed got the lowest house edge of all casino games, and that is taking into count both luck and skill, so it gives casino fans some great opportunities to win money.

Players must remember however to learn the rules and to understand and use the proper blackjack strategy in order to keep the house’s edge to the minimum.

If you don’t do this then it won’t matter whether you play blackjack with one deck or many decks, as you will already be at a big disadvantage.

It’s also important to make sure that you choose a Single Deck Blackjack game which has favourable rules, as this can be a pitfall for the more unobservant of players.

It is best, for example, to avoid the games that pay 6 to 5 for blackjack and stick to Single Deck Blackjack games which pay the proper 3 to 2.

As long as you learn your stuff and follow these simple guidelines, then we’re sure that Single Deck Blackjack games can be both as excitement inducing as your favourite childhood sweetshop and potentially quite lucrative too!

Good luck and happy playing!

As we have discussed before, the number of decks with which a Blackjack game is played is essentially a rule unto itself and impacts the House Edge of the game accordingly. In the event that all other rules are equal, then the more decks a Blackjack game has, the greater the House Edge will be against the player, which is to say that there will be a lesser return to player.

In the case of card counting, multiple decks are something of a boon and a bane to card counters. Granted, all other things equal, the card counter will generally get more favorable opportunities against a lesser number of decks and will buck a lesser negative expected value while waiting for positive counts, (because fewer decks is generally good) but all other things are not equal and games considered, ‘Highly countable,’ are often subject to greater scrutiny from the pit as well as the eye in the sky. Even though it is dead wrong, there are still pit bosses out there who believe, ‘A six (or eight) deck game cannot be counted.’

Double deck games, either way, certainly can be counted. However, for the basic strategy player, double deck games offer fewer opportunities than single-deck games to make decisions based on the, ‘Deck composition,’ and it is for that reason that double deck has a greater house edge.

When we compare the rules of double-deck variations, we are going to use what I will term a, ‘Control Game,’ and that control game will have the following rules:

Soft 17: Dealer Hits
Double After Split: Yes
Double On: ANY
Player Can Resplit: Twice to Four Total Hands
Resplit Aces: No
Hit Split Aces: No
Dealer Peeks: Yes
Surrender: Yes
Blackjack Pays: 3:2

With this, ‘Control Game,’ the House Edge with Basic Strategy is 0.39702%, if we compare that to single-deck with the exact same set of rules, the single deck game would have a House Edge of 0.12144% for a difference of 0.26928% added to the House Edge for the double-deck game.

This is not only because of fundamental hands/decisions being more powerful for a player in a single-deck game due to the effect-of-removal (cards coming out of the deck) but also because there are some plays that get made as a result of effect-of-removal in a single deck game that do not happen in a double-deck game, such as doubling an eight against a dealer showing five/six in a single-deck game. You would not do that in a double deck game.

The Rules:

While double-deck Blackjack gives the player an opportunity to play deck composition strategy, it does not grant the same opportunities that a game such as single-deck often will. Deck composition strategy is basically what card-counters do, except they can often do this with games of several decks and are doing more than making decisions based only upon the number of cards that have come out/are showing in one hand. While such decisions still come up in double-deck Blackjack for the savvy player, they are nowhere near as common as they are in a game of single-deck.

Soft 17

The first rule change we will examine is whether or not a dealer hits or stands on soft-17, which is any hand that adds up to seventeen with the Ace counting as eleven. In other words, A-6 would be an example of a Soft-17, A-2-4 is another example and A-2-2-2 is yet another. These types of hands actually come up slightly more frequently in a double-deck game as opposed to a single-deck game (and even more frequently in games of greater decks) simply because the effect of a card, say a deuce, being removed on the probability of getting yet another deuce is greater with a fewer number of decks.

The rules for our control game assume that the Dealer Hits on a total of soft-17 whereas it would be beneficial for the player for the dealer to stand. While it may seem antithetical that a player benefits by the dealer standing on what then becomes a completed hand, it is important to remember that the player has already acted and that hitting a Soft-17 gives the dealer several opportunities to improve the hand with a nearly equal number of opportunities to keep it the same as if the dealer had stood. (i.e. turning it into a Hard-17 with a ten)

For example, if two cards, an A-6 come out of the deck giving the dealer a Soft-17 and the dealer hits, here are the possibilities for the very next card:

(31/102)-The dealer improves his hand to a 18-21 by way of another Ace, or a two, three or four. The four, of course, would give the dealer an unbeatable twenty-one that can only be matched for a push if it matches the player’s total.

(32/102)-The dealer draws a ten-card that results in a Hard-17, which is what the dealer would effectively have even if he stood on soft-17.

(39/102)-The dealer draws a five, six, seven, eight or nine, which are arguably the worst cards for the dealer because the hand is incomplete and busting is now possible. Even with that being the case, though, assuming the player plays perfect strategy based on the rules, the player will have a hand that beats (or pushes) seventeen enough of the time that the dealer is better running this risk.

One might wonder: But, aren’t 39, ‘Bad cards,’ more than 31, ‘Good cards,’ what gives?

The answer to that is simply that the, ‘Good cards,’ absolutely make a hand that is better than what the dealer had if forced to stand on the Soft-17, and the, ‘Bad Cards,’ are not necessarily a death sentence for the dealer. The dealer could draw a five to a Soft-17, for example, giving the dealer a hand total of 12, then the dealer could draw a nine for a total of 21, which can only be pushed by the player.

There’s no need to believe me, though, you could simply look at our blackjack strategy engine:

And you will see that, with Basic Strategy, based on our control game, when we switch it to force the dealer to stand on Soft-17, the house edge is reduced to 0.20416%, which is a difference of 0.18656% in favor of the player. In other words, this one rule change cut the house edge nearly in half as compared to our control game!

Double On Any Two Cards

The next rule that we must take a look at is the doubling rule, some casinos will allow a player to double on any two cards the player likes, whereas other casinos only allow doubling on hand totals of 9-11 and others still only allow doubling on hand totals of 10-11. While a single deck game is the only time a player would double on hard eight (absent card counting) there are still a number of soft hands that do not otherwise total 9-11 on which a player would double in the double deck game.

For example, a player would double a soft 13-19 against a dealer six, and only the A-8 technically equals nine (in terms of the hard hand), the player would double soft 13-18 against a dealer five, a soft 14-18 against a dealer four, a soft 17-18 against a dealer three and a soft 18 against a dealer deuce. With exception to the soft nineteen (which, again, would also be a hard nine) against a dealer six, all of these plays would be gone if the player could not double on anything.

Our control game allows for doubling on Any Two cards, however, if we switch that to doubling only on 9-11 and keep all other rules the same, (eliminating all soft doubles except one) the house edge soars to 0.51298%, which is a difference of 0.12226% compared to being able to double on anything.

In addition to eliminating all soft double situations, the situation of doubling a hard nine against a dealer showing a 2-6 would also be eliminated if the player could only double on 10-11. If that were to happen, the House Edge would jump to 0.62725% which is 0.23653% more than in our control game in which the player can double on anything.

Splitting

Now that we have discussed doubling, we have to look at splitting as well as the two together: Whether or not a player may double after a split.

The first question is to how many hands may a player split? For example, if the player is dealt a 8-8 (Hard 16) against any dealer card, (except an Ace, then the player should surrender if allowed) then the player is supposed to split the eights and take a new card on each of the two eights in order to form two new hands. In some Blackjack games, the player has the opportunity to do this yet again if the player were to draw another four on one of the other hands, and then perhaps even again after that! This process is called, ‘Re-Splitting,’ and the ability to do so is a favorable rule for the player. There are a few Blackjack games that allow unlimited re-splits, but it is extremely rare to ever resplit more than twice.

Our control game assumes a player can resplit (twice) to a total of four hands and the difference in being able to split to a total of three hand only (i.e. resplit once) rather than all four is 0.00570% added to the house edge whereas the difference in not being able resplit at all compared to resplitting to four total hands is 0.04456% added to the house edge. This may not seem like a big loss, but in the course of a lifetime of blackjack play, it adds up!

Like we discussed more exhaustively in the single-deck article, this is one rule that has a greater impact on the house edge the more decks there are. The reason for that is because of effect-of-removal, for example, in a hypothetical million deck shoe, getting 4-4, splitting, and drawing another four would not meaningfully reduce the probability of drawing another four on the next card still!

Double After Splitting

The next question relevant to the player is whether or not the player is permitted to double-after-splitting, and there is quite a variety of situations in which this becomes relevant! One example of a hand in which a player would want to be able to do so is a hand such as 3-3 against a Dealer five which is split and the player draws either a six, seven or eight, (depending on what the rules are for what a player can double on) that is definitely a situation in which the player would want to double after splitting.

If the player does not have the capacity to double after splitting, then the House Edge is increased by about 0.14534% to 0.53606% as compared to our control game. This difference becomes slightly greater if the player could split to multiple hands because more hands means more potential opportunities to double after splitting. Just like in our example hand, one of the advantages behind splitting is giving the player the potential not just to get out of a bad hand, but to also turn a bad hand into a GREAT hand that should be doubled down upon!

Blackjack rules typically dictate that a player can only Split Aces once, and the rules that we are assuming for the control game do not allow re-splitting of Aces. Resplitting Aces is advantageous for the player because, once split, aces can often not be hit upon or resplit, which means if you split two aces and draw an A to one of the split Aces, then you are stuck with a lousy hand total of hard-12. If the dealer makes a hand, you lose.

If our control game did allow for the resplitting of Aces, then the house edge would be reduced to 0.33758% which is a difference of 0.05314% off of the house edge of our control game.

Hit On Aces That Have Been Split

The next rule we will address is whether or not a player can hit on Aces that have been split. For the purposes of this rule, we are going to go back to assuming that the player may not resplit the aces because the player may not do so in our control game. The ability to hit Aces that have been split is an incredibly positive allowance for the player because it enables the player to take advantage of splitting Aces without worrying about any chance of being stuck on a bad (12-16) hand that cannot win unless the dealer busts. Sometimes the player would want to hit such a hand total if the dealer is not showing a bad card, but against something like a dealer six, of course, the player would still stand the bad hand total even if the player could hit.

Essentially, what happens if the player is allowed to hit split Aces is that the player will not be stuck on hand totals of 12-16 after taking the card on each of the split Ace hands. In fact, the worst case scenario, if the player cannot resplit Aces, is that the player ends up drawing another Ace (Hard 12 total) as that is the only, ‘Hard,’ hand the player can end up with, and therefore, the only hand in which a third card (the hit) could potentially bust the player. Otherwise, every card on the split aces will either give the player a completed hand, or alternatively, the potential to take a hit to improve the hand with literally zero risk of busting.

Given all of our other rules, the ability to hit Split Aces (no resplitting) improves the game to a house edge of 0.22421% which is an improvement of 0.16651% off the house edge compared to our control game.

No Hole Card

Another rule is the European, ‘No Hole Card,’ rule, and this is actually a rule that exists entirely on the dealer’s side, but it does impact a player’s decisions. If there is no checking of the hole card, then a player is forced to make decisions against a dealer Ten/Ace before knowing whether or not the dealer, ‘Has the goods,’ (a natural) and splitting/doubling decisions are affected by the fact that a player will lose the split/double amounts if the dealer has a natural. Rarely, there will be a casino that will play without the dealer checking for Blackjack, but the casino will only take the original wager if the player loses, and that is nearly effectively the same as the dealer checking for it.

There are a number of plays this influences in different ways, (in terms of the player needing to play more conservatively) but the biggest of these rules is that a player would no longer double a total of eleven against a dealer showing a Ten or Ace because the player has no way of knowing whether or not the dealer has a natural. With the hole card, ‘Peek,’ game, the dealer, ‘Peeks,’ and tells the player he/she does not have a natural hiding under there. Furthermore, the player will surrender against the dealer much more frequently (including with some soft hands under a ten total) if the dealer does not first check for Blackjack!

Is the ability to surrender more often good for the player? I’ll let you decide, the House Edge goes up to 0.49832%, which is an increase of 0.10760% if the dealer does not check for Blackjack compared to our control game.

Surrender

The next question is whether or not a player is allowed to Surrender, which means to forfeit his/her hand and receive half of his/her wager back if he/she does not like the hand. In a double-deck game in which the dealer checks for Blackjack, if allowed, the player would surrender any total of 15-17 (including 8-8) against a Dealer Ace, and a total of 15-16 against a dealer ten. The difference in House Edge is 0.06616% if the player is allowed to Surrender given all of the other Rules with looked at with the house edge of our control game increasing to 0.45688% if the player may not surrender.

Blackjack Pays ?

The final rule that we will look at is Blackjack paying 6:5 rather than 3:2. If the only game in town pays 6:5 on a natural: Play Craps.

How Do the Rules Affect Me?

When it comes to the effects of the Rules, let’s look at the most player-favorable set of rules for a double-deck game v. the most player unfavorable set of rules. I believe this will help everyone see how much of a difference the rules can make.

Favorable:

Dealer Stands on Soft 17
Double After Split: Yes
Double on: Anything
Resplit: Up to Four Hands
Resplit Aces: Yes
Hit Split Aces: Yes
Dealer Peeks: Yes
Surrender: Yes
Blackjack Pays: 3:2

With just Basic Strategy (as opposed to Optimal deck-composition strategy) the player advantage on this set of rules would be 0.00943%, which means that the player would have a very slight advantage with perfect Basic Strategy. Let us compare that with the worst possible set of rules:

Unfavorable:

Dealer Hits Soft 17
Double After Split: No
Double: 10-11 Only
Resplit: No
Resplit Aces: N/A
Hit Split Aces: No
Dealer Peeks: No
Surrender: No

With all of that, the house edge with Basic Strategy would be 0.95307%, which would mean the player is expected to lose about 95 cents of every $100 bet. The overall difference between these two games is 0.96250%, nearly a full dollar per $100 bet difference. If we make Blackjack pay 6:5 on our bad rules, the House Edge goes up to 2.32657%, and even with our otherwise great rules, the player advantage turns into a house edge of 1.36407%.

Like I said, 6:5 Blackjack sucks. Even changing every other possible rule to a good rule still leaves 6:5 Blackjack unplayable.

Conclusion:

The number of decks used in a Blackjack game, to a greater or lesser degree, enables the player to play using, ‘Deck composition strategy,’ which simply means making decisions based on the remaining cards in the deck which helps a player understand the probability behind what a dealer could have or is likely to have. Double Deck Blackjack, unfortunately, is not quite as fun as Single Deck Blackjack simply because there are fewer opportunities to play certain hands different ways as a single card does not affect the deck composition as meaningfully on a double deck game.

While, ‘The fewer decks the better,’ is a rule that is generally true with respect to Blackjack, it can also be a, ‘Sucker Rule,’ to a certain extent. In other words, while fewer decks are generally favorable to the player, the remaining rules can be adjusted in ways that render an overall Blackjack game less favorable regardless of the number of decks used. For that reason, it is important to look at a culmination of the number of decks used and the other rules, determining the house edge accordingly, before selecting a game to play.

Software Providers that have Double Deck Blackjack

Other Online Blackjack Variations