Live blackjack is blackjack with a real dealer: the cards come from a shoe on a studio table and you make your decisions on screen. It combines the feel of a casino with the convenience of playing online, and the basic rules are the same as in standard blackjack.
Tables are available at different stake levels and in several variants. Below we explain how a live table works, which rules to compare and why basic strategy matters so much.
A standard live blackjack table has seven seats. Once seated, you bet before the deal; the dealer gives each player two cards and turns up one card for the house. Each player then decides in turn whether to hit, stand, double or split, and the dealer plays the house hand by fixed rules. When a table is full, many tables let you bet behind another player's hand.
Blackjack RTP assumes you make the mathematically correct decision on every hand. Basic strategy is a chart that tells you, from your hand and the dealer's up card, whether to hit, stand, double or split. With good rules it brings the house edge down to about 0.5%. Lightning Blackjack, for example, is listed in our catalogue at 99.56%. Side bets pay more but carry a much higher house edge, and no strategy removes the edge or guarantees a win.
It depends on the table rules and your own decisions. With good rules and basic strategy it is about 99.5%; mistakes and side bets lower it.
Basic strategy says no. Insurance pays 2:1, but the dealer does not have blackjack often enough for the bet to pay off over time.
A bet placed on another player's hand. You make no decisions; the result follows the choices of the player whose hand you back.