You may have heard of Blackjack and its variants. There is one variant of Blackjack that is known as Pontoon Blackjack and is quite popular among the players for its variants and the rules of play. Though there are lots of similarities between the Blackjacks as it is played in the casinos and the pontoon variant, nonetheless there are lots of differences between them as well. Most importantly, Pontoon Blackjack is played in the online casinos and is regarded as more of an online game than a normal land casino based game.
First, the banker starts by dealing the cards. This is done by dealing the cards to the left of the banker to the players and then adjusting the same as they go around the table. After the banker deals the cards, the players can look at their cards whereas the banker’s card is face down and he cannot look at it. Once the cards are dealt, the banker deals the next card and then the next one. At this the bets are taken and if a player has what it called a pontoon, a set of three cards that have a total of 21, then the player wins the stake. Otherwise the dealer collects the stakes from the players and then proceeds with the game.
After the cards are dealt and collected, if a player has a pontoon then he becomes the banker in the next round. Otherwise the game continues and the difference is that the cards are dealt without being shuffled. This makes the option of getting the pontoon difficult and then the cards are dealt. A player can split the cards that he has or double the stakes by “buying” more cards. In this way the stakes can be raised but not more than by one double. There is also an option called a “twist” where the cards are dealt face up and no money is required to buy them.
Pontoon Blackjack is popular among the players as it has edges of more than 1% and unlike other variants of Blackjack where the edge is only 0.5% at the maximum. This is because the removal of the ten-spot cards creates an edge in excess of the 2%. Pontoon Blackjack is a British game that is similar to the American variants of Blackjack and many of the rules of the same are to be found in this one as well.
There are several advantages of playing pontoon blackjack. They relate to the fact that the player gets paid immediately after he or she hits 21 and this is regardless of what the dealer is holding. The other advantage relates to the fact that you can buy insurance from the dealer when he holds a pontoon and this feature makes Pontoon Blackjack a good play for the gamblers. With the advent of online gaming tools, Pontoon Blackjack is gaining in popularity and the fact that till recently it was offered anonymously was due to the fact that major online gambling companies had not introduced this game in their platforms. As discussed above, Pontoon Blackjack is easier to play and has an edge due to its house advantage over other players.
Pontoon is usually played with 8 standard decks and as in Blackjack all the cards have equal face value. Players can split the cards and then win with the split and they can twist and stand as well. Though they cannot twist and continue. After all the bets have been placed, the players receive 2 cards face up whereas the dealer receives 2 cards face down.
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