Online blackjack in Canada: rules, house edge and variants

The aim and the card values

You play against the dealer, not against the other players at the table. The aim is a hand closer to 21 than the dealer's without going over. A hand over 21 is a bust and loses at once, whatever the dealer has.

• Number cards 2 to 10 count at face value.
• Jacks, queens and kings count as 10.
• An ace counts as 1 or 11, whichever helps the hand.

A hand with an ace counted as 11 is a soft hand: an ace and a 6 is a soft 17, because another card cannot bust it. Any other hand is hard. An ace and a 10-value card as your first two cards is a blackjack, also called a natural.

How a hand plays

1. Bets. You place your bet before any card is dealt.
2. The deal. You get two cards face up. The dealer gets one face up and, at most tables, one face down. At many live tables the dealer takes the second card only after the players have acted; this is called the no-hole-card rule, and the game rules say what happens to doubled or split stakes if the dealer then makes blackjack.
3. Your decisions. Hit (take a card), stand (keep your total), double down (double the bet and take exactly one more card), split (turn a pair into two hands, each with its own bet) and, where offered, surrender (give up half the bet and end the hand).
4. The dealer's turn. The dealer has no choices: they draw to 16 and stand on 17 or more, with the table's rule deciding whether they hit or stand on a soft 17.
5. Payouts. A win pays 1 to 1. A blackjack pays 3 to 2 at a standard table, so a $10 bet wins $15. A tie is a push and your bet comes back.

When the dealer shows an ace, you are usually offered insurance: a side bet of half your stake that pays 2 to 1 if the dealer has blackjack. In a six- or eight-deck shoe it carries a house edge of around 7%, and the standard strategy for a player who is not counting cards is to decline it.

The house edge and what it assumes

The published house edge for blackjack is a figure for one rule set played with basic strategy: the mathematically correct decision for every hand against every dealer card. For a common rule set (six decks, blackjack pays 3 to 2, dealer stands on soft 17, doubling on any two cards, doubling after a split allowed, no surrender), the standard calculations give an edge of about 0.4% to 0.5%. As a worked example only, that is about $5 lost on average per $1,000 wagered.

The figure assumes correct play on every hand. A player who stands on hands that should be hit, or never doubles, gives up much more, often several times the edge. A full basic strategy chart is beyond this guide; what matters here is that the published figure is a best case for the rules on the table, not what an average player gets.

Rule variations and what they cost

Small print on the table felt or in the rules panel moves the edge more than most players expect. The figures below are the standard published effects for a six-deck game played with basic strategy. They are approximate and roughly add together.

3 to 2 against 6 to 5 is the rule to check first. On a $10 bet, a blackjack pays $15 at 3 to 2 and $12 at 6 to 5. Blackjacks come about once every 21 hands, and the lost $3 on each adds about 1.4 points to the edge: a 0.5% game becomes about a 1.9% game, nearly four times the cost. As a worked example only, at 60 hands an hour at $10 a hand, $600 wagered costs about $3 an hour at 0.5% and about $11.40 at 1.9%.

Soft 17. When the dealer must hit a soft 17, they sometimes improve the hand instead of standing on 17, which adds about 0.2 points. The rule is usually printed on the table: "dealer stands on all 17s" or "dealer hits soft 17".

Doubling and splitting. Doubling and splitting are where a correct player gains money back from the dealer, so every restriction on them costs you. Tables differ on which totals you can double on, whether you can double after splitting, how many times you can split, and whether split aces get more than one card each. The rules panel lists all four.

Decks. All else equal, fewer decks slightly lower the edge. Online and live tables most often use six or eight decks.

Some variants change the game itself. Free Bet Blackjack gives free doubles and splits on certain hands but makes a dealer 22 a push against every hand still in play. Spanish 21 removes the 10s from the deck and adds bonus payouts. Each has its own published edge; read the rules before assuming it matches the standard game.

Doubling and splitting in practice

A few decisions hold under nearly every rule set: always split aces and 8s, never split 10s or 5s, and do not take insurance unless you are counting cards. Beyond those, the right play depends on your total, the dealer's up card and the table rules, which is what a strategy chart sets out. Many online tables let you open the rules panel during a hand to check what you are allowed to do.

Card counting online

Card counting tracks the balance of high and low cards left in the shoe: when more 10s and aces remain, the player's odds improve. It does not work at digital (RNG) blackjack, where the deck is reshuffled for every hand. Live tables deal from a shoe, usually of eight decks, and reshuffle at a cut card placed partway through, which leaves little room for a count precise enough to matter. Counting is not illegal, but a casino can limit or close the account of a player it suspects of it.

Live blackjack

Live blackjack streams a real dealer and a real shoe from a studio. A classic table seats seven players, each with their own hand, and you act when the timer reaches your seat. If you do not act in time, the default decision in the game rules applies, which is usually to stand. Other formats work around the seat limit:

• Bet behind lets you bet on a seated player's hand and follow their decisions, or decide your own play on that hand where the game allows it.
• Unlimited-player tables deal one set of cards that every player shares, and each player makes their own decisions on it, so a table never fills.
• Speed and VIP tables change the pace and the limits, not the basic rules.

Every live table shows its minimum and maximum bet in the lobby, plus its rules: decks, soft 17, the blackjack payout and doubling and splitting. Check those before you sit down, because rules differ between tables from the same provider. How studios, limits and connection problems work is in our guide to live dealer casinos.

Side bets

Most online and live tables offer side bets next to the main bet. Common ones:

• Perfect Pairs pays when your first two cards are a pair, with more for a pair of the same colour and more again for an identical pair.
• 21+3 pays when your two cards and the dealer's up card make a three-card poker hand, such as a flush, straight or three of a kind.
• Bust bets pay when the dealer busts, with more for busting on more cards.

Side bets are where blackjack gets expensive. Their house edge depends on the pay table and the number of decks, and is usually several percent, often between about 3% and 10%, against well under 1% on the main hand played well. The pay table is in the game's help panel. If you play side bets, treat them as entertainment with a known, higher price.

Blackjack and bonus wagering

Because blackjack played well has a low edge, casinos usually count it at a reduced rate toward a wagering requirement, often 5% to 20%, and sometimes at 0% or exclude it while a bonus is active. As a worked example only, a $3,500 requirement at 10% weighting means $35,000 in blackjack bets. Some terms also forbid doubling or certain bets while a bonus is active. If you mainly play blackjack, playing without a bonus keeps your balance free to withdraw. The full arithmetic is in our guide to wagering requirements.

Before you sit down

1. Blackjack payout: 3 to 2, not 6 to 5.
2. Soft 17: the dealer stands, if you have the choice.
3. Doubling and splitting: double on any two cards and after a split.
4. Limits: a minimum bet that fits your budget for the whole session.
5. Side bets: know their pay tables before you place them.
6. Your budget: decided before the first hand, with deposit and loss limits set in your account.

Our Canadian list and our casino reviews cover licences, payments and terms. Terms such as soft 17, push and surrender are defined in the casino glossary.

More guides in the academy

• Online slots: how they work
• Online roulette: wheels, bets and house edge
• Online baccarat: Banker, Player and Tie
• Live dealer casinos: how live games work
• Wagering requirements explained, in dollars
• Casino glossary
• Beginner's guide to online casinos in Canada

A low house edge still means losing over time. If gambling stops being fun, our responsible gambling page lists free, confidential help for every province we cover.