An Introduction to Blackjack Switch and Its Strategies

Playtech-powered online casinos will almost always have Blackjack Switch, a game that allows players to play two hands at once with the option to switch their back cards before the hand begins. This gives the player a bit of an advantage, so to compensate, there are two major changes. First, blackjack only pays even money in this game. Second, when the dealer gets a 22, it’s a push against any hand the player has that doesn’t bust out. This is a great way to get a different experience out of your blackjack play, and we’re going to talk about how you can get started in learning to play this game.

First off, you’re going to have to learn to play the hands that you are dealt, and this means learning basic strategy for multi-deck blackjack. However, you’re going to need to make some adjustments to account for the rule on the dealer 22. You’ll also need to account for the fact that you can double on any two, and you can double after splitting with the ability to split to up to four total hands. These rules changes mean that you’ll have to be a little more aggressive with hitting with hard hands that you would otherwise stand with, and you’ll have to be a little less aggressive with doubling soft hands that you might otherwise double.

Next, you’re going to have to learn how to play the switching portion of the game. This is really tricky since there’s nothing to base it on, but you’re typically going to want to maximize the value of one of your hands unless you’re up against a particularly neutral dealer card like a seven or an eight. In that case, you want to keep your hands as similar in value as possible.

The reason for this is that sevens and eights make really weak non-busting hands for the dealer a high percentage of the time. This means you’re going to want kind of plain, run of the mill hands to hit with to try to get at least one hand with a strong total. This is the key to maximizing your advantage and eliminating any weak spots in your game with the switching stage. This can be tricky to get used to, but it’s a necessary part of learning how to play this very atypical form of blackjack.