The Las Vegas Blackjack variation is a standard for Blackjack. Some of the casinos follow the strip rules and some follow the Downtown rules.
The Las Vegas Strip Rules for Blackjack
- Dealer draws to totals of 16 or less; stand on totals of 17 to 21.
- Players can double down on any initial hand and they can split any pair.
- All pairs can be split and drawn like an initial hand, with the exception of Aces.
- Split Aces get only one card.
- Doubling after splitting and re-splitting is permitted.
- Blackjacks pay 1-1/2 to 1 and there is insurance on a dealer Ace, which pays 2 to 1.
Downtown Las Vegas Rules for Blackjack:
All of the proceeds are very similar to the Las Vegas Strip Rules for Blackjack and the difference is:
- The dealer draws to soft 17
- Stands on a hard 17 to 21.
A number of houses are pretty limiting in cases of the after split play; however, the best games that come with the highest player advantage are mostly found in the Las Vegas strip Blackjack.
Clarifications about Ace Splits
For instance, the dealer turns the up card of 3 to 6, and you are playing with Ace split of value A2 to A7, you can either "Double" or "HitTo & Stand With” based on table situations.
- Sometimes doubling up and holding an Ace can be difficult, in this case you can “hit to and stand” with the A7 soft total count.
- Eventually, if you land up working towards hard totals, you have to hit to and stand with one of the 12 or 13 total.
About Insurance for Dealer Ace
Blackjack insurance in most cases equals a side bet value that the dealer with an Ace up will be having 10 in the hole to have 21. In normal card distribution, where there is 2 to 1 payoff, it is nearly 8% against the player and this is not a good bet. In cases where you have been observing the game enough and when you understand that the remaining deck consists of less than twice the numbers less than tens, then this is a good bet.
You need not travel to the Las Vegas Strip or to Downtown to play blackjack, there are online casinos providing you with betting options of both of the Las Vegas Blackjack types, research your preference and keep playing.