EUROPEAN 2 DECK BLACKJACK
Cryptologic's European 2 Deck Blackjack Rules & Strategy Card
Blackjack is one of the most popular and well known casino game of skill and luck between a player and the Dealer.
Cryptologic online casinos now offer new European 2 Deck Blackjack version that
is played with
2 standard card decks
of 52 playing cards that are re-shuffled before each game.
In the European 2 Deck Blackjack, the Dealer does not receive a hole card on the initial phase of the game round.
The Dealer's second card is delivered following completion of all player hand actions.
Liberal split and double down rules are included to ensure an exciting online
casino gaming experience.
You can play in different modes with bets from $10-$200 to $500-$5,000, so the minimum bet is $10.
How to Play European 2 Deck Blackjack Game
The object of Blackjack is to beat the Dealer's hand total value without exceeding a total of 21, or by the Dealer's hand going bust. In this version of Blackjack, you can bet one to five hands at a time. All face cards are valued at 10 and the number cards are valued as indicated. Aces can be valued at either 1 or 11; whichever is better. The value of a hand is the sum of the values of the individual cards.
General Rules in Brief:
- 2 card decks
- Play 1 to 5 hands
- The dealer stands on soft 17 or higher
- A player blackjack pays 3:2
- Winning insurance bets pay 2:1
- You may double down on any first 2 cards
- You may double down after a split
- You may only split once for a total of 2 hands
- Split aces receive only one card on each ace
- No surrender is allowed
Splitting
If you have 2 cards that are the same, the Split option will be allowed. You can split your cards into 2 hands and play each hand separately. An additional bet equal to your original bet will be placed for the new hand. The hands will be played out as usual except when splitting Aces, where only one additional card per hand is dealt. You can not re-split aces. A maximum of one split for a total of 2 hands is allowed.
Double Down
Doubling down is allowed on any first 2 cards and you even can double down after you split pairs which is better than what land based casinos usually offer. If you double down, you'll get exactly one more card and your bet will be doubled.
Autostrategy and Auto-Betting
European 2 Deck Blackjack game contains an autostrategy feature. Selecting autostrategy allows players to instruct the game to play a selected number of rounds automatically based on the optimal strategy. You may also customize any of the hit/ stand/split/double decisions on the table to match your own playing style (see strategy card below).
Settings
Many exciting and helpful features are added to blackjack to enhance your gameplay. There are 3 game speeds available to suit the needs of all players. The default speed is the middle one, providing a smooth game playing experience with rich audio. Game settings for insurance bets and for player the protection hand warning system can also be adjusted.
Insurance
Whenever the Dealer's up-card is an Ace, you have the option to take insurance against dealer's Blackjack. In this case you place a side bet of half the original wager. If the dealer draws a 10-value card, the payout is 2:1 on the insurance bet. If the dealer does not get Blackjack you lose your insurance bet i.e. just half of your original bet. Insurance (or 'even money' option) is not recommended in European 2 Deck blackjack.
European 2 Deck Blackjack Strategy Card
The following optimal strategy for European Double Deck Blackjack game will help you to decrease the house edge to about 0.34%.
Blackjack strategy is printed as table with the dealer's up card the first row and player's 2 cards total the 2nd column. The entries in the table tell you whether you should Hit, Stand, Double Down or Split depending on the different combinations of the dealer's and player's hands. Optimal European 2 Deck Blackjack strategy tables for Cryptologic casinos game rules are shown above for hard totals, soft totals, and player's pairs.
Where to Play?
Amaya casinos offer 9 different blackjack games including single deck, single- and multi-player, multihand,
multi-split, Vegas, Atlantic City, Pontoon, Super Fun 21 and progressive blackjack. Play European 2 Deck blackjack at
Magic Red Casino (£/$500 welcome bonus).
You may also see review of the European 6 Deck or other European Blackjack games from Microgaming, Playtech, and other software providers (move over the top menu links).
