European Blackjack - Microgaming

European Blackjack Rules & Strategy Card - How To Play

Blackjack is one of the most popular casino games. This is a game of skill and chance between you and the Dealer. Microgaming online casinos offer European Blackjack played with two standard decks (in other casinos you can find game with up to 6 decks) of 52 playing cards that are shuffled before each game (hand). In European Blackjack, the Dealer draws his second card after the player has finished his/her hand.

How to play European Blackjack

The object of Blackjack is to beat the Dealer by either obtaining the highest possible hand without exceeding 21, or by the Dealer's hand going bust. In this version of Blackjack (European), you can only bet one hand at a time. All face cards (Kings, Queens and Jacks) have a value of ten (10) and the Aces can have a value of one or eleven. Please refer to our basic blackjack rules to learn more about the game terms and rules.

General Rules in Brief:

Two card decks
Dealer stands on soft 17
You may double after a split
You may only double on 9 to 11
No re-splitting
Player may draw to split Aces
No surrender is allowed
One bet position
No hole card (player loses total bet if dealer has Blackjack)

European Blackjack Strategy Card

Insurance is not recommended in European BJ version. When the dealer is dealt an Ace you are allowed to make an insurance bet, if you wish. The Insurance bet costs half your original bet and pays out 2 : 1 if the dealer gets Blackjack. You lose your original bet in this case. If the dealer does not get Blackjack you lose your insurance bet i.e. just 1/2 of your original bet.

European Blackjack strategy card

Blackjack strategy is printed as table with the dealer's up card the first row and player's 2 card combination the second column. The entries in the table tell you whether you should Hit, Stand, Double Down or Split depending on the different combinations of dealer and player's hands. Optimal European Blackjack strategy tables for Microgaming casinos rules are shown above for hard totals, soft totals, and player's pairs.

Today Microgaming casinos offer over 25 different versions of Blackjack including: Vegas Downtown, Vegas Strip, Atlantic City Blackjack, European, Spanish 21, Double Exposure, Triple Sevens progressive blackjack plus Multi-Hand and Gold Series versions of the games (follow Microgaming menu links to find rules & strategy cards for the corresponding games).