Free Bet Blackjack Strategy: Rules, Dealer 22 and House Edge

If you are asking what is free bet blackjack, start with what stays the same. You bet before the deal, you and the dealer get two cards, blackjack pays 3 to 2, and the dealer plays out a fixed hand. The game uses a shoe of 6 or 8 decks, and the dealer checks for blackjack with a hole card before you act. The mechanics of hitting and standing do not change.

Two things do change. First, when your first two cards make a hard 9, 10 or 11, you may double down without adding any chips. The house puts up the second stake. Second, when you are dealt a pair of anything except ten-value cards, you may split without adding any chips. The house puts up the stake for the new hand.

What does free bet blackjack mean, then? The house is covering certain extra bets for you, and it marks each one with a small marker on the felt (the rules documents call it a lammer). If the free hand wins, the lammer pays as if it were a real bet. If it loses, the house takes its lammer back and you have lost nothing extra.

That generosity has a price. A dealer who finishes on exactly 22 does not lose to the players. The dealer pushes every hand that has not already busted, and the free-bet game is built around that trade. The section on the dealer 22 push explains how it works.

Spanish 21 makes a similar trade with different parts: it gives players extra options and pays for them by taking the ten-spot cards out of the deck. You can read that game on the Spanish 21 page, or browse every game on the blackjack variants homepage.

The rules below follow the rules of play published by the Washington State Gambling Commission, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (58 Pa. Code Chapter 672a) and the Nevada Gaming Control Board. Where they disagree, the difference is stated and the jurisdiction table further down collects them in one place. The short answer to how does free bet blackjack work: it is regular blackjack with two house-paid offers and one dealer result that returns your bet. If you are new and wondering how does free bet blackjack work in practice, the round below goes from the deal to the payout.

How does free bet blackjack work? A round from deal to payout#

Here is how free bet blackjack works, in order.

1. You place your starting bet. This is the only chip you are required to stake.
2. You and the dealer are dealt two cards each, one of the dealer's cards face up. The dealer checks the hole card for blackjack when the up-card is an ace or a ten-value card.
3. If you hold a blackjack, it pays 3 to 2 before the dealer plays, and a dealer 22 cannot touch it.
4. If your first two cards are a hard 9, 10 or 11, or a pair that qualifies, the house offers the free bet. You take it or play on as usual.
5. You finish your hands. Any hand over 21 loses at once, free lammer or not.
6. The dealer plays out. The dealer draws to 16 and stands on 17. The one open question is a soft 17, which the jurisdictions treat differently.
7. Hands are settled against the dealer's total. A dealer 22 pushes everything still standing.

That covers how to play free bet blackjack: the decisions are the ones you know, with two extra offers and one extra dealer result. There is no surrender. Insurance pays 2 to 1, as in regular blackjack.

Free doubles: which hands qualify#

A free double is available on a hard 9, 10 or 11 made of your first two cards. "Hard" means no ace counted as 11. A five and a four is a hard 9, so is a six and a three. An ace and a six is not, whatever it adds up to.

You may also double after a split, and the double is still free if the two-card hand is a hard 9, 10 or 11. On any other total you can still double, but you must add a stake equal to your bet, exactly as in regular blackjack. Washington's rules allow paid doubles on two-card hands only. The Nevada document lets you double on any number of cards, and lets the free double apply to a hard 9, 10 or 11 however many cards make it.

Free splits: which pairs qualify#

Every pair splits for free except ten-value cards. That includes aces, eights, fives and the small pairs. A pair of ten-value cards (ten, jack, queen or king) may still be split, but you pay a stake equal to your original bet for the second hand. That is the Pennsylvania wording.

You can re-split pairs for free up to four hands. Nevada's document differs in one place: it excludes fours from the free split. A pair of fours is then split at your own cost, if at all.

When you split for free, your original bet moves onto the first hand, and the house lammer sits on the second. Aces are the loose end. Nevada says aces may be re-split and each receives one additional card. The Washington and Pennsylvania texts state no ace restriction at all, so we show that as an open point rather than guessing.

What happens if you win with a free bet?#

The house pays what a real bet would win. A free double that wins is worth twice your starting bet, for the price of one. A free double that loses costs you the starting bet only, because the house's lammer is simply removed.

Four worked hands#

A free double that wins. You hold a six and a five (hard 11) against a dealer six. You take the free double and draw a nine, finishing on twenty. The dealer turns over a ten under the six, draws a three, and stops on nineteen. You win twice your starting bet, and you never staked more than the starting bet.

The same hand, with a dealer 22. Start again from the six and five and the drawn nine, on twenty. This time the dealer's hole card is a ten, giving sixteen, and the next card is a six. That makes 22. In regular blackjack you would have won on a doubled bet. Here the hand is a push: your starting bet returns, the house lammer is removed, and you are exactly where you were before the deal.

A free double that loses. You hold a five and a four (hard 9) against a dealer ten. The free double is still the right play. You draw a two for 11, the dealer shows eighteen, and you lose. You lose the starting bet, not twice it.

A free split. You hold two eights against a dealer nine. You split for free: one eight stays with your bet, the other with the house lammer. You get a three on the first eight (hard 11, another free double) and play on. Two hands are in play for the price of one bet.

Regular blackjack has one kind of dealer bust, and every bust pays you. This game keeps the bust, but a dealer total of exactly 22 pays nobody. The Nevada Gaming Control Board's document says a dealer 22 pushes all remaining hands except a player blackjack, which is still paid. The Washington document says the same. In the Pennsylvania rules, the dealer returns the remaining wagers and collects the free-bet lammers.

Three limits matter here.

A player who has already busted has already lost. The push only reaches hands still in play. A blackjack is paid before the dealer takes cards, so it is untouched. And the push covers free-doubled and free-split hands like any other, which is where it bites: a hand you doubled for free and brought to a strong total wins nothing if the dealer lands on 22.

Think about what the rule does to your play. In regular blackjack, standing on a weak total works because the dealer busts often enough. Some of those busts now land on 22 and return your bet instead of paying it. That is why several stand decisions on the strategy chart flip to hitting, and why doubles that are not free lose value. A paid double is the worst hit: a dealer 22 hands the doubled stake back without a win.

What do the free bets give back? Free doubles on the best doubling totals, and free splits on pairs that ordinary blackjack would only sometimes split. Put those next to the 22 push and our calculations give a net result, which is the number that counts. Under the Washington-style rules (dealer hits soft 17), the house edge is 1.02% (Free Bet Blackjack, dealer hits soft 17. House edge per starting bet: the average loss per round as a share of the bet placed before the cards are dealt, doubles and splits included in the result. Rules: 6 decks, dealer hits soft 17, dealer checks for blackjack with a hole card, blackjack pays 3:2, double on any first two cards, double after split, split up to 4 hands, aces may be resplit, one card to each split ace, no surrender, a dealer 22 pushes every hand still in play, free doubles on hard 9, 10 and 11 (first two cards), free splits on every pair except tens. The player follows the printed strategy chart for these rules from a full shoe, and never takes insurance or even money. Free doubles and free splits are paid by the house, so they add to the result but not to the chips the player wagers.). In the comparison game, with the same soft 17 rule and no free bets or 22 push, it is 0.62% (Comparison rules: 6 decks, dealer hits soft 17, double after split, blackjack pays 3:2. House edge per starting bet: the average loss per round as a share of the bet placed before the cards are dealt, doubles and splits included in the result. Rules: 6 decks, dealer hits soft 17, dealer checks for blackjack with a hole card, blackjack pays 3:2, double on any first two cards, double after split, split up to 4 hands, aces are not resplit, one card to each split ace, no surrender. The player follows the printed strategy chart for these rules from a full shoe, and never takes insurance or even money.). The push takes more than the free bets return.

The house edge is the average share of your starting bet the house keeps over a very long run. Every figure below comes from our own calculations, computed from the published rules with the player following the strategy chart. The player never takes insurance or even money. We call the rules against which everything is measured the comparison game: six decks, dealer hits soft 17, double after split allowed, blackjack paying 3 to 2, and no free bets.

Here are the free bet blackjack odds by rule set, as house edge per starting bet.

• Dealer hits soft 17 (Washington, Nevada): 1.02% (Free Bet Blackjack, dealer hits soft 17. House edge per starting bet: the average loss per round as a share of the bet placed before the cards are dealt, doubles and splits included in the result. Rules: 6 decks, dealer hits soft 17, dealer checks for blackjack with a hole card, blackjack pays 3:2, double on any first two cards, double after split, split up to 4 hands, aces may be resplit, one card to each split ace, no surrender, a dealer 22 pushes every hand still in play, free doubles on hard 9, 10 and 11 (first two cards), free splits on every pair except tens. The player follows the printed strategy chart for these rules from a full shoe, and never takes insurance or even money. Free doubles and free splits are paid by the house, so they add to the result but not to the chips the player wagers.)
• Dealer stands on soft 17 (Pennsylvania): 0.71% (Free Bet Blackjack, dealer stands on soft 17. House edge per starting bet: the average loss per round as a share of the bet placed before the cards are dealt, doubles and splits included in the result. Rules: 6 decks, dealer stands on soft 17, dealer checks for blackjack with a hole card, blackjack pays 3:2, double on any first two cards, double after split, split up to 4 hands, aces may be resplit, one card to each split ace, no surrender, a dealer 22 pushes every hand still in play, free doubles on hard 9, 10 and 11 (first two cards), free splits on every pair except tens. The player follows the printed strategy chart for these rules from a full shoe, and never takes insurance or even money. Free doubles and free splits are paid by the house, so they add to the result but not to the chips the player wagers.)
• Nevada rules of play (dealer hits soft 17, no free split of fours, double on any number of cards): 0.63% (Free Bet Blackjack, Nevada rules of play. House edge per starting bet: the average loss per round as a share of the bet placed before the cards are dealt, doubles and splits included in the result. Rules: 6 decks, dealer hits soft 17, dealer checks for blackjack with a hole card, blackjack pays 3:2, double on any number of cards, double after split, split up to 4 hands, aces may be resplit, one card to each split ace, no surrender, a dealer 22 pushes every hand still in play, free doubles on hard 9, 10 and 11 (any number of cards), free splits on every pair except fours and tens. The player follows the printed strategy chart for these rules from a full shoe, and never takes insurance or even money. Free doubles and free splits are paid by the house, so they add to the result but not to the chips the player wagers.)
• Comparison game: 0.62% (Comparison rules: 6 decks, dealer hits soft 17, double after split, blackjack pays 3:2. House edge per starting bet: the average loss per round as a share of the bet placed before the cards are dealt, doubles and splits included in the result. Rules: 6 decks, dealer hits soft 17, dealer checks for blackjack with a hole card, blackjack pays 3:2, double on any first two cards, double after split, split up to 4 hands, aces are not resplit, one card to each split ace, no surrender. The player follows the printed strategy chart for these rules from a full shoe, and never takes insurance or even money.)

Read them like this. Under the Washington rules, the game costs more per hand than the comparison game. If the dealer stands on soft 17, the edge falls but stays above the comparison figure, even though the comparison game has the dealer hitting soft 17, which is the worse rule for players. Under the Nevada document the number lands close to the comparison game. That row combines two differences, one that hurts you (no free split of fours) and one that helps you a lot (doubling on any number of cards). We did not separate them, so we cannot say how much each one is worth on its own.

Where the edge goes: what the free bets give and the 22 push takes#

Four rule changes move the edge, and they pull in opposite directions. Free doubles help the player, because the house pays for hands with a strong chance of winning. Free splits help the player too, because more pairs are split and the second hand costs nothing. The dealer 22 push hurts the player, since it strips the win from some hands. The last one is the paid double: a dealer 22 returns the doubled bet, so a double you paid for is worth less than in regular blackjack.

The push outweighs the first two under the Washington rules. That is the reason the free bet blackjack odds are worse than the comparison game, even though the game looks generous. We do not publish a figure for each part on its own. The net result is the number to compare.

Edge per starting bet and per amount wagered#

There are two fair ways to state the edge when the house pays some of the stakes. Per starting bet divides the average loss by the bet you place before the cards are dealt. Per amount wagered divides it by the chips you actually put at risk during the round, doubles and split hands included. For the Washington-style rules the two are 1.02% (Free Bet Blackjack, dealer hits soft 17. House edge per starting bet: the average loss per round as a share of the bet placed before the cards are dealt, doubles and splits included in the result. Rules: 6 decks, dealer hits soft 17, dealer checks for blackjack with a hole card, blackjack pays 3:2, double on any first two cards, double after split, split up to 4 hands, aces may be resplit, one card to each split ace, no surrender, a dealer 22 pushes every hand still in play, free doubles on hard 9, 10 and 11 (first two cards), free splits on every pair except tens. The player follows the printed strategy chart for these rules from a full shoe, and never takes insurance or even money. Free doubles and free splits are paid by the house, so they add to the result but not to the chips the player wagers.) per starting bet and 1.02% (Free Bet Blackjack, dealer hits soft 17. House edge per amount wagered: the same average loss divided by the chips the player puts at risk per round, doubles and extra split hands included. Rules: 6 decks, dealer hits soft 17, dealer checks for blackjack with a hole card, blackjack pays 3:2, double on any first two cards, double after split, split up to 4 hands, aces may be resplit, one card to each split ace, no surrender, a dealer 22 pushes every hand still in play, free doubles on hard 9, 10 and 11 (first two cards), free splits on every pair except tens. The player follows the printed strategy chart for these rules from a full shoe, and never takes insurance or even money. Free doubles and free splits are paid by the house, so they add to the result but not to the chips the player wagers.) per amount wagered.

They come out the same at this precision, because free bets do not add to what you put at risk. Your paid doubles and ten-value splits are rare. Chips you actually stake per round average barely more than your starting bet. The page shows the per-starting-bet figure unless it says otherwise.

How the figures are calculated. Calculated exactly for these rules by working through the cards left in the shoe: the dealer outcomes are recomputed for every combination of cards already dealt. The strategy followed is the total-dependent chart shown on the page. Splits are the one approximation: each split hand is played from the shoe with the dealer up card and the two cards of the original pair removed, ignoring the cards drawn to the other split hands. Hands are resplit whenever the rules allow.

Free bet blackjack strategy starts from the regular blackjack chart and changes it in two places: everywhere a free bet is on offer, and everywhere the dealer 22 matters. Knowing how to play free bet blackjack well mostly means knowing this chart. It is drawn for the Washington-style rules, with the dealer hitting soft 17. The text below notes where Pennsylvania's and Nevada's rules change individual cells.

The decisions that change most#

Here is where free bet blackjack strategy departs from the comparison game's chart, worked out from our calculations.

Free doubles go everywhere. On a hard 9, 10 or 11 you double against every dealer up-card. The comparison game's chart holds back a hard 9 against a dealer two, seven, eight, nine, ten and ace, and a hard 10 against a ten or an ace. When a losing double costs nothing extra, those hands double.

Hit where you used to stand. A hard twelve against a dealer four, and a hard thirteen against a two, now hit. They lean on the dealer busting, and part of that bust value is gone.

Soft doubles fade. An ace with a two, three, four, five or six hits against several weak dealer cards where the comparison game doubles. Those doubles are paid, so the dealer 22 push takes a share of them. An ace and a seven stands against a dealer two, three or four instead of doubling.

Split more pairs. Against the up-cards where regular strategy hits or stands, several small pairs now split for free. Nines split against a dealer seven, ten and ace, where regular strategy stands.

Free doubles and free splits: when to take them#

The free offer is not automatic in every hand, and the pairs show it best. A pair of fives is never split on our chart. It is a hard 10, and a free double on a hard 10 is worth more than two hands starting from a five. A pair of tens stands, as in regular blackjack. Every other pair splits, at least on the Washington-style chart, from twos through nines and aces.

Pennsylvania's stand-on-soft-17 rule shifts a few cells of its own: a hard twelve hits against every dealer card, and an ace and a five no longer doubles. Under the Nevada document the picture changes for fours. Because a split of fours is no longer free, our chart there mostly hits them and splits only against a dealer five or six.

One caution before you rely on any of this. The chart is for the main game only, played for the best result on the hand. The Pot of Gold side bet, covered below, counts lammers, and a player chasing lammers could choose differently.

Not modelled here. We calculate each decision with the cards left in the shoe, but we have not built or tested a counting system for this game, so the page makes no claim about what counting would do. Counting systems built for regular blackjack assume regular payoffs. This game changes several of them, through the free bets and the dealer 22, and we have not tested any system against that.

Pot of Gold is an optional side bet. It does not pay on your cards or the dealer's. It pays on how many free-bet lammers you collect in a round of play. Pennsylvania's section 672b.1 says it wins and pays on the number of Free Bet lammers accumulated, and the Washington document says the same about gold lammers. Every Pot of Gold wager loses to a dealer blackjack.

Lammers come from the free doubles and the free splits, so a round with several free hands can build a bigger count.

Pennsylvania publishes three pay tables. These are the first two, as the regulation prints them.

Paytable 3 matches Paytable 1 except at six lammers. The Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission lists approved rules with two pay tables that stop at five lammers. Which table a game uses changes the side bet, and the side bet has its own house edge separate from the main game. This page does not publish that figure, and the main-game edges above do not include it. A jackpot called Push 22 Progressive appears in the Nevada document's title, and progressive jackpots are outside what this page covers.

Is free bet blackjack worth it? By the numbers, not if the measure is cost per hand. Under the Washington rules the house edge is 1.02% (Free Bet Blackjack, dealer hits soft 17. House edge per starting bet: the average loss per round as a share of the bet placed before the cards are dealt, doubles and splits included in the result. Rules: 6 decks, dealer hits soft 17, dealer checks for blackjack with a hole card, blackjack pays 3:2, double on any first two cards, double after split, split up to 4 hands, aces may be resplit, one card to each split ace, no surrender, a dealer 22 pushes every hand still in play, free doubles on hard 9, 10 and 11 (first two cards), free splits on every pair except tens. The player follows the printed strategy chart for these rules from a full shoe, and never takes insurance or even money. Free doubles and free splits are paid by the house, so they add to the result but not to the chips the player wagers.), above the comparison game's 0.62% (Comparison rules: 6 decks, dealer hits soft 17, double after split, blackjack pays 3:2. House edge per starting bet: the average loss per round as a share of the bet placed before the cards are dealt, doubles and splits included in the result. Rules: 6 decks, dealer hits soft 17, dealer checks for blackjack with a hole card, blackjack pays 3:2, double on any first two cards, double after split, split up to 4 hands, aces are not resplit, one card to each split ace, no surrender. The player follows the printed strategy chart for these rules from a full shoe, and never takes insurance or even money.). Under Pennsylvania's rule (dealer stands on soft 17) the edge is 0.71% (Free Bet Blackjack, dealer stands on soft 17. House edge per starting bet: the average loss per round as a share of the bet placed before the cards are dealt, doubles and splits included in the result. Rules: 6 decks, dealer stands on soft 17, dealer checks for blackjack with a hole card, blackjack pays 3:2, double on any first two cards, double after split, split up to 4 hands, aces may be resplit, one card to each split ace, no surrender, a dealer 22 pushes every hand still in play, free doubles on hard 9, 10 and 11 (first two cards), free splits on every pair except tens. The player follows the printed strategy chart for these rules from a full shoe, and never takes insurance or even money. Free doubles and free splits are paid by the house, so they add to the result but not to the chips the player wagers.), still above. Under the Nevada document, 0.63% (Free Bet Blackjack, Nevada rules of play. House edge per starting bet: the average loss per round as a share of the bet placed before the cards are dealt, doubles and splits included in the result. Rules: 6 decks, dealer hits soft 17, dealer checks for blackjack with a hole card, blackjack pays 3:2, double on any number of cards, double after split, split up to 4 hands, aces may be resplit, one card to each split ace, no surrender, a dealer 22 pushes every hand still in play, free doubles on hard 9, 10 and 11 (any number of cards), free splits on every pair except fours and tens. The player follows the printed strategy chart for these rules from a full shoe, and never takes insurance or even money. Free doubles and free splits are paid by the house, so they add to the result but not to the chips the player wagers.) puts it near the comparison game.

That answers "is free bet blackjack better" and "is free bet blackjack good" only for the player who counts cost. The game does deliver something the comparison game does not. Hands feel more generous: more hands are doubled or split at no cost, and a loss on those hands costs less. The variance is different too, because a dealer 22 turns some winning hands into pushes.

So the verdict splits by what you want. If you want the lowest edge, compare the figures on the European Blackjack and Spanish 21 pages with the ones here. If you enjoy free doubles and splits and accept a higher edge for them, the game is doing what it advertises. Rule set matters, too: the Nevada document and the Washington one give different edges for the same game name.

People often ask what is free bet blackjack in Vegas, and the answer sits in the Nevada Gaming Control Board's rules of play. Nevada's document differs from Washington's in three places, and Pennsylvania has one difference of its own, the dealer standing on soft 17.

The table shows the rule sets we calculate: Washington-style, Pennsylvania and Nevada. It names regulators, not places to play.

You can play free bet blackjack online on this page with play money only. Nothing is staked and nothing is won or lost for real, which is the only sense of "free" that applies to the table below. The free doubles and free splits appear as lammers on the felt, and the dealer 22 push is shown when it happens. The rule set in use is stated beside the table.