Single-deck blackjack with the rules tilted toward the player: dealer stands on soft 17, double on any two, double after split, blackjack pays 3:2. Played with optimal basic strategy, the house edge collapses to 0.5%, the lowest of any non-zero-edge original.
Get dealt two cards. Dealer gets one face-up. Aim higher than dealer without busting (over 21). Hit (take a card), Stand (stop), Double (one card, double bet), Split (pairs), Surrender (give up half-bet, end hand). Dealer reveals second card, draws to 17 (stands on all 17, including soft). Higher hand wins; tie pushes; blackjack (A + 10-value on first two) pays 3:2 unless dealer also has blackjack.
Blackjack is the only original where your decisions change EV. Optimal basic strategy is a 17-cell decision matrix (player total × dealer up-card) that drops the edge from ~5% (random play) to 0.5% (perfect play). Memorise it, or open a chart on a second screen, the casino does not police it. The house margin lives entirely in the gap between your decisions and the chart.
The shuffled deck order is derived from HMAC-SHA-256 of the seed pair + nonce, mapped to a Fisher-Yates shuffle of 52 positions. Verify by reproducing the shuffle locally and confirming the dealing order matches what the casino played.
Read the full fairness guideYes, single-deck mode reshuffles after every hand, so card counting offers zero edge. The single-deck rule choice is for the lower house edge it provides, not for counting opportunity.
No. Reshuffling between hands removes the count's information value. The 0.5% edge requires basic strategy alone, no further skill caves the math.
A hand totalling 17 that includes an Ace counted as 11 (e.g. A-6). Dealer stands on soft 17 in this version, which is more player-friendly than 'hits soft 17' rule sets.
Yes, when dealer shows an Ace. Mathematically insurance is a -7% EV bet, never take it under basic strategy. The button is there because rules require offering it, not because it is recommended.