Blackjack Canada — Rules, House Edge and Side Bets
The cheapest game in the casino if you play it correctly, and an ordinary one if you do not. What the rules are worth in percentage points, and which tables to walk past.
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How the game is played
You are dealt two cards and so is the dealer, one of them face up. Beat the dealer’s total without going over 21 and you are paid even money; make 21 with your first two cards and you are paid 3:2. The dealer has no choices — they must draw to 16 and stand on 17. Every decision is yours, which makes this the one table game where skill measurably changes the return.
Hit, stand, double, split
Hit takes another card. Stand ends your turn. Double doubles your stake for exactly one more card. Split turns a pair into two hands with a second stake matching the first.
Surrender
Late surrender forfeits half your stake and ends the hand. It is correct on exactly three hands — hard 16 against 9, 10 or Ace, and hard 15 against 10 — and wrong everywhere else.
Insurance
Offered when the dealer shows an Ace. It costs about 7.4% in an eight-deck game and loses money over time for every player, in every situation, without exception.
What each rule is worth
The house edge here is not a single number — it is the sum of the rules at the table you sit down at. Start from a base of roughly 0.46% and adjust. A plus figure means the rule costs you; a minus figure means it helps.
| Rule | Effect | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Blackjack pays 6:5 | +1.39 | Triples the total edge on its own. Check this before anything else. |
| Blackjack pays even money | +2.27 | Occasionally seen on single-deck novelty tables. Avoid entirely. |
| Dealer hits soft 17 | +0.22 | Common on American-style tables. Changes several strategy decisions. |
| No double after split | +0.14 | Removes most of the value from splitting low pairs. |
| No late surrender | +0.08 | Small, but it is free money left on the table when offered. |
| Double on 9, 10, 11 only | +0.09 | Blocks the profitable soft doubles against weak upcards. |
| Six decks instead of eight | −0.02 | Real but negligible. Never worth a worse rule elsewhere. |
| Single deck | −0.48 | Almost always paired with 6:5 payouts, which more than cancels it. |
| Resplit aces allowed | −0.08 | Uncommon online, and worth taking when offered. |
Side bets and what they cost
Side bets exist because the main game is too cheap for the house. Every one of them is several times more expensive than the hand you are already playing, and none of them interacts with basic strategy in a way that helps.
| Side bet | What it pays on | Typical house edge |
|---|---|---|
| Perfect Pairs | Your first two cards forming a pair, paid higher for matching suits. | 4% – 11% |
| 21+3 | Your two cards plus the dealer upcard making a three-card poker hand. | 3% – 7% |
| Insurance | The dealer’s hole card being a ten-value card. | ~7.4% |
| Lucky Ladies | Your first two cards totalling 20, paid more for queens. | 17% – 24% |
| Bust It | The dealer busting, paid by the number of cards used. | 6% – 8% |
What it costs per hour
House edge is a percentage of turnover, so your real cost depends on how fast you play as much as on how well. A live table deals roughly 60 hands an hour; a speed table nearer 100; and a solo RNG table, where nobody else is deciding anything, can pass 300 if you let it.
| Table | Hands per hour | Turnover | Basic strategy (0.46%) | Casual play (~2%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Classic live table | ~60 | C$600 | C$2.76 | C$12.00 |
| Speed live table | ~100 | C$1,000 | C$4.60 | C$20.00 |
| Solo RNG table | ~300 | C$3,000 | C$13.80 | C$60.00 |
| Solo RNG at a 6:5 table | ~300 | C$3,000 | C$55.50 | C$101.70 |
Two things fall out of that table. The gap between correct and careless play is roughly four times your hourly cost — larger than any bonus will ever be worth. And the bottom row shows what one bad payout rule does: it turns the cheapest game in the building into one of the more expensive ones, no matter how well you play it.
Tables in the lobby
Live tables show their stake range, deck count and payout rule in the lobby tile before you sit down. Read all three.