Live dealer blackjack

Any live casino worth playing at will have a range of live blackjack tables to choose from. It’s a table game favourite of most players after all.

When you play a game of live blackjack you are playing physical cards, dealt by a real human dealer. Card readers scan the cards as they are dealt so that the card is correctly attributed to your hand.

On most tables the deal is from an 8 deck shoe, although this does vary by platform. The sortable gallery below differentiates 6 and 8 deck shoe tables, who provides them and which casinos offer them.

Most of the major platforms employ a manual shoe shuffle (mid shoe) in full view of the camera. Some deal from shuffle machines alleviating the need for a shuffle. You can read more about different shuffle policies here.

Rule variations

Live blackjack games from all the major platforms are represented in the below gallery. For all, Blackjack pays 3:2. but that’s where the correlation ends.

It is important to note that the house rules applying to blackjack tables offered by different providers are not the same. Slight differences apply to factors like the number of decks used, whether the dealer stands all 17s, or whether players can hit split Aces for example.

If you click a blackjack table in the sortable gallery below, summary rules applicable to that table will be displayed. For a comparison of rule variation differences by platform and the house edge that will result for optimum play, check our blackjack house edge page.

A number of live blackjack tables now also offer a range of side-bets in addition to the main game. Conventional wisdom (and indeed RTP rates applying to these bets) dictate that they should be avoided, but it’s still nice to know which tables offer them.

Deal variations

Classic 7 seat blackjack is the most common type of table you’ll find at live casinos.  You take a seat at one of 7 available seats (or multiple seats if you like) and play your hand(s) in turn alongside other seated players, as you would in a traditional casino.

When the table is full, you have to wait for an available seat, or you have the option to bet behind if you have faith in the playing ability of any of the seated players.

You will also come across live blackjack tables where there is only a single seat, and where the dealer deals to one position only. These are referred to as ‘1 to many‘ blackjack tables, and they employ a slightly altered deal convention to allow a single deal to cater to many players. Your playing decisions (hit, stand etc) are still applied to your hand independently of other players’ choices. Probably not for the purists, but from a rules standpoint, still a game of blackjack.

Speed deal live blackjack

Speed deal live blackjack tables, pioneered by Evolution, first made an appearance at the end of 2019. On a classic 7 seat table, player’s initial 2 cards are dealt in conventional order. Any further cards drawn are received on a first to decide, first to receive basis.

This slight tweak to the order of dealing speeds up play significantly.

Speed Blackjack tables were an instant hit and have been rolled out extensively. By mid 2023 Evolution operated around 50. Pragmatic Play now also have a growing range.

What are private live blackjack tables?

With regard to 7-seat live dealer blackjack, during busy times you might find it hard to get a seat at some casinos (a problem that you’ll never encounter for a live baccarat or live roulette table which can cater to an unlimited number of players).

You’ll rarely have an issue getting a seat at the high stakes blackjack tables, but low limit tables can be notoriously busy, particularly if they are all-access blackjack tables – that is, tables accessible by players logged on at multiple casinos.

To address the problem of seat availability, the bigger live casinos offer private or exclusive blackjack tables…accessible only by players logged on at that particular casino. Here is a list of casinos with the biggest private live blackjack table areas.

Live blackjack side bets

In addition to the main game, pretty much all live blackjack tables, from all providers also offer side bets. From a return to player perspective they are far inferior to the main game and best avoided. You can read more about Perfect Pairs and ’21+3′ side bets here.

Gallery of live blackjack games

Key to sort-able live online blackjack gallery:

  • 1 to many : single deal caters to unlimited number of players
  • 6 card charlie : player wins if they draw 6 cards without busting (even if dealer has Blackjack)
  • 10 card charlie : player wins if they draw 10 cards without busting (unless dealer has Blackjack)
  • double 9-11 : player can only double down on their first two cards with a value of 9, 10 or 11
  • double after split  player can Double Down on split hands
  • double any 2 : player may double down on any first 2 card combination
  • early payout : proprietary games offering surrender options and calculated payouts based on cards dealt to that point in game
  • hit split Aces : player can hit/draw cards to their split aces, rather than receiving only 1 card
  • re-split : player can split a split hand
  • surrender : player can fold their hand before taking any action and forfeit half of the original bet
  • side bets : in addition to regular blackjack bet, optional side bets are offered (Pairs and/or 21+3)
  • bet behind :  you are able to bet behind another seated player

And a little video action…