Blackjack Switch

Blackjack Switch LogoThis blackjack variant could be considered the sister game of Zappit Blackjack, as they were both created and patented by the same man, Geoff Hall, in 2009.

Blackjack Switch sees the player dealt two hands instead of one, with the ability to switch the top two cards between hands if it might be advantageous to do so.

It’s a game designed by Playtech that comes with a side bet and also has a few tweaks in the rules as a trade-off for the extra hand per round and the ability to switch. These are additions to the game, however, so you can still split, double, and do everything else you could normally do.

Playing the Game

If we run through a quick hand of Blackjack Switch you will get a very good impression of how the game works compared to regular blackjack.

Blackjack Switch Place bets

The first thing you will notice is that you have two different hands to bet on during the same round of cards. That means your stake is also doubled, so bare this in mind.

Once the initial deal has been made, and providing the dealer hasn’t got blackjack (if they are dealt a 10 they can peek and end the game early, so you know if you get past this stage they don’t have blackjack), you have the opportunity to ‘switch’ the top two cards from each hand.

Blackjack Switch Deal

In our example game we decide to switch them to give our hand on the right more room to receive a higher ranking card without going bust, so our new hands will be a 4 of hearts and a 5 of hearts on the left, and an 8 of spades and a 3 of diamonds on the right, which you can see below.

Blackjack Switch Cards Switched

After this the game continues as normal. We decided to hit on both hands and as you can see below we got 21 and 19 – had we not switched, this would not have happened. We would have gone bust on the right (23) and had an awkward 17 on the left.

Blackjack Switch Winning Hand

The decision to switch gave us two winning hands instead of a losing hand and what would have resulted in a push as the dealer also had 17.

Blackjack Switch Winning Hand 2

It is possible to win one hand and lose the other, and of course to lose both hands, it just so happens that in this example we managed to win both of them.

Payouts

Of course no casino game gives the player an advantage for free, and the price for playing the extra hand and being able to switch cards is threefold:

  • Blackjack only pays 1:1 instead of the usual 3:2
  • Dealer always hits on soft 17 and pushes on 22
  • Blackjack Rule 5 does not apply

Granted, that last one won’t affect things unless you double down but nevertheless.

RTP

Blackjack has a tiny house edge anyway if played with a decent strategy. It is usually just 0.5% for a standard game which means the return to player percentage is 99.5%.

Blackjack Switch goes even better though granting the player an RTP of 99.92% assuming they don’t play like a loon.

The Super Match side bet on the other hand has an RTP of 97.45%.

Super Match Side Bet

Blacjack Switch Super Match Side Bet

You might well have also noticed the Super Match side bet button nestled between the two hands.

This is an additional bet on the first four cards dealt to you. You are looking for cards with the same face value in order to win this bet, so two sixes among the first four cards as in our example above is a winning side bet.

We have highlighted the paytable for this bet too which is written on the table. As you can see, four sixes would have netted us 40 x our 5 chip bet.

This is a great deal more than you can usually win on a hand of blackjack, but of course it all comes down to luck.