If you are someone who loves blackjack but doesn’t love the idea of risking enough to pay off your mortgage to pay for it, you will probably be looking for low stakes blackjack games.
Believe it or not the term ‘low stakes’ can refer to bets of up to £10 per hand if you are at a land based casino, but for the online game the cost is much much lower.
Players can make a modest deposit last for a long play session with low stakes online games, with levels as low as 10p per bet not difficult to find, but it has been known for the occasional RNG based game to allow bets even smaller than that.
Of course many players break down their bankroll into betting units in order to play to a specific staking strategy, and when playing with lower amounts this can be difficult to do unless you can find a table that allows particularly small bets.
We will cover a few of these options in the article below.
Low Stakes Blackjack
A low stakes player will be betting at the table minimum or just above it most of the time, but that table minimum can change depending on where you are playing as well as on what type of blackjack game you have chosen.
For example, with online RNG games you are more likely to find lower minimum stakes, because the games are less expensive to run. Once the game is developed and released it requires very little further management; it runs automatically, requires no dealer, and an unlimited number of players can use it at the same time.
For example, Zappit Blackjack allows a minimum bet of just 10p, and many other RNG based games accept 50p bets. Game developer Playtech even created a game called Blackjack Peek that allowed bets of a single penny, although that particular game is no longer live.
With live casino games you will be less likely to find a table that accepts bets lower than £1.00, but they are out there. A good example is Blackjack Party which accepts a minimum bet of just 50p, but the majority are higher at £5.00 per hand. This is because a live casino is more expensive to run, requiring premises and the associated costs that come with that, camera and streaming equipment, plus the dealers and the employees who manage the technical side.
Considering that the very least you can deposit at an online casino is £5.00 (although at many sites it is £10.00), you quickly realise that blackjack is not a game that can be played effectively by anyone working with small deposits and bets much bigger than 10p per hand. Breaking £5.00 into 100 betting units would make each unit worth 5p, and 99% of online blackjack games don’t accept bets that low.
Which Online Blackjack Games Have Low Table Limits?
If you are looking for £1 blackjack, 50p blackjack, or even 10p blackjack, then the below titles are as good a place as any to start.
| Game Name | Game Type | Min Bet | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zappit Blackjack | RNG | 10p | Shuffle Master |
| Blackjack+ | RNG | 10p | Felt Gaming |
| Blackjack Party | Live | £0.50 | Evolution Gaming |
| Quantum Blackjack | Live | £1.00 | Playtech |
| Lucky Lucky Blackjack | RNG | £1.00 | Playtech |
It isn’t an exhaustive list and new games are developed by studios all the time, so you can almost certainly find other options out there too if you hunt around.
Why Play Blackjack at Low Stakes?
Well it won’t make you rich, even if you do well, but playing blackjack at low stakes per hand will stretch your bankroll over a long play session, and maybe even over several. In terms of getting value for money then, it’s a winner.
It’s also a pretty safe way to enjoy yourself if you aren’t exactly flush with cash, and it is still possible to build your bank even from very humble beginnings.
Another good reason to play for pennies is to test out a staking strategy or to practice your skills without putting too much on the line. Even professional players practice the game to stay on top form, and practicing with real money is better than playing a demo game, unless you are cash strapped of course.
A deposit of £10.00 will give you a bank of 100 betting units at 10p a unit, and by breaking your funds into units rather than thinking of them monetarily you can practice any staking strategy you like. Even if you scale up the strategy will remain the same; a £20.00 deposit will give you 100 betting units of 20p each, for example, but you are still going into battle with 100 units.