Side Bets

There are sets of rules that occur alongside the regular blackjack rules. There rules pertain to a number of side-bets you can make while playing blackjack. The side bets are dealt with before the regular hands are played, and they do not affect your hand in any way. Here you can read more about the available blackjack side bets.

Royal Match

Royal Match is a side bet on your first two cards being of the same suit. Any two suited cards will win this side bet, regardless of card value, except for the Royal Match – a suited king and queen – which will give a much bigger payout. You’ll recognize tables where the Royal Match bet is permitted by separate betting circles next to the regular ones reading either “RM” or “Royal Match”. Although the table limit is usually quite low, there is a certain advantage to Royal Match: casinos consider it a huge sucker bet and so you are unlikely to look suspicious, even when you are winning!

Over/Under 13

Over/Under is a side bet on whether your first two cards will be over or under 13. Aces always count as one for Over/Under, regardless of their value in your blackjack hand. If you get a total of over 13 or under 13 you are paid out 2 to 1, but a total of 13 always loses. Unless you are using a card counting system for this, the house edge for Over/Under bets is huge. But if you are betting Over/Under with working a system this bet can be of decent value.

Lucky Ladies

When you make the Lucky Ladies side-bet you are betting that your first two cards will total 20. That can be either two ten-value cards, or an ace and a 9. Specific combinations of two cards that add up to twenty, such as a queen of hearts pair, will pay more. If you are not using a system for this bet, the house edge is massive, but the Lucky Ladies side bet can be beaten through card counting. The amount casinos will allow you to wager on this side-bet is often not very much.

Super Sevens

Super Sevens is fixed side bet, meaning the amount of money you are permitted to wager on a super sevens bet is fixed beforehand and you are not allowed to bet more or less than that amount. The amount will often be very small. In this side bet you wager that the first one, two, or three cards you are dealt will be one, two, or three sevens, preferably of the same suit.