Cryptologic offers three variations of blackjack in their software, but their realism and play speed rank them right at the top of all the software providers. All of their variations show the dealer’s hands as the cards are dealt onto a very realistic looking green felt table. Click for other software versions - boss media, microgaming, playtech and realtime gaming.
Game play can be sped up by clicking on the yellow “Turbo” button shown at the lower left corner of the game screen. Players also do not have to worry about annoying dealer’s voices and the wait that sometimes happens because of this audio file.
The following are the house rules for both blackjack variations that Cryptologic offers and the specific house advantage (HA) percentage:
Blackjack – 8 deck shoe, dealer peeks on 10s and Aces, dealer stands on soft or hard 17, double on any two cards, double after split, split up to 2 hands, Aces split only once. HA = .49%
Single-deck Blackjack – 1 deck shoe, dealer peeks on 10s and Aces, dealer hits on soft 17, double on any two cards, double after split, split up to 2 hands, Aces split only once, no surrender. HA =.07%.
Pontoon – 8 deck shoe, dealer hits soft 17, player must hit on 14 or less, double after split, double on any 2 to 4 cards one time only, player loses ties, dealer peeks on 2 down cards for pontoon, split up to 2 hands, 10 and Ace after splitting Aces considered pontoon, 5 card trick (5 cards without busting) beats any hand except dealer Pontoon. HA = .17%.
Though Cryptologic offers a single-deck option that is almost a break-even proposition regarding the house advantage, that benefit is offset by the minimum wager being set at $25 (if playing in US $ ). This higher minimum bet raises the player’s variance and players may not want to play the single-deck version unless they have a sufficiently large enough bankroll to withstand that higher variance.
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