Blackjack Switch
• Rules summary
• The "switch" - big player advantage
• Other rules
• A bad bet
• Basic strategy
• "Switch" strategy
• Recommended casinos
• Final thoughts
Ace-ace / ten-ten = blackjack / blackjack
Blackjack Switch, the recent invention of an Englishman by the
name of Geoff Hall, is a game in which the player plays two hands consecutively
and may "switch" his top cards around. For example: if one hand receives
an ace pair and the other two tens, the top ace of the two aces may be switched
over to the other hand, making a ten plus ace, while the top ten of the
two tens is also switched over, making an ace plus ten - from AA / 1010
to blackjack / blackjack, quite an improvement! This is an extreme example
to illustrate the point that two bad hands can be changed into something much
better. Rules summary
The rules for Blackjack Switch are as follows:
• Six decks
• H17
• DOA
• DAS
• Full peek
• Blackjack pays even money
• Two equal-sized initial bets required
• The top cards of each initial hand may be "switched" to the other hand, unless the dealer has a blackjack, in which case there is no option to switch, say, 10/10 and ace/ace into two blackjacks and tie the hand. Against a dealer blackjack, all hands apart from a dealt player blackjack lose.
• A dealer 22 pushes against all active player hands, except blackjacks
The "switch" - big player advantage
Here's a graphic illustration of an example of the "switch" process:
The player has a 14 and 15 against dealer 7. Both hands are bad. However, switching the 10 from the 4 onto the 8, and the 7 from the 8 onto the 4...
...turns them into an 11 and an 18, a big improvement. In the final analysis...
...the dealer flipped over a 10 in the hole and both hands won.
Other rules
In order to compensate for this player-advantageous switch rule
there are two additional rules in the dealer's favour: blackjack only pays
1:1 as opposed to the usual 3:2, and also a dealer score of 22 results in
a push, whatever hands remain active for the player - unless one of the
player hands is a blackjack. Watching the dealer bust, only to end up pushing one or both of your active hands...
...takes some getting used to. The other rules are: H17 and ENHC - which favour the dealer - and DOA and DAS - which again favour the player.
The sum total of all this is a house edge of only 0.16%, or a total player return of 99.84%.
A bad bet
There is an additional bet available, called "super match", based on the four initial cards across both hands; it has it's own betting circle between the two main betting circles - see the image at the top of the page. Since the house edge is a whopping 2.55% this bet should be disregarded.
Basic strategy
There are two things to consider: basic strategy and "switch" strategy.
The basic strategy table is below - chart details courtesy of The
Wizard Of Odds:
Hard Totals
Soft Totals
Pair Splitting
What immediately comes to mind on looking at the chart is that both doubling and splitting is MUCH more restrictive in this game than in standard blackjack; there is only one card to double 9 against, and soft-doubling is almost non-existent. That, coupled to the fact that blackjacks only pay 1:1, leads to a less volatile game than standard blackjack played in the same two consecutive hand format - which is no bad thing. Better quality games tend to go hand in hand with greater volatility, so Switch is a refreshing exception to the rule.
"Switch" strategy
Many of the "switch / don't switch" decisions are very difficult. Fortunately, there's
a convenient "switch
calculator" on the web page listed above;
input the values of your two hands and click "switch" - the calculator will
tell you whether to switch or not. Make sure you put the right values in
the right boxes - I've made the mistake of getting them mixed up and making
the incorrect play! As an example: change cards 2 and 4 from 10 / 10 to
A / A as per my above example. Two blackjacks being clearly better than
10/10 and A/A, the calculator tells you to switch. This is a quite indispensable
little tool - the game would be impossible without it. Or at least, it would
be impossible to play it correctly, unless you manage to memorize each one of the many,
many combinations - which would be quite a task.You can also calculate the "switch" decisions manually. Please refer to the BJ Switch expected value charts supplement page for the tools you'll need to do this and instructions on how to use them.
Recommended casinos
Recommended casino for Blackjack Switch:
♠ Totesport Casino ♠
Final thoughts
• Basic strategy for blackjack switch is different to the standard blackjack strategy - follow it to the letter.
• If you're unsure about whether or not to "switch", use the "switch calculator", or failing that, calculate the values yourself using the charts on the EV charts page. Don't rely on intuition on this one, because although some plays are obvious, many are not.
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