What is Free Chip Blackjack?

How to Play Free Chip Blackjack

Essentially, Free Chip Blackjack has the same standard rules as any other blackjack variant. The aim of the game is to get as close to 21 without exceeding it (going bust). The person with the highest value hand wins the round.

In Free Chip Blackjack, players can play up to three hands simultaneously. Each numbered card keeps its face value whilst picture cards (Jack, Queen, King) are all worth 10. Aces can be either 1 or 11. In order to form Blackjack (the strongest possible hand), players must combine a 10-value card with an Ace.

A round starts once the bets have been placed on the table. By clicking on the ‘Deal’ button, the player will receive two face-up cards whilst the dealer takes a face-up and face-down card. At this point, if the dealer is revealing an Ace, it is possible for the player to place an insurance bet. The insurance bet costs half of the player’s initial stake and pays 2:1 if the dealer has Blackjack.

Once the player has received their cards, they will have the chance to do one of the following actions:

• Hit – The player receives another card to their hand. There is no limit on how many cards the player can receive but they must be cautious of exceeding 21
• Stand – The player does not receive any further cards
• Double – The player asks for a single additional card and doubles their bet in doing so
• Split – The player has received a pair of identical valued cards and decides to split them into two separate hands. In doing so, the player will double their bet

Specific Free Chip Blackjack Rules

In Free Chip Blackjack, there are several additional rules that do not apply to regular blackjack:

• The player can play a

  Free Double Down

  on any natural hard 9, 10 or 11 (a two-card hand without an ace). If the player wins, they will be paid out in full. If they lose, only the initial bet is taken and not the doubled value.
• The player can play a

  Free Split

  on any pair from Ace to 9. Split pairs do not require the player to double their bet. It is possible to split up to three times, including splitting Aces.

There are of course rules to keep the game balanced:

• If the dealer busts when their face-up card is 10, the hand is returned as a push.
• If the dealer busts whilst the player has a total of 17, the hand is returned as a push.

Free Chip Blackjack Side Bets

In Free Chip Blackjack, there are three side bets that can be placed simultaneously. The side bets are the Bust Bonanza, Perfect Pairs and Free Fortune.

Bust Bonanza

The Bust Bonanza side bet is won if the dealer busts during the round. The payouts for the Bust Bonanza depends on how the dealer goes bust:

• The dealer busting pays 1:1
• The dealer goes bust with a face-up card of 10 pays 3:1
• The dealer goes bust whilst the player has a total of 17 pays 5:1
• The dealer goes bust with a face-up card of 10 and the player has a total of 17 pays 9:1
• The dealer goes bust with an Ace face-up card and the players total is 17 pays 45:1

The Bust Bonanza side bet has an RTP of 96.37%.

Perfect Pairs

The Perfect Pairs side bet in Free Chip Blackjack is the same as in most blackjack games. If the player’s two initial cards match, the player will receive one of the following payouts:

• A Mixed Pair of black and red cards with the same value pays 6:1
• A Coloured Pair of cards from the same colour but different suit pays 12:1
• A Perfect Pair of identical cards that have the same suit pays 25:1

The RTP of the Perfect Pairs side bet is 93.89%.

Free Fortune

The Free Fortune side bet pays when you have successfully used a Free Chip feature on a hand. It is possible to use a total of seven Free Chips for a single hand. That can be done by splitting a hand three times for free and doubling down on each of those Free Splits and the main split hand.

If you are able to use seven Free Chips, you can claim the maximum prize of 1000:1. The Free Fortune side bet has the following pay table:

• 7 Free Chips pay 1000:1
• 6 Free Chips pay 300:1
• 5 Free Chips pay 100:1
• 4 Free Chips pay 50:1
• 3 Free Chips pay 25:1
• 2 Free Chips pay 10:1
• 1 Free Chip pays 3:1

The Free Fortune side bet will only win if you have at least one Free Split or Free Double on the hand. It has an RTP of 96.50%.

To Conclude

It is easy to see why this has quickly become a hugely popular Blackjack game. While there is some trade-off for the free bets, it can also bring some huge rewards to players who strategies carefully.