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Double Exposure Blackjack

Introduction

Double Exposure Blackjack is a variant of the standard Blackjack game. According to Norm Wattenberger’s ‘Modern Blackjack’ this game also goes by the name ‘Zweikartenspiel’ (literally translated meaning “two card game”) and was created by gambling author and theorist Richard Epstein (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Arnold_Epstein).

We are currently aware of Double Exposure Blackjack being offered by the following online casino softwares – Microgaming, RealTime Gaming, Net Entertainment, PlayNGo and GamesOS*. At RealTime Gaming and GamesOS casinos Double Exposure Blackjack is called ‘Face Up 21’.



Play Structure

Differences to standard Blackjack;

 

·         Both dealer cards are dealt face-up.

·         Blackjack (a Ten card and an Ace dealt as the first 2 cards) is paid at 1 to 1.

·         Player wins tied Blackjack.

·         Dealer wins all other ties.

·         The dealer must hit Soft 17.

·         Double After Split allowed.

·         Double on 2 card 9, 10 and 11 only.

·         8 decks.

·         Re-Split to 4 hands.

·         No Re-Split Aces.

 

Other than the above the game functions as a standard Blackjack game in terms of the play of hands and how wins are decided.



Rule Variations

Over and above the above mentioned rules, the following online software providers offer slightly different rules as detailed;

GamesOS* – Standard rule set shown above.

Microgaming – Standard rule set shown above.

Net Entertainment – 6 decks, Stand Soft 17.

PlayNGo – 6 decks, Stand Soft 17, No Double After Splits, No Resplits

RealTime Gaming – Standard rule set shown above.

* GamesOS Blackjack Switch was found to be running their game with a very detrimental rule that contradicted their game help file (tied hands considered a win for the dealer which seems likely to add 10% onto the House Edge). For more information on this issue see - https://thepogg.com/gamesos-blackjack-switch-issue/. Alongside this, many of their game help file contains content that has been used without permission from another site. See - https://thepogg.com/gamesos-copying-content-from-other-sites/". For these reasons we do not recommend playing with any casino using GamesOS software.



Basic Strategy

Double Exposure Blackjack, like Blackjack, has a Basic Strategy to minimise the House Edge. However unlike Blackjack, as the dealer shows both cards, the Basic Strategy table can take account of this extra information and is far larger. The Basic Strategy chart for the standard rules can be found below;

 

 Dealer's Upcard
Player's Hand4567891011121314151617181920AAA2A3A4A5A6A7A8A9
5HHHHHHHHHHDDDHHHHHHHHHHHHH
6HHHHHHHHHHDDDHHHHHHHHHHHHH
7HHHHHHHHHHDDDHHHHHHHHHHHHH
8HHHHHHHHDDDDDHHHHHHHHHHHHH
9HDDHHHHHDDDDDHHHHHHHHHHHHH
10DDDDDHHHDDDDDHHHHHHDDDHHHH
11DDDDDDHHDDDDDHHHHHDDDDHHHH
12SSSHHHHHSSSSSHHHHHHSSSHHHH
13SSSHHHHHSSSSSHHHHSSSSSHHHH
14SSSHHHHSSSSSSHHHHSSSSSHHHH
15SSSHHHSSSSSSSHHHHSSSSSHHHH
16SSSHSSSSSSSSSHHHHSSSSSHHHH
17SSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHSSSSSHHHH
18SSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHSSSSSSHHH
19SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHSSSSSSSHH
20SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHSSSSSSSSH
21SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
4567891011121314151617181920AAA2A3A4A5A6A7A8A9
A2HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
A3HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
A4HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
A5HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
A6HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
A7SSSSHHHHSHHHHSHHHHHHHHSHHH
A8SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHSSSSSSSHH
A9SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHSSSSSSSSH
ATSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
4567891011121314151617181920AAA2A3A4A5A6A7A8A9
22PPPHHHHHPPPPPPHHHHHHHHHHHH
33PPPHHHHHPPPPPPHHHHHHHHHHHH
44HHPHHHHHPPPPPHHHHHHHHHHHHH
55DDDDDHHHDDDDPHHHHHHDDDHHHH
66PPPHHHHHPPPPPPHHHHHSSSHHHH
77PPPHHHHSPPPPPPHHHSSSSSHHHH
88PPPPPSSSPPPPPPHHHSSSSPPHHH
99PPPSPSSSPPPPPSPHHSSSPPSPHH
TTSSSSSSSSSPPPPSSSHSSSSSSSSH
AAPPPPPPPHPPPPPHHHHPPPPPPHHH

 

Legend

CodeBest Play
HHit
SStand
DDouble else Hit
PSplit

 

Basic Strategy for Net Entertainment rules can be found below;

Basic Strategy for the PlayNGo rules can be found below;

Basic Strategy Calculator

If you encounter a Double Exposure Blackjack game with a different rule set to the ones listed above you can use our Strategy Calculator to come up with the optimum strategy;

[COMING SOON]



House Edge*

The House Edge for Double Exposure Blackjack is shown below for each known software provider;

GamesOS – 0.61%

Microgaming – 0.61%

Net Entertainment – 0.57%

PlayNGo – 0.96%

RealTime Gaming – 0.61%



Winning Strategies

Offline

Double Exposure Blackjack is likely to be vulnerable to all of the standard advantage play techniques that standard Blackjack can be beaten by. Strategies for gaining an edge over this game are not in common circulation (we are aware of no publications discussing these issues either on or offline).

Hole Carding will not be possible due to the lack of Hole Card.

Online

There are several methods of legitimately gaining an advantage playing online Double Exposure games. By and large these involve the use of promotions, bonuses and comp point systems as the games by themselves – assuming the game is functioning in a correct fashion and there are no errors in the paytable – will not provide any additional information about the cards and shuffles after every hand.

It should be noted that online advantage play is not specific to Double Exposure and in recent years the wagering requirements for player’s choosing to play any table game has inflated to the point that Double Exposure is now often a sub-optimal choice for the player. For more information on beating online casinos see BeatingBonuses.com.



* All ‘House Edge’ figures in this article are based on the ‘loss per unit wagered’ rather than ‘loss per initial bet’.

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