Special plays will appear as buttons during the course of the game, when you have the option to play them. The special plays featured in Blackjack are as follows;
Insurance
If the dealer's second card or upcard is an ace, you are given the option to accept Insurance before the dealer views the hole card (the dealer's first card, dealt face down). If you accept Insurance, the dealer will check ('peek') at their hole card for Blackjack.
Insurance is effectively a side-bet of half the amount of your original stake, paid at 2:1. This means that if the dealer has a natural 21 or Blackjack, you lose your original bet, but win back half its value – the insurance bet – thereby limiting your loss.
Note: No Insurance will be offered if you have Blackjack
Split
If your first two cards are of identical value, you may split them and place an additional bet (equal to your original bet) to play two hands instead of one. Each of the cards then becomes the start of a new hand. Splitting is only allowed once, at the start of the game. No further splitting (resplitting) can be carried out. Note: Ten, Jack, Queen and King have identical value; any combination of these cards may be split (in addition to pairs).
If either of your hands beats the dealer, paid evens on your original stake. If you split a hand, Blackjack (3:2) cannot be called on that hand – a winning hand in this situation will be paid at evens.
When splitting two aces, only one further card can be drawn for each hand in the split.
In order to identify which hand is to be played a small green arrow will hover above that hand.
This option enables you to double your bet and receive just one more card, forfeiting the opportunity to hit further.
Double
In this version of Blackjack you may choose to select the "Double" option/button whilst playing a hand on your first two cards with a total value of 9, 10 or 11.
Note:The above values may be otherwise defined by the operator..
You may not hit and double down to split Aces.
Tip: "Doubling", or "Double down" is most effective when you have an edge on the dealer, for example, when the dealer's hand shows a weak or low card like a Four, Five or Six.
Double-after-split
Once you have split your identical value cards into two hands and received a second card for each, you have the option to double down on those two hands. Each hand is played out separately and you can choose to double down on one, or both hands.
Doubling down after splitting (on two hands) follows the same rules as doubling down on a single hand and returns the same odds - double your stake – for each hand you win.
Two Aces
Unlike some other variants of Blackjack, if your first two cards are aces, you do not win the hand. Instead, it forms a total hand of either 12 or 2 with the option to split them, but only once.
Soft
Unlike some other variants of Blackjack, if your first two cards are aces, you do not win the hand. Instead, it forms a total hand of either 12 or 2 with the option to split them, but only once.