Blackjack Switch is a blackjack variant that gives a fascinating twist on the standard rules of this very popular casino game. You’re dealt two hands and have the option to swap the second card dealt between your hands to improve them. 

This new rule adds a new layer of strategy to your play. Although it’s sometimes obvious whether or not you should switch, many situations are less clear. 

In this article, you’ll discover the history of Blackjack Switch, how it’s played, and strategies to minimise the house edge to give you the best long-term outcomes and more enjoyment from the game. 

Whether you use Blackjack Switch for casino offers or just play recreationally, this guide will tell you everything you need to know. 

Introduction to Blackjack Switch

Blackjack Switch is one of many variations on this classic table game. The table set-up will look very familiar to anyone who has played blackjack:

In Blackjack Switch, you’re always dealt two hands, receiving two face-up cards in each hand with the initial deal. The dealer is dealt two cards - the first face-up and the second face-down. 

Here’s an example hand that shows the initial setup:

In this example, the two player hands are fairly poor. Both will bust if you’re dealt a 10-value card (the most common card in the deck).

Clicking ‘Switch’ swaps the four and the jack between the hands, giving two much stronger hands:

In this computerised version of Blackjack Switch, by Playtech, you can change your mind and swap the cards back and forth between the hands if you want to.

This allows you to compare the strengths of the hands before committing to which ones you prefer.  

Since the possibility of swapping cards gives you an advantage compared to regular blackjack, there’s inevitably a trade-off.

In Blackjack Switch, a blackjack (or natural) only pays even money, and a dealer’s 22 results in a push against all non-busted hands apart from blackjacks that were obtained without switching or splitting. 

The History of Blackjack Switch

Blackjack Switch was devised by Geoff Hall, one of the most important casino game inventors of recent times.

Geoff, from Solihull in the West Midlands, studied Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Leicester. 

After playing blackjack on a work night out, he became fascinated by the game. This inspired him to learn card counting strategies and other advantage techniques like shuffle tracking and ace locating. 

In 1999, Geoff was playing blackjack at his favourite local casino. He often played two hands at the same time, partly to reduce variance. 

One night, he noticed many occasions where, if he’d been allowed to swap the two top cards between his hands, this would have given him two strong hands. 

Geoff gives an example of a typical situation here, where he’s dealt a Queen and six to his first hand and a four and King to his second hand.

Hard totals of 16 and 14 are very weak hands, but if you were able to swap the six and King, you’d end up with two very strong hands - a 20 and a 10:

After spending time developing his idea, he exhibited it at G2E (Global Gaming Expo) in Las Vegas in October 2000. In February 2001 it was installed in a casino for the first time in Harvey’s Casino in Iowa.

Geoff brought in the ‘Push 22’ rule in 2003, which transformed the game and led to its introduction in many more casinos. Blackjack Switch was later patented in 2009. 

Game Developer Playtech acquired the exclusive rights to produce an online version of Blackjack Switch, which is available at several online casinos. Some of these are listed in a later section. 

Geoff Hall has also created several other blackjack variants, the most well-known of which is probably Free Bet Blackjack. Other creations that put an innovative slant on classic blackjack include Zombie Blackjack, Zappit, and Lucky Cat Blackjack.

Blackjack Switch Rules

Apart from the switching aspect, Blackjack Switch plays very much like conventional blackjack. The most significant rule differences aside from the switching are the following:

• A dealer total of 22 results in a push against any non-busted player hands other than a blackjack achieved without splitting or switching
• Blackjack pays even money (1 to 1). 

Here are the full Playtech Blackjack Switch rules:

Blackjack Switch is a variant of Blackjack with the following rules:

• 6 decks of cards are used. After each round, used cards are returned to the deck and the deck is shuffled.
• The player may switch the top cards prior to any hits.
• The player may not split a split hand.
• Only one card is drawn to split Aces.
• The player may double after splitting.
• Ace and a 10-point card after a split are considered 21.
• Blackjack pays even money (1 to 1).
• The dealer always hits soft 17. The dealer does not draw when the player is “bust”.
• The dealer can peek on Ace and 10-point cards.
• The dealer will “push” on a total of 22, but Blackjack will still win.

In addition to the main game, there is also a side bet called Super Match. Here’s what the Playtech rules say about this:

SUPER MATCH

The small circle between the standard bet areas is the super bet area. The super bet wins if your initial four cards contain two or more matching cards. For example, if your right hand is a Queen and a Six, and your left hand a Queen and a King, you have a pair and your super bet wins. The win ratios are written on the table.

Return To Player of Blackjack Switch

The Return To Player (RTP) of Playtech Blackjack Switch is incredibly high, at 99.92%, as shown in the help section for the game:

Although this is a very impressive RTP, most players won’t achieve it, since it assumes perfect play. This is very difficult in Blackjack Switch without using a special calculator to tell you when you should switch. You’ll find a link to a great Blackjack Switch Calculator later in this article. 

The Wizard of Odds website gives the house edge of the Super Match side bet as 2.55%, which is equivalent to an RTP of 97.45%. This is much lower than the 99.92% RTP quoted by Playtech for the main Blackjack Switch game, so playing the side bet will lose you money in the long term. 

Another side bet that is sometimes available on Blackjack Switch (although not with the Playtech version) is the Push 22 Side Bet. This bet pays 11 to win if the dealer draws to 22 points. 

As with other side bets, the house edge is higher than the main game. In the case of the Push 22 side bet, it’s much higher, giving a very low RTP of only 88.2%.

How to Play Blackjack Switch

With Blackjack Switch, there’s an extra layer to the strategy since you have the option to switch your cards.

Here’s the order of play for Blackjack Switch:

• Decide if you want to switch your cards. 
• Make the usual decisions on each of your hands whether to Hit, Stand, Split, or Double

If you’re playing the Playtech version of Blackjack Switch online, here are the steps you’ll follow:

Select Your Stake

The first step is to select the chip value you want to use, then click one of the two boxes (betting positions) to add the stake. Since you always have two hands in Blackjack Switch, this will add the same stake to each of the boxes. 

To add a stake of £2 for each of your hands, you’d click one of the boxes twice. This will give a total stake of £4:

Deal

Next, click ‘Deal’ to have your two hands dealt:

If it’s not your first hand, you’ll have options to either ‘Rebet’ (bet the same amount again) or ‘Rebet & Deal’ (bet the same amount again and deal cards):

Alternatively, if you want to change your stake, you can return to the chips and add them to one of the boxes again.

Option to Switch Cards

Next, you can choose to switch the second cards dealt between your hands. To do this, click ‘Switch’. You can click again to switch back if you want to. This allows you to check the two hand totals before committing to your decision:

Play Your Hands

The next step is the same as for standard blackjack, where you can choose the following plays:

• Stand - take no more cards to the hand.
• Hit - get another card dealt to the hand.
• Double - double your stake for that hand. 
• Split - split the hand into two hands. This doubles the stake for the hand

Insurance

If the dealer’s first card is an ace, you can choose to insure your bet against the dealer having a blackjack. Insurance costs half your original bet, with the new bet placed separately from your main bet. 

If the dealer has blackjack, you’re paid 2 to 1 on your insurance bet. The effect of this is that you break even overall on your bet, since you lose your original bet but make a profit of two times half your original bet with your winning insurance bet.

You lose your insurance bet if the dealer doesn’t have blackjack. 

As with regular blackjack, taking insurance in Blackjack Switch will reduce your RTP, so should be avoided. 

Switching Strategy in Blackjack Switch 

Playing Blackjack Switch involves a completely new stage compared to standard blackjack. Your first decision is whether to switch cards or not. 

Often, it will be obvious what you should do. The example mentioned earlier, where you’re dealt a Queen and Six to one hand and a Four and King to the other. Here, switching cards is clearly the better option, as you're swapping two weak hands for two very strong ones. 

Other times, it will be less obvious what you should do. Sometimes, but not always, the dealer’s card has an impact on whether or not you should switch cards.

The optimum strategy for switching is very complicated to work out, requiring computer analysis. You can find an in-depth treatment of optimum strategy on the Wizard of Odds website at the following links:

Wizard of Odds Blackjack Switch Article

Wizard of Odds Blackjack Switch Appendix 1

Cindy Liu Simple Switching Strategy

This is a simplified strategy that provides a relatively straightforward way to decide if you should switch cards. Its basis is a list of hands in order of strength:

1. 21
   
2. 20
   
3. 19
   
4. AA
   
5. 11
6. 10
7. 9
8. 18 or 8. 8,8 with the dealer’s card between 2 and 8

Here’s how the strategy works:

1. If the dealer has a 7 or 8, make the hands as balanced as possible, by switching to make the weaker hand as high as possible on the above list, if you can. 
2. If the dealer has any other upcard, maximise the strength of the higher hand, using the above list. 
3. If it isn’t possible to achieve any of the hands on the list, make the strongest hand possible from this list (in order of strength): 1) [7 or 17] 2) [Any hand that should be split] 3) [Any 12] 4) [Any 13]
   
4. Exceptions. 1) [A,A and 3,8 - don’t switch, to keep the aces together] 2) [A,A and 2,9 - if the dealer has 2-6, don’t switch, to keep the aces together] 3) [A,A and 2,8 - don’t switch, to keep the aces together]

Blackjack Switch Calculator

If you’re playing Blackjack Switch online, the easiest and most accurate way to decide whether or not to switch is to use a Blackjack Switch Calculator, which is based on the Playtech rules.  

Below are screenshots showing the Wizard of Odds Blackjack Switch Calculator. The ‘1st Card’ and ‘3rd Card’ on the left make up the first hand and the ‘2nd Card’ and ‘4th Card’ on the right are the cards in the second hand.

The examples chosen illustrate that for identical player hands, the decision to switch is sometimes based on the dealer’s upcard.

In the first example, the player has a 10-value card and a 9 in the first hand and a 9 and 10-value card in the second, with the dealer having a 7. In this case, you shouldn’t switch:

In contrast, with the same player cards, if the dealer has a 10-value card, you should switch:

Blackjack Switch Basic Strategy

After deciding whether or not to switch, you move on to playing your two hands. The optimum strategy is very similar to the Basic Blackjack Strategy when a dealer hits on soft 17, but the Push 22 Rule leads to several differences. 

The optimum Blackjack Switch Strategy for the Playtech version of Blackjack Switch. For the 8-deck Las Vegas rules, the only change is that you should always hit if you have a 9 against the dealer’s 5, rather than doubling if you can. 

The strategy is shown twice in each of the Blackjack Switch Strategy charts below.

The version on the right uses highlighted letters to show all the differences between Blackjack Switch Strategy and Basic Blackjack Strategy for 4-8 decks where the dealer hits on soft 17.

Hard Hands

Soft Hands

Pairs

Where to Play Blackjack Switch

Blackjack Switch is much less widely available both online and in real-world casinos than standard blackjack. The good news is that several bookmakers and casinos host the Playtech version of Blackjack Switch. 

Here’s a list of some of them:

• Betfred
• Buzz Bingo
• Buzz Casino
• Fitzdares
• Kwiff
• The Sun Bingo
• The Sun Vegas
• William Hill

Summary

Blackjack Switch is a fascinating and innovative blackjack variant that caters to any blackjack players who have ever thought “I wish I could swap those cards between my two hands”. 

It adds a new layer of strategy since you need to decide whether or not to switch before playing your hands.

Although the optimum switching strategy is complicated, you can use an online Blackjack Switch calculator to take the guesswork out of it. 

Blackjack Switch is sometimes used when completing casino offers, so knowing how to play and maximise your Return To Player will increase the value of your offers. 

If you’d like to start taking value from the casinos by taking advantage of their numerous offers, make sure you give Outplayed’s free trial a go. This mainly features Matched Betting offers, but there are also several casino sign-up offers to try out. 

After this, Outplayed’s Diamond membership gives access to all of the worthwhile casino sign-up and reload offers.