7 Commonly Believed Lies About Live Dealer Blackjack

Live dealer blackjack has gained lots of popularity in recent years. It gives you a chance to enjoy land-based blackjack through a smartphone.

But as popular as live blackjack is, many gamblers still haven’t played this variation. Some of the same people believe common misconceptions surrounding live dealer blackjackand avoid playing it as a result. Don’t let the following 7 lies keep you from enjoying a great game!

1 – Live Blackjack Requires Higher Stakes than Standard Online Blackjack

Three main types of blackjack exist in the gaming world:

• Land based blackjack – Available in brick-and-mortar casinos.
• Traditional online blackjack – A completely software-generated game.
• Live dealer blackjack — Streamed directly from a brick-and-mortar casino studio.

Of these variations, land-based blackjack is definitely the most expensive. It generally requires between a $10 and $25 minimum bet.

Of course, you can find casinos that feature $5 minimum wagers or lower. Generally speaking, though, you’ll need to bet at least $10 to play.

The live dealer version sometimes gets lumped in with brick-and-mortar blackjack. Some gamblers mistakenly believe that it requires the same bet sizes that land-based games do.

In reality, though, $5 blackjack is just as cheap, or almost as cheap, as the standard online version.

The latter only requires a $1 minimum bet. Live dealer blackjack, meanwhile, requires between a $1 and $5 minimum wager depending upon the operator.

2 – You Can’t Play at Full Live Dealer Tables

When a land-based blackjack table fills up, you obviously won’t be able to play on it. You’ll need to wait for a seat to open up before sitting down.

Live dealer tables are fairly similar in this regard. They feature seven seats and, thus, only allow seven players to be “seated.”

However, live blackjack differs from the brick-and-mortar version in a major way. It offers a feature called bet behind, which allows you to wager on a seated player’s action.

Here’s an example on how bet behind works:

• You pick a table that’s already full.
• You bet $25 on the gambler in the first seat.
• The player wins their hand.
• You earn $25 thanks to their win.

The catch with bet behind is that it doesn’t allow you to make any decisions. Instead, you’re entirely reliant on the gambler who’s seated. This option does, however, give you the chance to enjoy the action when the tables are full.

3 – Live Blackjack Features Worse Odds than Regular Online Blackjack

Land-based blackjack games often have a house edge ranging between 1% and 2%. They compare favorably to every other casino game in this regard.

However, a 1% house advantage isn’t that great in the grand scheme of blackjack. After all, certain variations feature as low as a 0.3% house edge.

Some gamblers commonly assume that live dealer blackjack falls into the same category. They believe that they’ll face up to a 2% house advantage with this version.

As a result, they may opt for regular online blackjack instead. After all, many online games boast around a 0.5% house edge.

Live Blackjack is closer to standard mobile blackjack in terms of the house edge. Most games have between a 0.5% and 1% casino advantage.

4 – You Can Play This Game Free Like Other Online Casino Games

Online blackjack offers a huge advantage in that it lets you play games for free. All you need to do is register for an account before enjoying the free action.

That said, you can try the regular version of internet blackjack without risking anything. This is a great way to see if you like a casino’s blackjack selection before depositing.

Unfortunately, live dealer blackjack doesn’t provide the same opportunity. You’ll need to bet real money if you want to actually play.

Live dealer casinos must actually employ dealers. They can’t just use automated software to deal like standard mobile blackjack. Therefore, live casinos need to make money from the games they’re offering.

If you do want to try live blackjack before depositing, though, you can always observe a table. This option gives you the chance to check out the studio’s atmosphere and judge the dealer’s personality.

5 – Live Dealer Blackjack Is Difficult to Play

Most people don’t head to the blackjack tables when starting out in gaming. After all, blackjack is complicated when compared to slot machines or video poker.

It has an added intimidation element due to its unspoken etiquette rules. For instance, you’re not supposed to touch the cards—only the dealer handles them.

That said, some players translate the difficulty of learning land-based blackjack to the live dealer version. However, the live game isn’t overly difficult to comprehend.

It offers many of the same guiding hands as traditional online blackjack does, including easy-to-use virtual betting actions. The live dealer version also doesn’t have any weird etiquette rules.

The time limit is the only thing that you may struggle with in live dealer blackjack. You only have so long to place wagers before a round starts.

Most live casinos give you between 15 and 20 seconds to place bets. If you don’t wager within this timeframe, then you won’t get to play the hand.

If other people are at the table, though, you’ll have plenty of time to make bets. You should be able to adapt to the time limit with little trouble. You’ll also find that live dealer blackjack offers a more-relaxed training ground than brick-and-mortar tables.

6 – No Bonuses Are Available through Live Blackjack

Many mobile casinos feature blackjack bonuses. They may advertise them under the “table games” category or just label them as blackjack offers. In any case, you can look forward to these deals at a fair amount of online casinos.

Some players mistakenly believe, though, that they won’t have an opportunity to earn live blackjack bonuses. As a result, they don’t even bother doing much research on the subject.

But the good news is that you can find live dealer blackjack deals. You’ll especially have luck when it comes to free bets.

A free wager is exactly how it sounds—you get an opportunity to bet without risking anything. If you win, you’ll receive the profit (minus the stake).

Here’s an example of a free live dealer blackjack bet:

• You sign up at a live dealer casino and place the minimum deposit ($20).
• The casino provides a free $20 bet.
• You wager $20 and win.
• You receive $20 overall ($40 total win – $20 stake).

Now, you may need to meet rollover before withdrawing the $20 profit. But these are still nice deals when considering what can be earned from them.

7 – You Can Count Cards

Live dealer blackjack shares many common elements with the land-based version. It features a human dealer, real cards, and the same basic setup.

Therefore, it seems like you’d be able to count cards with live blackjack. The reality, though, is that you can’t successfully pull off card counting at a live dealer casino.

Almost everything is set up for you to count cards. However, the keyword is almost because deck penetration is the one missing ingredient.

Unfortunately, most live dealer sites don’t even get to 50%. Instead, the live dealer will typically shuffle the shoe at between 25% and 40% penetration.

You can improve your odds to a small degree by still counting at live casinos. However, you won’t enjoy enough deck penetration to make consistent profits.

Conclusion

Live dealer blackjack can inspire many questions from those who’ve never played it. This version is also the subject of many misconceptions.

However, live blackjack isn’t difficult to play or understand. In many cases it provides just as good of a chance to win as the regular online version. You don’t need to risk much to play hands either.

You’ll have an easy time adapting to the live dealer variation if you’ve already played the game in other formats. You can always sit in on games if you need any help understanding how live dealer blackjack works too.