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Understanding Blackjack Charlie Rules

Understanding Blackjack Charlie Rules

Added: August 23, 2017

There are online blackjack variants that are played with a six-card Charlie rule. A six-card Charlie hand is a hand of six cards dealt to the player, whose hand value is not over 21. If a player is dealt this hand he will be given certain advantages. Many online casino players seek out blackjack variants that offer Charlie rule. This makes the blackjack game play considerably more interesting and also more challenging. This article describes the salient features of the six-card Charlie rule.

The most important feature of this rule is that the six-card Charlie hand is an automatic winner. You do not have to take any more decisions and the dealer’s hand is not played out. You are immediately paid 3 to 2, which is the same as that for blackjack. The six-card Charlie rule increases the average return to the player by 0.16%. This is not that big an advantage which needs to be compensated for by tweaking some other rule in the dealer’s favour. At the same it is a sufficiently large advantage for dedicated high roller online blackjack players.

In order to maximise the return you will need to employ optimum blackjack strategy. There are some material differences from the optimum strategy for normal online blackjack variants. You have to play more aggressively and take greater risks in order to try for the Charlie payout. In normal games you would stand on hand values of 14 or 15 rather than risk busting. But with the six-card Charlie rule the outlook can become different. If you have a hand value of 15 with five cards dealt then you have to hit and try for the six-card Charlie hand.

At many online casinos you may find online blackjack variants with five-card Charlie rule and seven-card Charlie rule. You have to be careful with these. A five-card Charlie rule increases the average return by about 1.5%. This definitely needs to be compensated for otherwise the average return will go over 100%. Reducing the blackjack payout to even money or having the dealer blackjack beat the player blackjack are some of the options used. More often than not, the compensation is more than the initial advantage. The seven-card Charlie rule increases the average return by only 0.01%. Therefore a seven-card Charlie offers no real benefit to the player. It is like a placebo. You feel good that you are getting something, but actually you are not.