How to Play Double Up and Double Up Blackjack
New table games continue to hit the casino marketplace, but sometimes the names and rules of these new products get confusing. Case in point: Double Up and Double Up Blackjack. These are actually two new games, one is blackjack with a twist (Double Up Blackjack) and one is a table game with a point total to wager on. Lets start with the newest, Double Up.
Playing Double Up
Double Up is played on a standard half-moon style casino table and dealt with a standard deck of 52 cards.
No jokers or wild cards are used and the regular pip value of the cards is used (8 = 8 points, 10 and face cards = 10 points, etc.). However, aces are not 1 or 11, they are always 1.
The object of the game is for the four card total on the layout to be under 20, or over 30.
Like Three-Card Poker the player must make an Ante wager first. Then the dealer places three cards face-up on the layout. However, the three up cards are community cards. All players use the same three cards.
After seeing the three cards, the player may stand and wait for the fourth and final card, or double their total bet by making a Double Up wager the size of their Ante wager. Much like the game of In Between, you can guess whether the next card total is going to help or not. Obviously if the three up cards are all 10's, the total is already 30 and the next card will make all Ante and Double Up bets winners. However, the Double Up Wager should always be taken when the three-card total is 12 or less, or 24 or more.
Stand if the point total is 13 to 23.
The reason you double up is because when the three-card total is 12 or less, the cards that will make you a winner are 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, ace. There are four of each of those cards, so 7x4=28, and there are 24 cards that will make your bet a loser. You are paid even money on all wagers, so this is a positive situation. When the three-card total is 24 or more, there are likewise 28 cards that will make you a winner: 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King.
If you always bet the Ante and don't take the Double Up Wager at the correct time, the house edge is 3.72 percent. If you use the correct strategy, the house edge falls to 2.77 percent. There is also an optional side bet of black or red (cards). The house has no edge on this wager. However, like taking odds at craps (where the house edge is also zero), by making this wager at all times the player can reduce the overall house edge to just 1.59 percent. That's all there is to Double Up - get a point total lower than 20, or higher than 30, on four community cards.
How to Play Double Up Blackjack
Double Up Blackjack is played with a standard deck of 52 cards on a standard blackjack table, but the game has a twist. Although the game starts like standard blackjack, the game offers each player a chance to double their wager on any hand except an actual blackjack. Players do this by making a bet equal to their original wager. If they win the hand, the Double Up Wager wins, if they lose, it loses. However, if there is a push, the standard bet is still a push but the Double Up Wager loses!
There is another feature to Double Up Blackjack that might confuse players. This is the Push 16 rule. After all players are finished with their hands, the dealer turns over their down-card and plays their hand out, but if the hand totals 16 at any time (hard or soft), then they stop and all player bets become a push, except for player hands that total 21, at which point the hand pays even money (1 to 1).
Although the Push 16 Rule is touted as a boon to the player because they can not lose, it is frustrating to make a 20 or 21 and push, and the rule hardly helps the players who already busted. The idea of having a hand that is an automatic push is also used in another new blackjack game, Free Bet.
Playing Double Up
Double Up is played on a standard half-moon style casino table and dealt with a standard deck of 52 cards.
No jokers or wild cards are used and the regular pip value of the cards is used (8 = 8 points, 10 and face cards = 10 points, etc.). However, aces are not 1 or 11, they are always 1.
The object of the game is for the four card total on the layout to be under 20, or over 30.
Like Three-Card Poker the player must make an Ante wager first. Then the dealer places three cards face-up on the layout. However, the three up cards are community cards. All players use the same three cards.
After seeing the three cards, the player may stand and wait for the fourth and final card, or double their total bet by making a Double Up wager the size of their Ante wager. Much like the game of In Between, you can guess whether the next card total is going to help or not. Obviously if the three up cards are all 10's, the total is already 30 and the next card will make all Ante and Double Up bets winners. However, the Double Up Wager should always be taken when the three-card total is 12 or less, or 24 or more.
Stand if the point total is 13 to 23.
The reason you double up is because when the three-card total is 12 or less, the cards that will make you a winner are 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, ace. There are four of each of those cards, so 7x4=28, and there are 24 cards that will make your bet a loser. You are paid even money on all wagers, so this is a positive situation. When the three-card total is 24 or more, there are likewise 28 cards that will make you a winner: 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King.
If you always bet the Ante and don't take the Double Up Wager at the correct time, the house edge is 3.72 percent. If you use the correct strategy, the house edge falls to 2.77 percent. There is also an optional side bet of black or red (cards). The house has no edge on this wager. However, like taking odds at craps (where the house edge is also zero), by making this wager at all times the player can reduce the overall house edge to just 1.59 percent. That's all there is to Double Up - get a point total lower than 20, or higher than 30, on four community cards.
How to Play Double Up Blackjack
Double Up Blackjack is played with a standard deck of 52 cards on a standard blackjack table, but the game has a twist. Although the game starts like standard blackjack, the game offers each player a chance to double their wager on any hand except an actual blackjack. Players do this by making a bet equal to their original wager. If they win the hand, the Double Up Wager wins, if they lose, it loses. However, if there is a push, the standard bet is still a push but the Double Up Wager loses!
There is another feature to Double Up Blackjack that might confuse players. This is the Push 16 rule. After all players are finished with their hands, the dealer turns over their down-card and plays their hand out, but if the hand totals 16 at any time (hard or soft), then they stop and all player bets become a push, except for player hands that total 21, at which point the hand pays even money (1 to 1).
Although the Push 16 Rule is touted as a boon to the player because they can not lose, it is frustrating to make a 20 or 21 and push, and the rule hardly helps the players who already busted. The idea of having a hand that is an automatic push is also used in another new blackjack game, Free Bet.