Best Live Blackjack Sites

Fancy pitting your skills against a live dealer? If so, live blackjack could be your thing. With slots and roulette being a matter of luck, live dealer blackjack requires more; a chance to play tactically and hone your skills to improve your chances of winning.

With live blackjack available across a variety of devices, brought to you from some of the best online casinos in Ireland, it has never been easier to join the table and play for your chance to win.

Live vs RNG blackjack

The choice between live blackjack and RNG blackjack is one of personal preference. Random number generators (RNG) provide the same games as live dealer blackjack, but there are 2 main differences:

• Game speed
• atmosphere

Live blackjack is played in real-time so if you join the table, you need to keep up. RNG blackjack is just you versus the software with no other humans involved. With RNG, you can play at a pace that suits you.

RNG versions lack any human element. Live dealer blackjack recreates the experience that you’d have in a land-based casino with the chance to interact with the dealer and other players.

Aside from these differences, everything else is quite similar. With live blackjack and RNG versions, there is no difference at all in the probability of winning, and there is no difference in any of the strategies that you may be able to use.

Live blackjack on mobile

Online casinos and software providers combine to bring you the very best live dealer blackjack experience straight to your mobile. With the creation of apps and mobile optimised sites, you have the chance to play live blackjack on your mobile phone or any other mobile device.

The mobile experience is never a mere afterthought; providers design live blackjack games to ensure the ultimate mobile experience. This means that you can now join and enjoy live dealer blackjack anywhere that you have a mobile phone signal or wifi connection.

Live blackjack variations

There are numerous variations of live blackjack. Some that you are likely to come across include:

• Blackjack surrender – the option to forfeit your hand after being dealt the first 2 and only lose half of your wager.
• Blackjack switch – here you are dealt 2 hands rather than 1.You can switch cards to create the best hand.
• Multi-hand blackjack – allows you to play several hands all at the same time.
• Perfect pairs blackjack – a side bet where if you are dealt a pair with your first 2 cards, you win.
• Double exposure blackjack – both of the dealer’s cards are dealt face up.

Live dealer blackjack offers all of these variations and more. All of the land-based variants can be played as well as the additions of side bets that are exclusive to live blackjack.

Bonuses

Online casinos that offer live blackjack offer a multitude of bonuses and offers to encourage you to play. You are likely to come across matched deposit bonuses and no deposit bonuses.

Matched deposit bonuses will see the casino either matching your deposit or giving you a percentage of it. An offer could be along the lines of if you deposit €50, the casino will match this 100%, giving you €100 to play with.

No deposit bonuses are the favourite of many players as they allow you to play risk-free. Just by signing up for an account, online casinos will credit your account with funds that you can use to play live blackjack and other games.

As with all casino bonuses, you’ll need to make sure that you are aware of the terms and conditions along with any wagering requirements. Some sites won’t allow bonuses to be used on live blackjack, but you can still take advantage of these by playing slots or other casino games.

How to play

Live blackjack is a relatively simple game.  Here’s a brief overview of how it all works:

• The aim is to beat the dealer’s hand, but not to exceed 21.
• Picture cards are worth 10
• Aces are worth 1 or 11. The choice is yours and what works best for your hand
• Numerical cards 1-10 are worth the same as their face value
• Each player starts with 2 cards. One of the dealer’s cards is hidden
• You can ‘Hit’ which is asking for another card
• You can ‘Stand’ which is to hold what you have
• If you go over 21, you are bust and the dealer wins
• If you are dealt 21 at the start this is a blackjack

There are three ways you can win at live dealer blackjack:

• Your cards total 21
• At the end, your hand is higher than the dealers’
• The dealer goes bust

New sites

Alongside established and popular sites, newcomers are emerging regularly. With live casino games, including live blackjack, growing in popularity, these newcomers are looking to offer the best live dealer blackjack experience.

We regularly review these up and coming sites. When we see that they offer a great gaming experience, friendly terms and conditions, fantastic bonuses, as well as being licensed we bring them to you.

Software

Live blackjack is only possible because of the software providers behind the most popular online casinos. These providers create a fully immersive live dealer blackjack experience. The top providers are:

• Evolution – specialists in live casino with no RNG games
• Playtech – one of the largest with several hundred games
• NetEnt – taking a serious approach with professionally dressed croupiers

These software providers ensure that you get the best camera angles, the best chat facilities, and the best overall live blackjack experience possible.