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Free Bet Blackjack Strategy, Rules & Charts
Free Bet Blackjack strategy separates cash-backed and free-token hands. Read the free double, free split and dealer-22 rules before using these charts.
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How Free Bet Blackjack works
Dealer 22
Live ordinary 19
Push
No ordinary bust payment for dealer 22.
This reference uses six decks, H17, 3:2 naturals, DAS, no surrender and resplitting up to four hands including aces. Free doubles apply to two-card hard 9–11. Free splits cover pairs other than tens; the usual main-hand strategy doubles fives for free.
A dealer total of 22 pushes surviving non-blackjack hands instead of paying them as dealer-bust wins. A free token is not a cash stake you can collect on a push. Check the exact game version before using the tables.
Cash hand versus free-token hand
Eligible cash-backed hard 11
- Win
- $20 profit + $10 original stake
- Lose
- Lose $10 cash stake
- Push
- Return $10; token is not cash
A winning cash-backed $10 hand with a free double earns $20 profit and returns the $10 stake. A loss costs only the $10 cash stake. A push returns that stake without converting the free token into cash.
A free-token hand has no corresponding cash stake to return on a push. Winning converts the token into a cash win; pushing or losing does not. That makes its hand strategy different from the cash-backed hand. Always identify which hand you are reading.
Reading the Free Bet strategy tables
Dealer upcard
Player hand
Free double
An eligible initial two-card hard 9 under these Free Bet rules.
“Free double” and “free split” use the game’s tokens. “Paid double” commits your own additional money. Use the pair table before the hard-total table. With no surrender offered, the real-money rows below already use the hit or stand fallback.
Paid doubles are initial-two-card actions. If unavailable, hit soft totals through 17 and stand on soft 18 or higher in these tables. A free-double instruction applies to an eligible hard 9–11; a later multi-card total does not create that eligibility.
Free Bet cash-backed hand: hard totals
Dealer upcard
Player hand
Free double
An eligible initial two-card hard 9 under these Free Bet rules.
6 decks · H17 · no surrender · free hard 9–11 doubles · free pair splits except tens · dealer 22 pushes non-blackjack hands.
| Your hand | Action by dealer upcard |
|---|---|
| 4–8 | Hit vs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, ace. |
| 9–11 | Free double vs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, ace. |
| 12 | Hit vs 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, ace; Stand vs 5, 6. |
| 13 | Hit vs 2, 7, 8, 9, 10, ace; Stand vs 3, 4, 5, 6. |
| 14–16 | Stand vs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6; Hit vs 7, 8, 9, 10, ace. |
| 17–21 | Stand vs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, ace. |
Free Bet cash-backed hand: soft hands
Dealer upcard
Player hand
Stand
Cash-backed hand.
6 decks · H17 · no surrender · free hard 9–11 doubles · free pair splits except tens · dealer 22 pushes non-blackjack hands.
| Your hand | Action by dealer upcard |
|---|---|
| A,A–A,4 | Hit vs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, ace. |
| A,5 | Hit vs 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, ace; Paid double vs 6. |
| A,6 | Hit vs 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, ace; Paid double vs 5, 6. |
| A,7 | Stand vs 2, 3, 4, 7, 8; Paid double vs 5, 6; Hit vs 9, 10, ace. |
| A,8–10 | Stand vs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, ace. |
Free Bet cash-backed hand: pairs
Before: pair of eights
Cash-backed hand
Free-token hand
6 decks · H17 · no surrender · free hard 9–11 doubles · free pair splits except tens · dealer 22 pushes non-blackjack hands.
| Your hand | Action by dealer upcard |
|---|---|
| 2,2–4,4 | Free split vs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, ace. |
| 5,5 | Free double vs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, ace. |
| 6,6–9,9 | Free split vs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, ace. |
| 10,10 | Stand vs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, ace. |
| A,A | Free split vs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, ace. |
Free Bet token hand: hard totals
Dealer upcard
Player hand
Hit
Free-token hand, not the cash-backed hand.
Use only for a hand backed by a free token; pair actions are in the shared pair table above. Same six-deck H17/no-surrender rules.
| Your hand | Action by dealer upcard |
|---|---|
| 4–8 | Hit vs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, ace. |
| 9–11 | Free double vs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, ace. |
| 12 | Hit vs 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, ace; Stand vs 5, 6. |
| 13–14 | Hit vs 2, 7, 8, 9, 10, ace; Stand vs 3, 4, 5, 6. |
| 15–16 | Stand vs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6; Hit vs 7, 8, 9, 10, ace. |
| 17 | Stand vs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10; Hit vs 7, 8, 9, ace. |
| 18–21 | Stand vs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, ace. |
Free Bet token hand: soft hands
Dealer upcard
Player hand
Paid double
Free-token hand; if the paid double is unavailable, stand.
Use only for a hand backed by a free token; pair actions are in the shared pair table above. Same six-deck H17/no-surrender rules.
| Your hand | Action by dealer upcard |
|---|---|
| A,A–A,4 | Hit vs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, ace. |
| A,5 | Hit vs 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, ace; Paid double vs 6. |
| A,6 | Hit vs 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, ace; Paid double vs 5, 6. |
| A,7 | Hit vs 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, ace; Paid double vs 4, 5, 6; Stand vs 7. |
| A,8 | Stand vs 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, ace; Paid double vs 5, 6. |
| A,9 | Stand vs 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, ace; Paid double vs 6. |
| A,10 | Stand vs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, ace. |
Free Bet house edge and different versions
The published analysis gives a 1.04% house edge for the six-deck H17 rules described here. A different payout, surrender option, split limit or soft-17 rule changes the result. A side bet such as Pot of Gold is a separate wager.
