Pragmatic Blackjack
Pragmatic Play is perhaps better known as a slot developer than as a creator of live dealer games. The company is still new at producing live dealer casino content, as it has been racking up video slots and other RNG games for years before they eventually decided to get into the live gambling market. The company will continue to deliver premium slots while expanding on the live casino package, and they’ve made a smart move to purchase Extreme Live Gaming in early 2018. Previously owned by the Novomatic Group, Extreme Live Gaming streamed games from a London studio, but the new owner discontinued the production and decided to start fresh, basing the new studio setting Bucharest, Romania.
The Most Famous Pragmatic Play Blackjack Games. Blackjack aficionados have twice the selection to choose from than roulette fans. That is to say, there are two Pragmatic Play blackjack games currently available. These are American Blackjack and Multihand Blackjack, both of which recreate the excitement of 21 with simple and crisp graphics. This is an historical analysis of the role of language in physics and the decisive change brought about by qyantum physics. It expands on the analysis Bohr initiated.
The Maltese-based software provider relies on a licensed production plan to host 40+ gaming tables supplying a range of live dealer games encompassing roulette, blackjack and baccarat. Pragmatic Play operates across a range of markets and countries thanks to over a dozen licenses which are certified and up to date. European players can place bets with a piece of mind since the provider has licenses from Malta, UKGC, Gibraltar, Sweden and Italy, to name a few. Other regions are covered by a valid license from the Curacao regulator.
Pragmatic Play live casino games went live in the first half of 2019 at selected casinos, and in the period leading to the games’ release spokespeople for the company assured reviewers that their live casino solution would easily rival Evolution Gaming’s portfolio. Since the development team consists of former Ezugi, Evolution and Playtech developers, we couldn’t help but get our hopes up. Now that the games are finally launched, we can dig in and see what’s on offer first-hand.
Live dealer blackjack is well on its way to surpassing regular online blackjack in terms of both popularity and quality. There are dozens, if not hundreds of options out there already, all competing for players in innovative ways. Amidst all the variants and flashy features, though, sometimes you just want to sit down for a regular game of 21. Thankfully, there’s still quite a market for that. Today, we’ll be looking at one such instance of good old straightforward live table blackjack.
Live Blackjack by Pragmatic Play is a standard live-streamed version of the classic card game. It’s intended for lovers of the basic ruleset, so there’s not much to it if you’re familiar with the rules of blackjack. We’ll assume that you are for the purposes of this Pragmatic Play Live Blackjack review. If not, you can find in-depth guides to blackjack rules all over BlackjackGala.
Now, Pragmatic Play is a fairly respected company in the world of online gaming. As such, you can expect one of the best live blackjack games out there in terms of production quality. The studio in Romania largely reflects the kind of game they’re streaming. This means simple yet elegant, with no unnecessary fluff or clutter. Each table is limited to 7 seats and manned by a professional croupier that will ensure each round goes by smoothly.
There’s not much to talk about from the technical side of things. Everything is clear-cut and efficient – starting with the unembellished user interface. It allows you to play around with some settings and communicate with the dealer, which is fairly standard fare.
Game Rules and Features
If you’ve ever sat down at a blackjack table before, you’ll know how to play Live Blackjack by Pragmatic Play. The rules are what you expect – the dealer draws to 16 and must stand on any 17. If you want to treat it as a multi-hand blackjack table, you may do so. Simply take up multiple seats, which you can do up to 3.
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A shoe in this live blackjack game contains 8 decks, which isn’t ideal for card counting. Still, it’s industry standard at this point, so it would be unfair to complain. The dealer starts with a single face-up and a single face-down card, indicating regular American rules. Interestingly, you can also opt to Bet Behind, allowing you to wager on other players’ hands.
There are two side-bets available, and they’re as standard as side bets come. These are Perfect Pairs and 21+3.
Perfect Pairs allows you to predict that your initial 2 hands will form a pair. These can match in both suit and value, which leads to better payouts.
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21+3 uses your initial draw and the dealer’s face-up card to form poker hands.
Payouts and RTP
As per standard blackjack rules, blackjack pays out at odds of 3:2. Similarly, insurance bets pay 2:1. Combined with all the other table rules, it all amounts to an RTP of 99.50% for the standard game. Again, this can be considered industry standard. You could find a higher live blackjack RTP if you really tried, but it’s very strong all things considered.
The wagering limits largely depend on the table. For most tables and online casinos, the minimum wager is set to $5, while the maximum is $1,000. That’s a fairly decent spread that should cover most players’ bankrolls.
As always, the side bets are a bit of a weak spot. Perfect Pairs is fairly bad with 89% RTP, while 21+3 boasts a somewhat stronger 95.38%. Still, if RTP matters to you, we advise staying away.
Recommended Tips
American Blackjack Pragmatic Play
Generally, the most common blackjack strategies should do the trick with this game. That said, there are a few things to note.
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Firstly, you’ll need a plan to get the 99.50% RTP out of this game. Following blackjack charts should be enough to get you there. Lastly, we advise staying away from the side bets unless you really know what you’re doing. At most times, they’re much worse than the base game.
Pragmatic Play Live Blackjack Summary
That’s pretty much all you need to know about the Pragmatic Play Live Blackjack game. It’s a classic title for classic lovers of blackjack, so there’s very little to complain about. It’s overall a smooth and enjoyable experience that we can safely recommend. Being a live title, though, we can’t offer a free demo. You can only play Pragmatic Play Live Blackjack for real money.