How to play
Charlie 21 is two-deck blackjack that rewards long hands. Draw six cards without going over 21 and the hand wins on the spot. Reach 21 with five or more cards and it pays 2 to 1. You can also double or surrender after you’ve already hit. The trade-off is the blackjack payout: an ordinary blackjack pays only 1 to 1.
The aim is the usual one: finish closer to 21 than the dealer without busting. Cards 2 to 10 count their face value, Jacks, Queens and Kings count 10, and an ace counts 1 or 11.
A round:
- Choose a chip, bet between 10 and 500 credits, then press Deal.
- If the dealer shows an ace you can take insurance, which costs half your bet and pays 2 to 1 if the dealer has blackjack.
- When the dealer shows an ace or a 10-value card, they check for blackjack before you play.
- Play your hand with Hit, Stand, Double, Split and Surrender.
- The dealer draws to 17 and hits a soft 17. A tie is a push.
What pays
| Hand | Pays | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Blackjack | 1 to 1 | It beats a dealer blackjack too. |
| Blackjack with both cards diamonds | 2 to 1 | For example A♦ K♦. |
| Six cards without busting | 1 to 1 | Wins automatically, even against a dealer 21. The hand stops at the sixth card. |
| 21 with five or more cards | 2 to 1 | Wins automatically, but only if you didn’t double. A doubled 21 pays 1 to 1. |
| Any other winning hand | 1 to 1 | |
| Surrender | half your bet back |
The automatic wins can’t beat a dealer blackjack, but you’ll never have to try. When the dealer has blackjack the round ends before you draw a card.
The flexible rules
- Double on any number of cards. You can double on two cards, three cards or five, and after a split too. You get exactly one more card and the hand ends.
- Surrender at any point. You can give up a hand after hitting and get half your bet back. This works until you split or double.
- Split up to four hands. Aces can be split again and hit like any other hand.
Strategy
Count your cards as well as your total. Every hand you play has two targets: the usual total, and the six-card mark. With four or five cards in hand, the next card can win the round outright. The Hint button weighs both. Against a dealer 10, the hint says to surrender a two-card 16, but to hit 16 when you hold four cards.
Five small cards are a doubling hand. Hold five cards totalling 12 against a dealer 6 and the best play is to double. Your sixth card wins the round unless it pushes you past 21, and doubling gets paid on twice the stake.
Surrender more than you would elsewhere. A two-card hard 15 or 16 against a dealer 10 is a surrender here, and so is a two-card 16 against a 9. Surrender pays a fixed half of your bet, while hitting or standing on those hands loses more than half on average.
Don’t double a hand that could make a five-card 21. The 2-to-1 bonus is lost after a double. The hint takes this into account; when it says hit instead of double on a small multi-card hand, that’s usually why.
Stand on strong totals with five cards. The six-card win doesn’t make every draw worth it. Five cards totalling 17 or 18 should stand against most dealer cards, because one card is very likely to bust you.
The odds
Over one million hands played with the hint’s strategy, the house edge came out at about 1.25%, give or take 0.22%. The six-card win, the 2-to-1 five-card 21, flexible doubling and surrender all help you. The 1-to-1 blackjack, two-deck shoe and dealer hitting soft 17 take that back and a little more.
For blackjack with the standard 3-to-2 payout, play classic Blackjack. Fiesta 21 is another bonus-heavy variant, played with the 10s removed from the deck. Pontoon rewards long hands with a five-card trick.
If you enjoy Charlie 21, try Chemin de Fer or Chō-han next.
