How to play
Raise 21 turns the usual order of blackjack around. The dealer takes two cards first, one face up, and only then do you decide how much to play for. If the dealer’s card looks weak, you can double your bet before you’ve seen a single card of your own.
The price is paid elsewhere: the eight decks have no 10s in them (Jacks, Queens and Kings stay), and a blackjack pays even money instead of 3 to 2.
The aim is the usual one: finish closer to 21 than the dealer without going over. Cards 2 to 9 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.
- The dealer takes two cards, one face up. If it’s an ace or a picture card, the dealer checks for blackjack. If they have it, the round ends there and you lose your bet.
- Look at the dealer’s card and choose Raise or No raise.
- Your two cards are dealt. Play them with Hit, Stand, Double, Split or Surrender.
- The dealer draws to 17 and stands on every 17, soft or hard. Wins pay even money, and so does a blackjack.
The raise
You get one raise per round, and it’s always the size of your bet: a 10 bet becomes 20, a 50 bet becomes 100. You need enough credits for it. The hand is tagged Raised.
Everything after the raise works on the bigger bet:
- Doubling adds the whole raised bet again. A 10 bet raised to 20 and doubled plays for 40.
- Splitting puts the raised bet on each hand.
- Surrender gives back half of the raised bet.
- A blackjack pays the raised bet at 1 to 1.
When the dealer has blackjack, it’s found before you decide, so a raise is never lost to one.
Other rules
- No 10s in the shoe: eight decks of 48 cards.
- Double on your first two cards, also after a split.
- Split up to four hands. Split aces get one card each and can’t be split again.
- Surrender on your first two cards, before splitting.
- No insurance.
Strategy
Raise against a 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8. That’s what the Hint button does. Against those cards your hand is worth more than your bet on average, so a bigger bet earns more. The 6 is the best card to see. Against a 2 the raise is worth almost exactly nothing, and the hint leaves it.
Don’t raise against a 9, a picture card or an ace. You lose more than you win on average against those, and a raise would double the loss.
Half the time you’ll raise. Six ranks out of twelve, 3 to 8, are raise cards, so the hint raises on half of all rounds that get past the dealer’s blackjack check.
The missing 10s hurt you, not the dealer. Fewer 10-value cards means fewer big doubles and fewer dealer busts. The raise is how you win that back: it puts more money on the table exactly when the dealer is weak.
Surrender is still there after a raise. A bad hand against a strong card can be given up for half of the raised bet. The hint suggests it when that loses less than playing on.
The odds
Over four million hands played with the hint’s strategy, the house edge came out at about 1.19% of the first bet, give or take 0.18%. That’s dearer than classic six-deck blackjack, but much cheaper than a no-10s game paying even money for blackjack would be without the raise.
For the usual order of play, try classic Blackjack. Fiesta 21 also uses decks without 10s, with bonuses for 21s instead of the raise. Quad Down 21 lets you raise after your cards, up to four times the bet.
If you enjoy Raise 21, try Random Multiplier Poker or Razz next.
