Playing Blackjack Switch After The Switching Stage is Finished

Published: October 16, 2014

In Blackjack Switch, available in Playtech-powered online casinos, you get an option to switch your two back cards in two hands of blackjack that are played at the same time. As compensation for this rule, there are a number of changes added to the rules to make it harder to play after the switch. Along these lines, not only do you have to learn when to switch properly, but you also have to learn how to play with these non-traditionally blackjack rules after the switching stage of the hands are finished. That's what we want to help you to do here.

One of the main changes that matter for the purposes of strategy is that the dealer doesn't go bust on a 22. Instead, the hand pushes. This takes away a significant amount of value, but it also limits your options in a lot of situations where you have to make adjustments that aren't necessarily going to be intuitive unless you think through how that rule change affects the possible outcomes of certain types of hands, and this is especially true for hands that rely on the dealer having a weak card. In general, it makes the strongest of the weak cards more or less neutral, so only the fours, fives and sixes are really that weak to face in this game.

If you have a hard hand, then you want to know when to double and when to hit if you're facing a weak card (instead of standing). With a 12, you'll hit against a two, three or four, and with a 13, you'll hit against a 12. This is only slightly more often than normal and reflects the lower chances of the dealer going bust. You'll also double with a ten against an eight or lower and double with an 11 against a nine or lower. You can also double a nine against a six only.

For soft hands, you're typically wanting to know when to double. Along those lines, you'll not be doubling all that often since the strength of your hand is more important than the chances of the dealer busting in these scenarios for this particular game. Double a soft 16 against a 6, and double both a soft 17 and 18 against a five or six. That's all of the doubling you'll be doing with soft hands.