Lucky Blackjack is a blackjack variant developed by the leading online gaming software provider Playtech. Though it is listed under the Blackjack category at Playtech online casinos, it is more like a fixed odds game. The player’s hand is not dealt and there are no moves to be made by the player. Only the dealer’s hand is dealt as per the usual blackjack rules. The player has to guess the final value of the dealer’s hand.

The individual cards valuation and the final hand valuation are done as in the normal blackjack variants. Initially two cards are dealt to the dealer’s hand. The rule followed is “The dealer must draw to 16 and stand on all 17s”. This means that the dealer keeps drawing cards until the value of his hand is equal to or more than 17, including soft 17. Therefore the dealer can end up with hand values of 17, 18 19, 20 and 21. There are also two special cases. The dealer will bust if his hand value exceeds 21 and the dealer can also draw a blackjack. In Playtech Lucky Blackjack, the player can wager on any one or more of the seven options. If the option on which the player has placed a bet is the option arrived at after the cards are dealt, then he is paid as per the given payout table. A hand value of 17 pays at 5 to 1, 18 pays at 6 to 1, 19 pays at 6 to 1, 20 pays at 4 to 1, 21 pays at 12 to 1, Bust pays at 2 to 1 and Blackjack pays at 19 to 1.

The game play in Playtech Lucky Blackjack is as follows. The minimum wager is 1.00 credits and the maximum wager is 5.00 credits. The player can place any wager of the permissible amount on any one or more of the betting options. If the player wants to change the bets placed he can click the “Clear Bets” button and start afresh. After the bets are placed the player clicks the Deal button. The dealer’s hand is automatically dealt to completion. The dealer’s final hand value is displayed. All bets that differ from the actual outcome lose. The winning bet is paid out as per the payout table.

Playtech Lucky Blackjack has a simple strategy. It is arrived at based on the probabilities of the different outcomes of the dealer’s hand and the odds offered for each. The house edge can be computed in each case. The dealer will bust about 28.4% of the time. The correct odds should be 5 to 2, whereas the actual payout offered is only 2 to 1. This bet has a very high house edge and should not be placed. Similarly the house edges for wagers on a dealer’s hand value of 17 and 20 are too high for the bets to be viable. Bets on 18, 19, 21 and blackjack offer a house edge of around 5%. Normal blackjack variants when played with optimum strategy offer a house edge of 1%. Online slot offer a house edge of 5%. Therefore Lucky Blackjack can be treated like an online slots game. Lucky Blackjack can be played at all Playtech online casinos such as Mansion Casino and Omni Casino.