Blackjack UK Review
Cleary targeted at patriotic players from these sceptred isles, Blackjack UK is an online Blackjack game to be found at Playtech-powered casinos that aims to deliver the kind of Blackjack experience commonly found in land-based clubs here, and (it has to be said) across the channel in mainland Europe.
As usual, Playtech has produced Blackjack UK to its usual high standards, albeit still with one of the worst background music tracks we’ve yet to encounter on any online casino game. It can quickly be muted, thank heavens. Terrible music aside, the look and feel of this game is first-rate and you can even select the colour baize you want from nine different hues, although perhaps there was a missed opportunity here to have a Union Jack baize to really hammer home the theme!
Moving on to matters more pertinent to the true Blackjack experience on this table, there’s a six-deck shoe in operation and a pretty traditional ‘European’ rule set in force. Blackjack pays 3 to 2, and the Dealer Rule is to stand on all 17s whilst the other rules not indicated on the layout are:
Splitting is possible on hands other than pairs of 4s, 5s or 10-valued cards. Re-splits are allowed up to three times, to create a maximum of four hands. Aces can be split but thereafter only one further card will be dealt to each of the two split hands.
Doubling down is only possible on two-card hand counts of hard 9 to 11 inclusive, and this includes split hands that meet that criteria.
Surrender is not available at any point in Blackjack UK games.
As a ‘European’ style Blackjack, the Dealer only receives a single card, dealt face up, in the initial deal, so there is no peek stage in Blackjack UK, as is common in US-style games.
The published house edge for Blackjack UK is 0.39% (RTP 99.61%) which is a pretty decent figure, and with the strategy for this kind of game widely available on the Internet it’s easy for even novice players to aim for that ‘perfect play’ target.
Verdict
Blackjack UK is a very satisfying online Blackjack game, but it won’t wow you with any innovative challenges or unusual twists. It’s solid, no-nonsense stuff and that’s not an implied criticism. There’s always a place for ‘classic’ Blackjack, and this Playtech game hits the mark very admirably.
Personally we’re always on the hunt for single-deck games in this category, to give us the maximum player advantage. However we’d be more than happy to spend time with Blackjack UK if a single deck game wasn’t available to us during a session at one of our favourite Playtech-powered casinos.
Click ‘Play Game’ for the best Blackjack UK online casino.
