How To Play Pontoon Casino
Blackjack Variations > Pontoon
In many cases, Pontoon is just another name for Spanish 21. In this case, we will only be referring to Pontoon, which originated from the UK.
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- However, most players still choose to play on their mobile browser, rather than downloading a casino app. The live mobile casino section is fully adapted to smaller phone and tablet screens. An essential benefit of playing on your mobile device is that online casinos frequently provide special offers available for mobile users only.
- Blackjack, formerly also Black Jack and Vingt-Un, is the American member of a global family of banking games known as Twenty-One, whose relatives include the British game of Pontoon and the European game, Vingt-et-Un.
Pontoon is played with standard 52-card decks, with anywhere from two to eight decks being used depending on the number of players involved. Its popularity has been increasing and been added to more and more offline and online casinos.
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Before you continue, make sure you are familiar with the standard Blackjack rules in order to continue with the differences in here.
Pontoon Rules
Even though the ideal goal of the game is the same as that of standard Blackjack (reaching 21 worth in points, or beating the dealer in points value while not busting out) there are several additional rules to cover:
Some terminology is different, such as a “Hit” in Pontoon is called a “Twist” – “Stand” is called a “Stick” – “Double down” is called a “Buy” – and finally a “Blackjack” or a “21” is actually called a “Pontoon”, which are paid-out 2:1.
The dealer’s cards are both dealt face down – obviously taking away any advantage the players had in regards to odds.
The dealer waits for all players’ actions before even looking at his/her cards. So in the case that the player adds up to 21 against a natural 21 of the dealer, the player would actually beat it.
There is no “Push” in Pontoon; instead, players would lose any tied hands, except for the 21 situation mentioned in the above point.
If a player reaches up to a 5-card hand (5 cards in his/her position) without busting out, it would be considered an automatic win and paid-out 2:1.
Players can ‘buy’ on any 2, 3, 4 cards, and they may ‘twist’ after a ‘buy’. However, players can only ‘buy’ once per hand, and can only be ‘split’ up to 2 times.
Lastly, the dealer must ‘twist’ on 17 or lower, and players much ‘twist’ on 14 or lower.
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As you can see, there is a good number of differences or additional rules to the game, but overall, it still has the same end goal.
Players make their bet, followed by the dealer dealing 2 cards per player (one by one to each) face-up and 2 cards for him/herself face down. The dealer does not look at his/her cards, not even to make sure there’s a ‘Pontoon’ there, instead, all players’ actions are taken care of first.
Once that is taken care of (any ‘splits’, ‘buys’ and ‘twists’), the dealer now looks at his/her cards to see if he/she should ‘twist’ or ‘stick’.
Whoever has a higher card, 21 or lower, wins – except in the case of a tie at 21, where it would be the only ties where players actually win the hand.
Pontoon Hand Examples
In order to explain some of the points above, here are some examples:
Let’s say you are dealt 3-4. You can now ‘buy’ as there is a 3 card in your hand. You can only ‘buy’ once per hand, so let’s say that gets you a 4, for a total of 11 points. You can and must ‘twist’ in hopes of a 10 to complete the ‘Pontoon.
Let’s say you are given 5-5, you can now ‘split’ it, meaning you bet the same amount and get 2 more cards for each 5. Let’s say you get the following 5-10 and a 5-5. The first hand of 5-10 you can either ‘twist’ in hopes to not bust out, or you can ‘stick’. The second hand you can ‘split’ one last time.
Let’s say instead of getting the 5-5 you got a 5-9 (14 points) – you will automatically have to ‘twist’ as the rule specifies players must ‘twist’ on 14 or lower, just like dealers must ‘twist’ on anything 17 or lower.
The last hand example is getting a 3-4-2-4 (13 points so far) – seeing that you have to ‘twist’ and that you have now 4 cards in your possession, you simply need 1 more card without busting out to win automatically. Reaching 5 cards without going beyond 21 means an automatic win for you – unless the dealer ties (gets 5 cards dealt too regardless of the point value), in which case the player unfortunately loses.
All you need is some practice to get the hang of it, but once again, it is quite simple… just follow your blackjack background with some minor alterations.
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Pontoon is, in many ways, very similar to blackjack. In fact, it’s a relative of blackjack. Like blackjack; the fact that Pontoon is such an easy game to understand makes it very popular in both offline and online casinos the world over. Let’s look at Pontoon rules first.
Pontoon Rules – What You Need to Know
As with most card games, rules vary depending on which (online or offline) casino you play in. The simple objective is to hit 21 or get as close to that number as possible.
All cards are of the same value as in blackjack. Therefore an ‘ace’ can be 1 or 11. Tens, jacks, queens and kings are all valued at 10. Pontoon rules is one thing, but you also need to understand hand ranks.
Pontoon Hand Ranks:
Pontoon: Same as Blackjack is hitting 21 with 2 cards; an ace and any other card valued at 10.
- A five-card trick; collecting 5 cards in your hand without exceeding a total of 21.
- A hand of less than 21 with four of fewer cards. i.e. 7d, 8s, 3h equals 18.
- A busted hand; 22 points or more.
- As with blackjack, both the player and the dealer start the game with 2 cards; however, both of the dealer’s cards are FACE DOWN.
- The player has to hit (take another card) if his/her hand is valued at 14 or lower.
- The dealer must hit soft 17 to qualify.
- Splitting is allowed if the player is dealt with two cards which are the same (a pair). The player can only split twice meaning a maximum of three hands for a single player is possible during one game.
- A player can double once (increase the size of their bet by that equal to the initial wager) at any time.
- A player can hit after doubling if desired.
The Payout for Pontoon
- Hitting Pontoon pays 2:1 so a $10 wager brings in a $20 win (plus your wager back).
- A five-card trick pays 2:1 as well. But the dealer beats you if he also produces a 5 card trick.
- All other payouts are at even money but again, the dealer wins if the hand value is equal – bummer!
Pontoon Strategy
Below is a table for the basic Pontoon strategy to use when playing Pontoon at an online casino. The numbers on the left are the hand value and along the top how many cards the player is holding. You can also learn how to win at blackjack here.
Basic Pontoon Strategy
How To Play Pontoon Casino Games
Click or tap the image to view an enlarged version of the Pontoon strategy table below.
S – Stand
H – Hit
D – Double
DS – Double if allowed, otherwise stand
PS – Split if allowed, otherwise stand
PH – Split if allowed, otherwise hit
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Pontoon House Edge
According to most sources, the house edge for this version of Pontoon is a very respectable 0.38% when played with perfect strategy. That’s certainly better than most other casino table games played against the dealer.
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