Felt Gaming is a relatively new provider of online casino software, being established in 2013. The company has launched a strong selection of online table games, including a decent set of blackjack variations, whose most distinctive trait is the host of available side bets.
At the moment of writing, Felt Gamings offers as many as nine blackjack games available for online play. The portfolio may not seem impressive in terms of size, especially when compared to the rich suites of long-standing studios like Microgaming and Playtech.
However, new Felt releases are launched all the time so the company’s selection is constantly expanding with new blackjack titles. Perhaps more important is the fact Felt Gaming creates highly authentic online blackjack games that perfectly capture the atmosphere of Las Vegas landbased casinos.
The software studio has sealed content supply deals with some of the most reputable gambling operators in the industry, including big names like LeoVegas, Betsson, Bwin, William Hill, Unibet, Mr Green, and bet365.
Continue reading if interested to learn more about Felt Gaming and its bespoke online blackjack variations as we explore their features, side bets, and key rules. Also featured is detailed information about Felt’s best blackjack variants you can play online for free or for real money.
Key Rules in Felt Gaming’s Blackjack Variations
Another great thing about Felt Gaming’s blackjack suite is that all of them offer rules that work to the player’s advantage and reduce the house edge. Also great is the fact that the rules coincide across all blackjack releases and therefore, are easier to remember. Let’s examine some of the key rules you will find in Felt’s variations of 21. The house edge is roughly 0.37% with perfect basic strategy under the set of rules we describe below.
Decks
Dealer Rules
Odds
Splitting Rules
Doubling Down Rules
Insurance
Surrender
Decks
Felt’s blackjack is dealt out of a virtual shoe that contains six full decks. The cards are shuffled by the Random Number Generator before each round commences so advantage play is obviously not an option here. The best you can do is follow perfect basic strategy to reduce the house edge to a bearable percentage. The use of six decks adds 0.02% to the casino’s advantage.
Dealer Rules
The standing rules for the virtual dealers overlap across all Felt blackjack variations. The dealer draws to 16 and always stands on soft 17. This is great for the player because the S17 rule decreases the house advantage by 0.22%.
Felt Gaming has yet to release a European-style version of the classic game. Hole cards are in play in all available variants, which is to say the virtual dealer receives one face-up and one face-down card. This card is revealed only after the players have completed their hands. As for the peek rule, Felt’s virtual dealers check for blackjacks under tens and aces.
Odds
The blackjack odds are also the same in all variations. When the player’s starting hand consists of an ace and a ten-value card, they win a bonus payout of 3 to 2, which basically means you get 1.5x your stake. However, if you split pairs and then draw a ten or an ace, your hand is counted as a regular 21 rather than as a blackjack.
Splitting Rules
The splitting rules in Felt’s games are not as liberal as those in some of the other blackjack variations we have played online but the provider compensates with one extra special rule. Players can draw to split aces which is rarely available in other online versions of the game. Other than that, you can split only a single time as resplitting is unavailable. Doubling down following a split is permitted.
Doubling Down Rules
Doubling down rules are not as flexible as those we have seen in other online blackjack variants. Here players can make this move only if their first two cards add up to combined totals of 9, 10, and 11. These restrictions are unfavorable from the players’ perspective because they lead to a house edge increase of 0.09%.
Insurance
Insurance against dealer blackjacks is offered when the dealer’s first card is an ace. Winning insurance bets pay at the standard odds of 2 to 1. When playing three betting spots simultaneously, players can decline or accept insurance for all three hands with a single mouse-click, something we find particularly useful.
Nevertheless, we suggest you always stay away from this side wager because it has a very high house edge and hardly improves your winning odds. The software enables you to completely turn off the insurance prompts so that the virtual dealer never offers you this annoying and disadvantageous bet.
Surrender
Neither late nor early surrender is available in the blackjack variations Felt Gaming has released so far. This works to the detriment of the players because it prevents them from folding bad hands like 16 or 15 against the dealer’s 10 and saving half of their original stakes.
Felt’s Blackjack Side Bets
The most distinctive trait of Felt Gaming’s blackjack variations is that they feature tons of additional betting options. These come in the form of various exciting side bets that offer significantly higher returns than those available in the main game.
The software developer has dedicated an individual game to each group of side bets although one version features all of them. While exciting, these side bets should not be posted regularly because they carry higher house edges as you shall see in the paragraphs to follow.
21+3 Bets
Perfect Pairs
Lucky Ladies
Lucky Lucky
Buster Side Bets
Suit ‘Em Up
21+3 Bets
21+3 is a broad group of side bets where the player must form a qualifying poker hand with their initial two cards and the card the dealer is showing. The following optional side wagers are available with their corresponding payouts: suited trips (100 to 1), straight flush (40 to 1), three of a kind (25 to 1), straight (10 to 1), and flush (5 to 1). The overall house edge for this group is 7.14%.
Perfect Pairs
Perfect Pairs is a group of side wagers featured in Felt’s dedicated variation of the same name as well as in 6+1 Blackjack. They win whenever the player’s first two cards form a pair. Mixed pairs pay 6 to 1 whereas the payouts for colored and perfect pairs are 12 to 1 and 25 to 1, respectively. For the record, a perfect pair consists of two suited cards of the same rank. The house edge for the Perfect Pairs bets is 6.11%.
Lucky Ladies
Lucky Ladies is yet another exciting category of optional wagers Felt has borrowed from the Las Vegas casinos. These win whenever the player has certain pairs, a total of 20 or draws a Queen of any suit. The group features the following wagers: paired Queens of hearts (100 to 1), matched suited twenty (30 to 1), suited twenty (10 to 1), and any Queen (even money). The house edge for the Lucky Ladies bets is again high at 6.22%.
Lucky Lucky
Lucky Lucky side bets are winners whenever the dealer’s upcard and the players’ first two cards add up to totals of 19, 20 or 21. Bonus payouts are awarded for the following hands: suited 7/7/7 (200 to 1), suited 6/7/8 (100 to 1), offsuit 7/7/7 (50 to 1), offsuit 6/7/8 (25 to 1), suited 21 (15 to 1), any 21 (3 to 1), any 20 (2 to 1), and any 19 (2 to 1). The house edge is relatively tolerable at 3. 95%.
Buster Side Bets
Buster side bets comprise another unique group of side wagers where the player pockets an extra payout when the dealer busts with specific cards or a given number of cards. These differ from the rest of the side wagers because they are settled after the dealer plays out their hand rather than immediately after the initial deal.
If you are lucky, they can earn you the following payouts: dealer busts with 8 or more cards when the player has blackjack (2,000 to 1), dealer busts with 7 or more cards against a player blackjack (800 to 1), 8+ dealer bust (250 to 1), a 7-card bust (50 to 1), a 6-card bust (18 to 1), 5-card bust (4 to 1), and a 3 or 4-card bust (2 to 1). The house edge for this group is 6.20%.
Suit ‘Em Up
Suit ‘Em Up bets bear a partial semblance to Perfect Pairs. Here the player is required to obtain one of the following paired hands after the initial deal to collect a bonus payout as follows: suited blackjacks (10 to 1), suited aces (50 to 1), any suited pair (5 to 1), suited 11 (3 to 1), and suited other (2 to 1). The casino holds an advantage of 4.65% with these side wagers.
Felt Gaming Perfect Pairs Blackjack
| Perfect Pairs Blackjack |
| Decks |
6 |
| RTP |
99.63% base game; 93.89% Perfect Pairs side bet |
| Blackjak Payout |
3 to 2 |
| Dealer Standing |
Dealer stands on soft 17 |
| Peek |
Yes |
| Double Down |
Dealer can double down only on totals of 9, 10, or 11 |
| Double Down after a Split |
Yes |
| Split |
Players can split once per hand |
| Hit Split Aces |
Yes |
| Surrender |
No |
| Insurance |
Yes |
| Insurance Payout |
2 to 1 |
Felt Gaming Blackjack Suit’em Up
| Blackjack Suit’em Up |
| Decks |
6 |
| RTP |
99.63% base game; 95.35% Suit’em Up side bet |
| Blackjak Payout |
3 to 2 |
| Dealer Standing |
Dealer stands on soft 17 |
| Peek |
Yes |
| Double Down |
Dealer can double down only on totals of 9, 10, or 11 |
| Double Down after a Split |
Yes |
| Split |
Players can split once per hand |
| Hit Split Aces |
Yes |
| Surrender |
No |
| Insurance |
Yes |
| Insurance Payout |
2 to 1 |
Must-Try Online Blackjack Variations by Felt Gaming
Felt Gaming’s blackjack suite is a proven performer across many reputable online casinos and rightfully so. The games tick almost all the right boxes in terms of functionality, playability, design, and authenticity.
The only things that bear improvement are some of the playing conditions. We would like to see more flexible doubling and splitting rules added to future Felt Gaming releases, although a suite of live dealer games would also be a nice addition to Felt’s product roster. Now, let’s examine more closely some of the studio’s best blackjack offerings so far.
Caribbean Blackjack
Blackjack Plus
Perfect Pairs Blackjack
Buster Blackjack
Suit ‘Em Up Blackjack
Caribbean Blackjack
Caribbean Blackjack is indeed a great achievement for Felt Gaming as this is a truly innovative and unorthodox variation that completely transforms the way the game plays. The variant heavily borrows from Caribbean Stud poker. But perhaps more important is the fact, the game is linked to a progressive jackpot, something that can be said of select few blackjack variations.
The interface is available in eight different languages, catering to the needs of the international player audience. The game is fully cross-compatible and plays smoothly on a wide range of portable devices. Another thing of interest here is the great set of side wagers that hold the key to winning a portion of the progressive pool or the entire jackpot.
The winning condition for the side bets is to form a qualifying poker hand that consists of five cards. You play two hands each round, which means the poker hand should consist of each hand’s first two cards and the dealer’s face-up card. There is also a Five Card Bonus. Have a glance at the table below for the precise payouts.
Caribbean Blackjack Paytables for the Progressive and Five Card Bonus Side Bets
| Progressive Side Bet |
Five Card Bonus Side Bet |
| Event |
|
Payout |
Event |
Payout |
| Royal Flush |
|
Jackpot |
Royal Flush |
250 to 1 |
| Straight Flush |
|
$2,500 |
Straight Flush |
150 to 1 |
| 4 of a Kind |
|
$250 |
4 of a KInd |
25 to 1 |
| Full House |
|
$100 |
Full House |
50 to 1 |
| Flush |
|
$25 |
Flush |
7 to 1 |
| Straight |
|
$10 |
Straight |
4 to 1 |
| 3 of a Kind |
|
$5 |
3 of a Kind |
3 to 1 |
| # |
|
# |
Two Pairs |
2 to 1 |
| # |
|
# |
One Pair (A-T) |
1 to 1 |
| # |
|
# |
One Pair (9-2) |
Pushes |
Blackjack Plus
Blackjack Plus is among the latest blackjack releases of the software studio and pioneers some unique features and functionalities that are otherwise unavailable in most of the other games. One of them is the Autoplay feature which enables the virtual dealer to automatically play out your desired number of hands in line with perfect basic strategy.
Also available is one new customization feature that allows you to change the color of the virtual felt, having a choice from several options. Less traditional options like grey are available. The speed of the gameplay is also customizable, with three options: slow, medium, and high. The Speed Pay feature also increases the dynamics of the game when turned on.
Perfect Pairs Blackjack
Perfects Pairs is indeed a classic in the Felt blackjack canon as this group comprises the most popular side wagers in the game of 21. These win whenever the player gets a pair with their first two cards, with the biggest bonus payout of 25 to 1 being awarded for two suited cards of the same rank.
The game allows you to play up to three side bets next to three main-game wagers. The minimum of the side bets is only $0.10 so that placing them occasionally is not all that costly. Perfect Pairs is equipped with a blue table felt and all the great features we spoke about previously, including a tutorial, Speed Pay, and the option to completely turn off insurance.
Buster Blackjack
Buster Blackjack gives you one more reason for delight when the virtual dealer goes over 21. The game features a host of optional proposition bets where you essentially wager that the dealer would bust. How many cards they draw to the bust also matters and so does their exact value in some side bets from this group.
The highest bonus payout (2,000 to 1) is awarded whenever you obtain a blackjack and the dealer busts with eight or more cards. Other than that, the game follows the standard Felt rules we spoke about earlier, yielding a house edge of 0.37% only. There are not as many options for customization as in Blackjack Plus but Buster Blackjack still offers Speed Pay and the option to control the dealer and background sounds.
Suit ‘Em Up Blackjack
Suit ‘Em Up Blackjack is yet another achievement on Felt Gaming’s list as the game impresses with great design, playability, and authentic sound effects. You can literally hear the swishing of the cards as they are dealt to you.
As for the Suit ‘Em Up side bets, these debuted on the Las Vegas Strip in 2013 and quickly made it to the floors of North America’s landbased casinos. Felt introduced it to the online gaming community. The top prize is 50 to 1 for a pair of suited Aces. Suit ‘Em Up Blackjack offers an authentic aspirational life-like casino experience, an intuitive interface, and ultra-modern design.
Felt Gaming Buster Blackjack
| Buster Blackjack |
| Decks |
6 |
| RTP |
99.63% base game; 93.80% Buster Blackjack side bet |
| Blackjak Payout |
3 to 2 |
| Dealer Standing |
Dealer stands on soft 17 |
| Peek |
Yes |
| Double Down |
Dealer can double down only on totals of 9, 10, or 11 |
| Double Down after a Split |
Yes |
| Split |
Players can split once per hand |
| Hit Split Aces |
Yes |
| Surrender |
No |
| Insurance |
Yes |
| Insurance Payout |
2 to 1 |
Felt Gaming Blackjack Plus
| Blackjack Plus |
| Deck |
6 |
| RTP Base Game |
99.63% |
| 99.63% |
93.89% |
| RTP 21+3 Side Bet |
92.86% |
| RTP Lucky Ladies Side Bet |
93.78% |
| RTP Lucky Lucky Side Bet |
96.05% |
| RTP Suit’em Up Side Bet |
95.35% |
| RTP Buster Blackjack Side Bet |
99.63% |
| Blackjak Payout |
3 to 2 |
| Dealer Standing |
Dealer stands on soft 17 |
| Peek |
Yes |
| Double Down |
Dealer can double down on any two cards |
| Double Down after a Split |
Yes |
| Split |
Players can split once per hand |
| Hit Split Aces |
Yes |
| Surrender |
No |
| Insurance |
Yes |
| Insurance Payout |
2 to 1 |
