1. Pontoon Casino Strategy
2. Pontoon Crown Casino

Looking for a trustworthy resource explaining pontoon rules and a winning strategy? Then you’ve landed on the right page.

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.

Online Pontoon Blackjack Pontoon is the British version of traditional blackjack. The goal is the same — to come as close to 21 without going over and to beat the dealer's hand — but there are several differences. How Does Pontoon Blackjack Differ from Classic Blackjack? The backbone and foundation of pontoon is found within the land-based casinos of the world. Especially popular in Las Vegas and London, the game has the “snap” at the tables that most players are looking for. Pontoon at Casino Canberra is played with 4 standard decks of cards with the 10s removed. Like Blackjack, cards are worth their indicated value. Pontoon is the British version of the internationally popular banking game Blackjack, also known as 21. The Pontoon card game as this one can be played at the many Netent Casinos, is derived from the French Vingt-et-un (21). Though Blackjack is best known, just as Pontoon is, the reason why these two games can be found at the Netent Casinos.

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

1. Hitting Pontoon pays 2:1 so a $10 wager brings in a $20 win (plus your wager back).
2. A five-card trick pays 2:1 as well. But the dealer beats you if he also produces a 5 card trick.
3. 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

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

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.

Introduction

There are two completely different blackjack variants known as Pontoon. One is played at Internet casinos using Real Time Gaming software, and is described in my page on RTG Pontoon. The other is played in Australia, and is very similar to what is called Spanish 21 in North America. This page shall address the latter Australian version. I can't speak for the rest of Australia, but in Sydney, Pontoon offers a much better bet than conventional blackjack, with a house edge about 1/3 less.

Pontoon uses four to eight Spanish decks, each deck consisting of 48 cards — the regular 52 cards, less the four tens. Any card counter can tell you that removing any 10-point card from the cards favors the dealer. To make up for this, Pontoon gives to the player a host of bonuses and favorable rules. The following rules are consistent to Pontoon, across Australia.

Fixed Rules

1. Dealer hits soft 17.
2. Double after split allowed.
3. Dealer does not take a hole card.
4. Player may double on 9 to 11 only. If player were to double on a soft hand, the ace would be forced to count as 1.
5. Player may take 'late surrender.' If the dealer has a ten or ace up, a laminated marker saying 'surrender' will be put on the player's bet. In the event the dealer gets a blackjack, the player will lose the entire bet.
6. A player 21 or blackjack wins immediately.
7. Player may surrender after doubling, known as 'double down rescue.' The player forfeits an amount equal to his original bet. The surrender is adjudicated immediately, so it is like early surrender.
8. A five-card 21 pays 3 to 2, a six-card 21 pays 2 to 1, a seven-or-more-card-21 pays 3 to 1. However, the bonuses are not paid if the player doubled.
9. A 6-7-8 or 7-7-7 of mixed suits pays 3 to 2, of the same suit pays 2 to 1, and of spades pays 3 to 1. These bonuses do not pay after doubling.
10. Suited 7-7-7, when the dealer has a seven face up, pays $1000 for bets of $5-$24 and $5000 for bets of $25 or over. In addition, all other players receive a $50 'envy bonus.' This bonus does not pay after doubling or splitting.

The European no-hole-card rule strongly favors the player in Pontoon. This is because a player 21 automatically wins, even if the dealer gets a blackjack. In American Spanish 21, the dealer blackjack beats anything except a player blackjack, depressing the player's odds.

Variable Rules

1. Four to eight Spanish decks.
2. Hole-card rule. There are various possibilities, which are explained below.
3. Number of splits allowed, either one or two.
4. Resplitting aces may or may not be allowed.
5. Doubling may be allowed with any number of cards, or only two.

Hole-Card Rules

What happens when the player doubles or splits, and the dealer gets a blackjack, depends on which casino you are in. In most cases, the rules followed are found nowhere else on earth besides Australia, so new terminology had to be established. Other sources on Pontoon and blackjack do not use the same terminology as I do, or use them differently. I have decided to go with the terms as used in the book The Pro's Guide to Spanish 21 and Australian Pontoon by Katarina Walker. Please do not write and tell me I have the terminology wrong, quoting some other web site. Nobody knows Pontoon better than Walker, so I can think of no better standard to measure to.

• OBO (Original Bets Only): This is the rule followed in North America, where the player loses only his original bet if the dealer gets a blackjack. Usually the dealer will peek at the hole card if a blackjack is possible, so players won't waste time trying to beat an unbeatable hand. I have an unconfirmed report that the OBO rule is followed in Queensland.
• BB+1 (Busted Bets Plus One): Under this rule, the player will lose any hands he busted, plus an amount equal to his original bet, if he has anything left.
• OBBO (Original and Busted Bets Only): Under this rule, the player will lose any hands he busted, plus an amount equal to his original wager per hand. In other words, if the dealer gets a blackjack, the player is penalized for splitting, but not doubling.
• ENHC (European no Hole Card): Under this rule, the player loses every bet on the table if the dealer gets a blackjack.

Let's look at an example. Suppose the player bets $10 and then splits eights against a dealer ten, to the following:

Pontoon Casino Strategy

Hand 1: Player hits to 18.
Hand 2: Player hits and busts.
Hand 3: Player doubles to 20.

Then, the dealer gets a blackjack. The following is what would happen under all four possible hole-card rules.

OBO: The remaining $30 on the table would push, because the player already lost $10 on the hand that busted.
BB+1: The dealer would take $10 from the remaining $30 on the table.
OBBO: The dealer would take $20, $10 from each of the two hands left.
ENCH: The dealer would take all $30 on the table.

Strategy

The following table shows the basic strategy for Pontoon.

Next are the three tricky hands that depend on the hole-card rule being followed.

If the player splits eights against a ten, under the BB+1 rule, then he will be motivated to hit less. This is because a busted hand is always lost, but if the dealer gets a blackjack, only one split hand will be lost. In this situation, the player should stand on 16, instead of hitting. The only exception is if it is that last hand to be played, and all earlier hands busted.

I'm going to use the rules in Sydney as the base rules. The variable rules in other parts of Australia are as follows.

• 8 decks.
• BB+1.
• Player may split only once.
• Player may double on any number of cards.

Under the Sydney rules, the house edge is 0.42%.

The following list is of rule variations you may encounter in Austalia. The table shows the change in the player's excpected value, so positive effects are good.

Effets of Rule Variations

Rule	Effect
Six decks	0.03%
Four decks	0.08%
OBBO	-0.01%
ENHC	-0.06%
Split 2-K 2X	0.03%
Split 2-K 3X	0.05%
Split 2-A 2X	0.11%
Double only 2 cards	-0.16%

The next table summarizes the Pontoon rules in various parts of Australia.

Pontoon Rules Summary for Australia and Malaysia

Location	Decks	Max. Splits	Resplit Aces	Hole Card	Double any Time	House Edge
Canberra	4	1	No	BB+1	Yes	0.34%
Melbourne, Tasmania	8	2	No	BB+1	Yes	0.38%
Queensland	6	1	No	BB+1	Yes	0.40%
Perth	8	2	Yes	ENHC	Yes	0.38%
Sydney	8	1	No	BB+1	Yes	0.42%
Malaysia	8	2	Yes	OBBO	No	0.49%
Adelaide	8	1	No	ENHC	No	0.64%

Updates

I have had the following unconfirmed reports of rule changes since I wrote the rule table above.

• In Adelaide the player may now split twice.
• The Adelaide casino now uses four decks instead of eight. (6/9/13)
• Sydney uses six decks instead of eight. (5/7/16)

The probability of hitting the Super Bonus is 1 in 668,382, with six decks, and 1 in 549,188, with eight decks. The reduction in the house edge depends on the bet amount, and to a lesser extent, the number of players. With no other players, and bets of exactly $5 or $25, the Super Bonus lowers the house edge by 0.030% in a six-deck game, and 0.036% in an eight-deck game. At a bet of exactly $5, the Envy Bonus lowers the house edge by an additional 0.0015% in a six-deck game, and 0.0018% in an eight-deck game, per additional player.

For bet amounts other than those indicated above, the benefit of the Super Bonus will go down as the bet amount goes up.

Acknowledgments

Katarina Walker is the undisputed queen of Spanish 21 and Pontoon. I only had time to visit one casino during my trip to Australia in 2008, the Star City in Sydney. Kat's book and answers to my many e-mail were invaluable for knowing Pontoon rules in the rest of Australia. She has also been good about catching minor mistakes in my Spanish 21 page. I'm sorry to report that Kat died in 2015.

Pontoon Crown Casino

MGP was kind enough to give me a copy of his amazing blackjack calculator. Put in any set of rules, and it will give you the correct strategy and house edge. It handles all kinds of obscure rules, including all the Pontoon rules. MGP was extremely patient and gracious in answering my numerous questions too. I think, and hope, the blackjack world will be hearing more from MGP in the future.

Written by:Michael Shackleford