What is a side bet in blackjack?
A side bet is a wager that is placed on the side of the table rather than being placed in front of the player. The player can either win or lose the side bet.
Side bets can be placed on any number, including the dealer’s up-card, but are most common on face cards (jacks, queens, and kings). .
The house edge in blackjack is 0.50%, meaning that for every 100 hands played, the house will earn 50 cents.
This means that if a player bets $10 on a hand and the hand is won, the player will earn $10 back plus $5 from the house. If a player bets $10 on a hand and the hand is lost, the player will lose $15 from the bet plus $5 from the house.
Players can mitigate this edge by making sure they are playing with proper strategy. For example, if a player has an Ace up and wants to protect it against an Ace high draw (a common strategy in blackjack), they should place their bet before seeing their opponent’s up-card (and not after).
Another way to play with less of an edge is to make multiple side bets instead of one large bet. For example, if a player has two queens up and wants to double down (place another bet), they would first place a small bet on each card (for example, $2 per card) and then would double that total down to $4 per card.
This way, even if one of their queens gets beat, they will still come out ahead because they have already lost money on one card and only risk another small amount on each additional card.
