Free Bet Blackjack
Free Bet blackjack is dealt from six decks with ordinary card values and a 3:2 blackjack, but some doubles and splits are made with the house's money. On certain hands the player can double or split by taking a free bet instead of putting up a second stake. If the hand wins, the free bet is paid at even money as if it were a real stake; if the hand loses, only the original bet is lost.
The price is a single rule: when the dealer finishes on exactly 22, every player hand still standing is a push instead of a win. This page explains which hands get a free bet, what the 22 rule costs, how much of that the free bets give back, and how the strategy shifts. Anyone new to the base game can start with the rules of a standard round.
Try Free Bet Blackjack in Demo Mode
Dragon Gaming's 22 Blackjack deals the free doubles and splits here. Keep a tally of how often the dealer stops on exactly 22 and pushes a hand that looked like a winner.
Which Hands Get a Free Bet
A free double comes with the first two cards of a hand when they make a hard 9, 10 or 11, the totals where doubling is strongest anyway. The hand then takes exactly one card, like any double. Other two-card hands, soft totals included, can still be doubled at the ordinary price of a second stake.
A free split is offered on every pair except tens. The new hand is backed by a free bet, a pair dealt again can be split again the same way up to four hands, and aces may be split and resplit too. A hand that comes out of a split with a hard 9, 10 or 11 on its first two cards can take a free double as well, so one free split can lead to more than one free bet on the table.
What Each Part of Free Bet Is Worth
Every row is six decks with a 3:2 blackjack, doubling on any first two cards, doubling after a split, and resplitting to four hands with aces included. Read from the top, the rows add the dealer 22 push to an ordinary table, then give back the free bets one at a time.
How the 22 Push and the Free Bets Balance
Turning a dealer 22 into a push, with nothing given in return, would make an ordinary table far more expensive: the edge jumps from 0.55% to 7.51%. The reason is how many dealer busts end on exactly 22. When the upcard is a 2, on a table where soft 17 is hit, the dealer busts on 35.67% of deals in all, and on 15.21% of deals the bust is exactly 22, the total that now pays nothing.
The free bets hand most of that back. Removing only the free splits leaves the game at 3.32%, and removing only the free doubles leaves it at 5.55%, so the free doubles carry the larger share of the value. Both together bring the game to 1.01%.
The key number: Free Bet as dealt keeps 1.01% with perfect play, against 0.55% on the ordinary six-deck table it is built from: the free bets come close to paying for the 22 push, but not all the way.
Standing on soft 17 instead lowers the Free Bet edge to 0.70%. What the soft 17 rule and every other rule cost on an ordinary table is listed in the blackjack odds guide.
How the Strategy Shifts
Free Bet has a strategy of its own, and the ordinary chart misleads in two directions. The first is the free bets themselves. A free double on 9, 10 or 11 puts nothing more of the player's money at risk, so it is worth taking on hands where a paid double would be a close call, and a pair that qualifies for a free split is split more readily, since the second hand costs nothing to play.
The second is the 22 push. A standing stiff total, 12 to 16, collects only on a dealer bust, and here some of those busts no longer pay. Waiting for the dealer to break is therefore worth less than usual, which tips some close stand decisions toward a hit and makes a paid double against a weak upcard slightly less attractive.
The ordinary chart, and why each of its cells is right on a standard table, is on the blackjack strategy page. It is the baseline these adjustments start from, not a replacement for them.
Free Bet in Our Library
22 Blackjack - Free Bet from Dragon Gaming is the Free Bet table in our library. Before relying on the figures above, read its rules screen for three things: how many decks it deals, whether the dealer draws on soft 17, and which hands get a free double or split, since those lines move the edge from table to table.
Free Bet Blackjack FAQ
No. A blackjack is settled as soon as it is dealt and paid at 3:2, before the dealer draws a card, so the dealer's final total never touches it. The 22 rule applies only to hands still standing when the dealer finishes.
They push along with everything else. A free bet is settled with the hand it backs, so a dealer 22 returns the original stake on that hand and the free bet simply disappears, neither paid nor lost.
A pair of tens is already a total of 20, one of the strongest hands in the game, and splitting it is a mistake on an ordinary table. Leaving tens out keeps the free split for pairs where a second hand has more to gain.
Yes, under the rules priced on this page. A split hand that totals hard 9, 10 or 11 on two cards takes a free double like any other, even when the split itself was free. Some tables restrict this, so it is a rule to check.