Blackjack Royal Pairs Review - A Classic Game with a Thrilling Side Wager

The Most Important Blackjack Royal Rules

At its core, this title is quite similar to the versions played on the Vegas Strip. The essentials such as card values and the game’s goal remain the same. If you’re not acquainted with them, you’re welcome to read our dedicated Blackjack “Rules” page before coming back to this review. Now, we’ll summarize the more advanced Blackjack Royal Pairs rules:

Cards, Decks, and Shuffling

• Eight French decks (52-cards each) are in play at all times;
• Card shuffling occurs after each round;
• You can play with a single hand against the dealer.

Rules for the House

• The dealer won’t check for blackjack when the Dealer's face-up card is an Ace or ten-value card;
• Cards will be drawn until the house has a 17. The croupier will stand on both soft & hard hands;
• You can take insurance when the dealer’s face-up card is an Ace. If you have a blackjack, the option to take a 1:1 payout against an Ace up-card is there. We advise against both of these moves.

Splits and Doubles

• According to the Blackjack Royal Pairs rules, players can double down on any 2-card hand, including ones created after splits;
• Any two cards with an identical point value can be split;
• You aren’t allowed to re-split;
• Splitting Aces draws one extra card to each hand and concludes your turn. 2-card 21s derived from splits aren’t considered naturals.

The “Royal Pairs” Side Bet

This release allows you to supplement your main wager with an additional one called “royal pairs.” The latter accepts stakes between $0.10 and $50. Winning or losing it depends on the first two cards you’re dealt, so you can get paid even if you bust or the dealer outscores you. Here’s what you can expect from this Blackjack Royal Pairs online bet:

• When you receive two mixed face cards (e.g., a Jack and a Queen), the payout is 5:1;
• A pair of unsuited Jacks, Kings, or Queens grants x10 times your wager, while a suited one has a 50:1 reward;
• A couple of unsuited Aces come with a 40:1 payout;
• The 150:1 jackpot is downed when you receive two Aces of the same suit.

Tutorial: Start Playing with Confidence in Minutes

Now that we’ve covered the rulebook, it’s a good idea to try this release for free. That way, you can get used to its controls and practice all you want before you make the jump to playing with real wagers.

Blackjack Royal Pairs by iSoftBet is available as a demo at the three websites that we’ve listed at the start. Moreover, you don’t even need to register and volunteer your personal information to try the game. Enter one of these casinos, type “royal pairs” in the search bar, and make sure to select the free-to-play mode.

From there, you’ll need to wait a couple of seconds for everything to load. To start playing, tap on the circle below the “Click to bet” sign and follow it up by pressing “deal.” You can also put some demo credits on the side bet to see how it works if you wish.

At the start of a round, Blackjack Royal Pairs online deals two cards to each side, but only one of them will be visible on the dealer side. From here, you can hit, double, split, or stand with your hand to try and win. Experienced bettors always use an approach called “basic strategy” to maximize their returns. Feel free to visit our Blackjack “strategy” page for tips on achieving the best possible returns.

The Paytable and House Edge of Blackjack Royal Pairs by iSoftBet

When it comes to paying you out, this release sticks to tradition. Blackjacks are rewarded with an amount equal to x1.5 times your wager, while all other wins pay even money. As we stated earlier in our Blackjack Royal Pairs review, you can take a 1:1 payout if you have a natural and the dealer has an Ace, but in terms of statistics, it’s better to try your luck.

The same goes for insurance — it’s not worth paying 50% of your base bet to try and protect yourself from a blackjack. The odds are that the dealer won’t have a natural, as the amount of 10-value cards is lower than the numbered ones.

The house edge for the base game stands at 0.60%, which is in line with most traditional Blackjacks. Still, keep in mind that following basic strategy is a must if you wish to achieve the best long-term returns. Our Blackjack Royal Pairs review crew notes that the side bet comes with a much higher house edge (6.28%). In other words, it would be best to avoid it or use it sparingly with smaller wagers.

Don’t Forget about These Convenient Features

You can save a bit of time each round by removing some of the non-essential animations and messages that pop up. For example, the game is programmed to always offer you insurance and even money, but these two functionalities can be turned off if you click on the three-line menu at the bottom-left, followed by a click on the spanner icon.

This area also has toggles for the audio in addition to in-game warnings and other nifty features such as auto-stand. It’s worth taking a look at it if you wish to tune Blackjack Royal Pairs by iSoftBet to your liking.

To Conclude

iSoftBet has done an incredible job with this product. It has excellent graphics, a thrilling side bet, adequate return rates, and it functions great on mobile. Budget players will also appreciate the fact $0.10 bets are accepted, but we don’t know if the $100 maximum limit will satisfy every high roller out there.

Another small pet peeve that we have is the lack of a fast play option, but these are relatively insignificant issues compared to all the great features of Blackjack Royal Pairs online. At the end of the day, the decision of whether to play the game is down to you. Don’t forget that you can always try a demo first, and make sure to play smartly when staking real money.