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Blackjack Switch – swap the top cards of two hands

You play two hands of equal bets and may swap the second cards between them. In return, blackjack pays only 1:1 and a dealer 22 is a push.

Switch or not?

Enter both hands as dealt and the dealer's up card.

Hand 1
Hand 2
Dealer
The guide says–

The rules we use

RuleWhat it means
Two handsYou bet the same amount on two hands. Both get two cards face up.
The switchYou may swap the second card of hand 1 with the second card of hand 2, once, before you play.
Blackjack pays 1:1Only an ace and a ten dealt together count as blackjack. An ace and a ten made by switching are an ordinary 21.
Dealer 22 pushesIf the dealer finishes on exactly 22, every hand that has not busted is a push. A dealt blackjack still wins.
Dealer peeksThe dealer checks for blackjack before the switch. If it is there, each hand loses one bet; a dealt blackjack pushes.
Other rules6 decks, dealer hits soft 17, double on any two cards and after a split, split up to 4 hands, split aces get one card.

Switch rules vary by casino; these are the rules behind every number on this page.

House edge

RulesHouse edge per hand, best switching and chart
6 decks, dealer hits soft 170.54%
6 decks, dealer stands on soft 170.15%
8 decks, dealer hits soft 170.59%
Classic blackjack for comparison (6 decks, dealer hits soft 17, 3:2)0.62%
The switch is not free. It is paid for by the 1:1 blackjack and the dealer 22 push. If you never switch, the house edge with these rules jumps to 9.84% per hand.

When to switch

Compare the two pairings: the hands as dealt and the hands after the swap. Look up each hand in the table below against the dealer's card and add the two numbers. Switch when the swapped pair adds up to more.

Each number is the average result of one hand, in % of its bet, with the dealer showing that card and no dealer blackjack. Following this table loses only 0.0004 percentage points against the exact best switch for every deal.

Average result per hand, % of the bet (6 decks, dealer hits soft 17)
Hand2345678910A
BJ+100+100+100+100+100+100+100+100+100+100
21 (A+10 after switch)+73+79+79+80+80+86+87+88+91+85
A,9+48+55+56+58+59+71+73+70+50+55
A,8+23+30+32+35+36+55+54+23+1+14
A,7-4+4+8+12+18+34+5-14-19-20
A,6-15-7-3+1+8+0-12-19-24-26
A,5-17-9-5-2+2-5-11-19-25-24
A,4-15-7-3+0+4-1-7-15-21-21
A,3-12-5-1+2+6+3-3-11-18-17
A,2-9-2+1+4+8+7+1-7-14-14
hard 19+23+30+32+34+36+55+53+23+1+14
hard 18-4+4+7+10+13+33+4-24-23-28
hard 17-31-22-18-14-10-17-45-48-48-57
hard 16-44-34-30-26-21-43-48-53-56-56
hard 15-44-34-30-25-21-39-44-50-53-53
hard 14-44-34-30-25-21-35-40-45-49-49
hard 13-40-34-30-25-21-30-36-41-45-46
hard 12-36-30-28-25-21-25-31-37-41-41
hard 11+18+33+39+44+50+34+23+11+7+7
hard 10+6+23+28+34+40+27+17+7-2-1
hard 9-7+1+4+8+14+13+5-10-20-17
hard 8-17-9-5-1+2+4-11-25-29-31
hard 7-26-17-13-9-5-12-26-33-36-39
hard 6-28-20-16-12-8-19-25-33-37-37
hard 5-27-19-15-11-7-16-22-30-35-35
A,A+18+34+39+45+50+35+24+12+7+1
10,10+48+55+56+58+59+71+73+70+50+55
9,9-4+4+10+17+25+34+12-19-23-27
8,8-30-9-1+7+15+18-16-50-56-56
7,7-44-28-19-10-1-18-40-46-50-50
6,6-36-30-26-16-6-25-31-38-41-42
5,5+6+23+29+35+41+28+17+7-2-1
4,4-17-9-5-1+2+4-10-25-29-31
3,3-28-20-16-10-1-17-25-33-37-37
2,2-26-17-14-8+2-11-19-27-32-33

How to play the hands after the switch

Because a dealer 22 pushes, the chart doubles less and hits more stiff hands than the classic chart. Hard 17 and more, and soft 19 and more: stand. Totals not in the table: hit.

Hard totals

Blackjack Switch: hard totals after the switch
Your hand2345678910A
8HHHHHHHHHH
9HHHDDHHHHH
10DDDDDDDHHH
11DDDDDDDDHH
12HHHSSHHHHH
13HSSSSHHHHH
14SSSSSHHHHH
15SSSSSHHHHH
16SSSSSHHHHH
17SSSSSSSSSS
18SSSSSSSSSS
19SSSSSSSSSS

Soft totals

Blackjack Switch: soft totals after the switch
Your hand2345678910A
A,2HHHHHHHHHH
A,3HHHHHHHHHH
A,4HHHHHHHHHH
A,5HHHHDHHHHH
A,6HHHDDHHHHH
A,7SSSDsDsSSHHH
A,8SSSSSSSSSS
A,9SSSSSSSSSS

Pairs

Blackjack Switch: pairs after the switch
Your hand2345678910A
2,2HHHPPPHHHH
3,3HHHPPPHHHH
4,4HHHHHHHHHH
5,5DDDDDDDHHH
6,6HHPPPHHHHH
7,7SPPPPPHHHH
8,8PPPPPPPPHH
9,9SSPPPSPPSS
10,10SSSSSSSSSS
A,APPPPPPPPPP
How the numbers are worked out

For every up card and every possible deal of four cards, both pairings are valued exactly from the cards left in the shoe, played by the chart; the better pairing is the switch. An independent simulator of our own, written without access to the calculation, reproduces the house edge within its margin of error over 4 billion rounds. Split hands are treated as independent.