Easy blackjack live is Evolution’s blackjack table where only the dealer gets cards. Players bet on a fixed score of 16, 17, 18, 19 or 20 and win if that score beats the dealer’s hand or the dealer busts. For the wider market picture, start at our online casino Canada hub.
The table sets out the easy blackjack live numbers a Canadian player checks first. Each line traces to a source named in the sections below.
| Trait | Detail |
|---|---|
| Studio | Evolution, part of its Infinite range |
| Cards dealt | To the dealer only |
| Bets | Scores 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20, plus Bust It |
| Shoe | 8 decks |
| Dealer rule | Hits 16 or less, stands on all 17s |
| Best bet | Score 16 at 2.45:1, RTP 97.23% |
| Bust It | 1:1 to 250:1, RTP about 93.8% |
| Players | Unlimited |
What is easy blackjack live?
Easy blackjack live is a betting game on the dealer’s blackjack hand. Evolution says cards are dealt only to the dealer, and players bet on predefined hand scores of 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 to beat it.
An easy blackjack live score wins when it is higher than the dealer’s final hand or when the dealer busts. Evolution says an equal score is a push, and the bet comes back.
Livedealer.org sums up easy blackjack live: so easy that there is not even a player hand dealt. The only choice is which score, or scores, to back.
How does it relate to Infinite Blackjack?
It shares the format. Evolution calls it another addition to its Infinite range, where an unlimited number of players can play, and Live Casino Comparer says it was built on the table and technology first developed for Infinite Blackjack.
The difference is who gets cards. In Infinite Blackjack, players share a common hand and make decisions. In easy blackjack live, there is no player hand at all.
Our infinite blackjack live page covers the decision-based sister game.
How does a round work?
In six steps. The only decision is the bet, and Livedealer.org notes that rounds are rapid because only one hand is dealt.
- Place chips on one or more scores from 16 to 20, or press Bet on All.
- Add a Bust It side bet if wanted.
- Betting closes, and the dealer deals the dealer’s hand.
- The dealer draws on 16 or less and stands on any 17 or more.
- Scores above the dealer’s total win, an equal score pushes and lower scores lose.
- If the dealer busts, every score wins, and Bust It pays by the number of cards.
Footage of an easy blackjack live round shows the betting stage as a Place Your Bets countdown above a row of chips, with a Repeat button beside them.
What are the dealer’s rules?
The dealer hits 16 or less and stands on 17 or more, soft or hard. Evolution states the rule, Livedealer.org says the dealer stands on all 17s, and the felt in footage reads that the dealer must stand on 17 and must draw to 16.
Live Casino Comparer lists what the game leaves out: no hitting, standing, splitting, doubling, insurance or Blackjack bonus for players. There is no peek for Blackjack either.
The dealer’s hand is played by rule alone, so no one at an easy blackjack live table can change it. A two-card total of 12 to 16 means another card, which is where most busts come from.
What is in the shoe?
Eight decks. Livedealer.org and Live Casino Comparer both describe an eight-deck shoe, and Live Casino Comparer adds that the shoe is changed once half the cards have been used.
That is 416 cards in every easy blackjack live shoe, with 128 worth 10: the 10s, Jacks, Queens and Kings. Live Casino Comparer notes that this concentration of 10-value cards is why the dealer lands on 20 and 21 so often.
What does each score pay?
From 2.45:1 on 16 down to 0.13:1 on 20. Live Casino Comparer lists the full pay table, Livedealer.org confirms the 2.45:1 on 16, and the same rates are printed under each score on the felt.
| Score | Pays | Win on a $10 bet | RTP |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | 2.45:1 | $24.50 | 97.23% |
| 17 | 1.93:1 | $19.30 | 97.10% |
| 18 | 0.95:1 | $9.50 | 97.21% |
| 19 | 0.48:1 | $4.80 | 97.19% |
| 20 | 0.13:1 | $1.30 | 97.07% |
Livedealer.org explains the ladder: higher scores are more likely to win, so they pay less. Every easy blackjack live score sits within 0.16 of a point of the others on return.
When does each score win, push or lose?
It depends only on the dealer’s final total. Our exact count of an eight-deck shoe gives these shares for each score, and it reproduces all five published returns.
| Score | Wins | Pushes | Loses |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | 28.18% | 0.00% | 71.82% |
| 17 | 28.18% | 14.52% | 57.29% |
| 18 | 42.71% | 13.93% | 43.36% |
| 19 | 56.64% | 13.36% | 30.00% |
| 20 | 70.00% | 17.97% | 12.03% |
Score 16 can never push, because the dealer never stands on 16. Score 20 loses only when the dealer makes 21.
Why does 16 pay the most?
Because it only wins on a bust. At an easy blackjack live table, Livedealer.org notes that the top-paying 16 needs the dealer to bust, since every total the dealer stands on, 17 or more, beats it.
The dealer busts about 28.18% of the time in our count, so 16 wins a little more than one round in four. At 2.45:1, that works out to the best return in the game, 97.23%.
Live Casino Comparer reaches the same view: it calls 16 a better-value bet than the Bust It side bet, since it pays 2.45:1 on any bust.
Why does 17 pay less than 16?
Because it also pushes. The easy blackjack live score of 17 wins only when the dealer busts, just like 16, but a dealer 17 returns the stake instead of losing it.
That push lands about 14.52% of the time, so 17 loses less often than 16. The payout drops to 1.93:1 to pay for that cushion, and the return settles at 97.10%.
Live Casino Comparer puts it plainly: 17 is not a bet to win, it is a bet on the dealer busting.
Why does 20 pay only 0.13:1?
Because it almost never loses. Score 20 beats a bust and every dealer total from 17 to 19, which our count puts at 70.00% of rounds, and pushes on a dealer 20.
It loses only to a dealer 21, about 12.03% of the time. A $10 bet on 20 wins $1.30 when it wins, so a single loss wipes out about eight wins.
That trade still returns 97.07% over time, close to every other easy blackjack live score.
Does the dealer’s first card change the odds?
A lot, though bets close before it lands. Our count of an eight-deck shoe shows how the chance of a bust shifts with the dealer’s first card, which is why the first card sets the mood of an easy blackjack live round.
| Dealer’s first card | Busts | Makes 21 |
|---|---|---|
| Ace | 11.5% | 36.2% |
| 2 | 35.4% | 11.8% |
| 3 | 37.4% | 11.5% |
| 4 | 39.5% | 11.2% |
| 5 | 41.8% | 10.8% |
| 6 | 42.3% | 9.7% |
| 7 | 26.2% | 7.4% |
| 8 | 24.4% | 6.9% |
| 9 | 22.9% | 6.1% |
| 10, Jack, Queen or King | 21.2% | 11.2% |
A first card from 2 to 6 is good news for every score, since the dealer must keep drawing. An Ace is the worst start: the dealer busts only 11.5% of the time and makes 21 in 36.2% of rounds.
Weighted by how often each card comes first, these rows add back up to the 28.18% overall bust rate.
Why does the dealer land on 20 so often?
Because of the 10-value cards. Live Casino Comparer says the concentration of 10s, Jacks, Queens and Kings is why the dealer reaches 20 and 21 more often than 17, 18 or 19.
Those cards make up 128 of the 416 in the shoe, or 30.77%. In our count, the dealer finishes on 20 in 17.97% of rounds, more than on any other standing total.
What happens when the dealer makes 21?
Every score loses. Live Casino Comparer notes that the dealer always wins with 21, and our count puts a dealer 21 at 12.03% of easy blackjack live rounds.
Bust It loses too, since the dealer has not busted. A dealer 21 is the one result that clears the whole table.
How often does the dealer finish on each total?
The dealer busts most often, then lands on 20. Our exact count and Live Casino Comparer’s simulation of millions of hands give close figures for an eight-deck shoe.
| Dealer result | Our count | Live Casino Comparer |
|---|---|---|
| Bust | 28.18% | 28.20% |
| 17 | 14.52% | 14.58% |
| 18 | 13.93% | 13.81% |
| 19 | 13.36% | 13.47% |
| 20 | 17.97% | 17.58% |
| 21 | 12.03% | 12.36% |
Our count covers the first hand from a fresh shoe. Live Casino Comparer’s figures average over the first half of the shoe, which explains the small differences.
What is the RTP of easy blackjack live?
About 97% on every score, from 97.07% on 20 to 97.23% on 16, per Live Casino Comparer and Livedealer.org. Livedealer.org compares the best of them with European roulette at 97.3%.
Our count of every dealer hand from an eight-deck shoe gives the same five returns to the hundredth of a percent.
Live Casino Comparer sets that against standard blackjack at 99.47%, calling the easy blackjack live return of about 97% measly and worse than roulette.
Which score is best?
Score 16, by a small margin. Livedealer.org calls it the optimal easy blackjack live bet at 97.23%, and the other four sit between 97.07% and 97.21%.
The gap between the best and the worst score is 0.16 of a percentage point. On $1,000 staked, that is about $1.60 over the long run.
The bigger difference is the ride. Score 16 wins about one round in four at 2.45:1; score 20 wins seven rounds in ten at 0.13:1.
What does a hundred rounds cost?
About $27 to $29 at $10 a round on any score, and about $62 on Bust It. One hundred rounds put $1,000 on the table, and each bet’s house edge sets the long-run cost.
| Bet | Staked over 100 rounds | Expected cost |
|---|---|---|
| Score 16 | $1,000 | $27.70 |
| Score 17 | $1,000 | $29.00 |
| Score 18 | $1,000 | $27.90 |
| Score 19 | $1,000 | $28.10 |
| Score 20 | $1,000 | $29.30 |
| Bust It | $1,000 | about $62 |
A single session can land far from these averages, especially on 16 and on Bust It.
What does a $50 session look like?
Take 20 rounds at $2.50 on score 16, $50 in all. On average, about 5.6 rounds end in a dealer bust, each paying $6.13, and about 14.4 rounds lose $2.50.
That averages out to a loss of about $1.39, the 2.77% edge on $50. Any real session will land above or below it.
What does a losing run on 16 look like?
Longer than it feels. Score 16 loses about 71.82% of rounds, so five losses in a row happen about 19.1% of the time and ten in a row about 3.6%.
That is the price of a 2.45:1 payout. A stake plan for score 16 needs room for those runs at an easy blackjack live table.
What is the Bust It side bet?
A side bet on the easy blackjack live dealer busting, paid by the number of cards. Evolution says Bust It can win regardless of the main bet, and Livedealer.org says the more cards the dealer takes to bust, the bigger the payout.
| Dealer busts with | Pays |
|---|---|
| 3 cards | 1:1 |
| 4 cards | 2:1 |
| 5 cards | 9:1 |
| 6 cards | 50:1 |
| 7 cards | 100:1 |
| 8 or more cards | 250:1 |
Live Casino Comparer lists the table and calls a three-card bust the most common way to bust. Livedealer.org names the 250:1 for eight or more cards as the game’s top payout.
How often does each Bust It payout land?
Mostly at the bottom of the table. Our count of an eight-deck shoe puts a three-card bust at 17.30% of rounds and a four-card bust at 8.72%, so most easy blackjack live busts pay 1:1 or 2:1.
A five-card bust lands about 1.91% of the time and a six-card bust about 0.23%, roughly once in 428 rounds. Seven cards come up about once in 5,650 rounds.
The 250:1 for eight or more cards is rarer still: about once in 112,000 rounds.
Why is a three-card bust so common?
Because most busts happen on the dealer’s first draw. In our count, three-card busts make up 17.30% of all rounds, which is about 61% of every easy blackjack live bust.
That is why Bust It pays only 1:1 at the bottom of its table. The big multiples sit on the long hands that rarely happen.
What if you pair score 16 with Bust It?
You back the same event twice. With $10 on 16 and $5 on Bust It, a three-card bust pays $24.50 plus $5, and a dealer who stands takes the full $15.
The expected cost is the sum of the two edges: about 28 cents on the 16 and about 31 cents on Bust It, or 59 cents a round at the easy blackjack live table.
Is Bust It worth it?
Not on the numbers. Livedealer.org puts the easy blackjack live Bust It bet at 93.81% and Live Casino Comparer at 93.83%, against 97.23% on score 16. Our count lands between them, at 93.82%.
Both bets need a dealer bust. Score 16 pays 2.45:1 on every bust, while Bust It pays just 1:1 on the three-card busts that make up most of them.
Livedealer.org’s advice is short: stick to the main bets.
What does Bet on All do?
It covers all five scores at once. Livedealer.org describes an easy blackjack live Bet on All button, and footage shows it under the five score spots.
With $10 on each score, a dealer bust wins all five bets, a $59.40 profit on $50. A dealer 17 nets $5.60, an 18 loses $13.90, a 19 loses $28.70, a 20 loses $40 and a 21 loses all $50.
Weighted by our easy blackjack live count, the average is a loss of about $1.42 a round, 2.84% of the $50: the average of the five edges.
What about backing 16 and 20 together?
It is Live Casino Comparer’s suggested pair, and it still pays the house edge. With $10 on each, a bust wins $25.80, a dealer 17 to 19 loses $8.70, a dealer 20 loses $10 and a dealer 21 loses $20.
Weighted by our count, that averages a loss of about 57 cents a round, 2.85% of the $20 staked.
Live Casino Comparer adds a warning worth keeping: make sure any win covers the total bet. A dealer 18 wins $1.30 on the 20 while the $10 on 16 loses.
Why can’t you bet on 21?
The table stops at 20. Live Casino Comparer notes that 21 is not an option, so a dealer 21 beats every score on the easy blackjack live layout.
It also points out that the dealer often lands on 20, which only a bet on 21 would beat. Without it, a dealer 20 pushes the 20 and beats everything below.
Is there a strategy?
Not for playing hands, since there are none. Evolution says the game lets players step away from conventional blackjack strategy, and Live Casino Comparer says no basic strategy is needed because only the dealer’s hand is in play.
What remains in easy blackjack live is the choice of score and stake. Every score returns about 97%, so the choice shapes how often a player wins, not how much the house keeps.
Live Casino Comparer’s own pick is 16 and 20. The sums above show that pair costs 2.85% on average, like any other mix.
How does it compare with standard live blackjack?
Standard blackjack returns more but asks for decisions. Live Casino Comparer puts standard blackjack at 99.47% against about 97% for easy blackjack live.
It calls the two different games: in one a player plays a hand, in the other a player bets on an outcome. Easy Blackjack needs no skill; regular blackjack rewards it.
Our live blackjack page covers the standard tables.
How does it compare with Always 6 Blackjack?
Both are Evolution twists on the dealer’s hand, pulled in opposite directions. Always 6 Blackjack fixes the dealer’s open card at 6, keeps player hands and decisions, and pays 0.61:1 on a win.
Easy blackjack live removes the player hand altogether. The dealer’s cards come from the shoe as usual, and the only choice is the score.
Does the shoe matter?
Only a little. Live Casino Comparer says the shoe is changed when half the cards have been used, and our figures describe the first hand from a fresh shoe.
As cards leave the shoe, the shares drift slightly. The pay table does not change, and no player decision can use the drift, since there are none.
Is the game fair?
The result rests on real cards dealt on camera from an eight-deck shoe, with the dealer drawing by a fixed rule that no one at the table can change.
Evolution’s site lists licences from the Malta Gaming Authority and Great Britain’s Gambling Commission, among a number of jurisdictions. In Ontario, the operator’s registration is the second check.
What does the table show?
The dealer, the five score spots and the payouts. Footage of an easy blackjack live table shows a green felt reading Easy Blackjack, with the dealer’s rule printed above spots for 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20.
Each spot carries its rate: 2.45 to 1, 1.93 to 1, 0.95 to 1, 0.48 to 1 and 0.13 to 1. A round Bust It spot sits to the right of score 20, and a Bet on All button sits below the row.
During betting, a countdown reads Place Your Bets above chips from 1 to 500 and a Repeat button.
What are the bet limits?
They depend on the casino. The easy blackjack live table in one clip shows €1 to €3,000 in its header, and Live Casino Comparer lists £1 to £5,000 at the casinos it reviewed.
The header at the top of the game window carries the limits in force. It is the first line to read before the first chip goes down.
How fast is a round?
Faster than standard blackjack. Livedealer.org says rounds are rapid because only a dealer hand is dealt, with no player decisions to wait for.
The pace raises the hourly cost at the same stake. The edge per round is the same, but more easy blackjack live rounds fit into an hour.
Where can Canadians play it?
At casinos that carry Evolution’s live games. Livedealer.org says most such casinos offer easy blackjack live, and Live Casino Comparer says it sits under the Blackjack tab in the Evolution lobby.
In Ontario, the operator’s registration is the first thing to check. The table header and game help show the rules and limits in force.
Who is the game for?
Players who want blackjack’s rhythm without its decisions. That is the easy blackjack live pitch. Evolution pitches it as a fresh way to play that breaks free from traditional strategy.
Live Casino Comparer is less keen: it finds the game nicely presented but built more for the house, and says it did not hold its attention for more than a few hands.
It suits players who like betting on an outcome. It suits less those who want the best return, which standard blackjack offers.
What does a Canadian player check before playing?
Four items: the table header for limits, the payout under each score, the RTP figures in the game help and the operator’s registration. All four are visible before the first round of easy blackjack live.
Set a money limit and a time limit first. Players in Ontario who want support can call ConnexOntario at 1-866-531-2600.
Our page on responsible gambling practices for Canadians covers limits and tools.
Which blackjack pages are worth reading next?
Four pages sit closest to this one. Each covers another live blackjack table tied to the subjects above, and each one stands on its own.
Easy blackjack live strips blackjack down to the dealer’s hand and five scores. Every score returns about 97%, score 16 returns the most, and Bust It costs the most.