How one live blackjack dealer deals to many players

Live casinos are an online gambling format involving a live video feed of the game deal served remotely to players' PCs. The cards, roulette wheel or die and table on which the game takes place are all real, as is the dealer or croupier conducting the game.

So at one end of the stream is a single dealer, and at the other, sitting at computers the world over, are players participating in the game. This setup poses the logistical question of how a single dealer deals to potentially dozens or even hundreds of players playing the same game. While this isn't an issue in roulette and punto banco baccarat, where bet choices are competed prior to the deal/spin and then the croupier does the rest. But what about blackjack, where different bet decisions are required by participating players during the course of the deal?

This dilemma is of course addressed by the casinos, and depending on the casino you are playing at, it is addressed in different ways. Set out below are some of the approaches adopted.

Most live blackjack games are set up in multi-player format just like at a terrestrial casino allowing up to seven players to take their place at the 'virtual' table. If you join a table, the dealer is instructed that another player has joined the game and deals accordingly. In this scenario, some live casinos allow players to bet on boxes played by existing players at the table, thus making the number of participating players unlimited, however a maximum of 7 players will be playing a hand each round and a maximum of 7 hands will be dealt by the dealer.

With a full table and up to 30 seconds afforded between deals and hit/stand/split/double bet choices for each player, these games can become quite long and require a degree of player patience.

There are a very few live casinos that offer one on one live blackjack. When you open the game you are presented with a dealer that is dealing a single hand of blackjack to you and you only. The game is fast as there is no waiting for other players to decide on their bets, but it is a rare offering and understandably so. Obviously casinos would prefer a number of players to be subsidizing their dealer's wagers than just the one. Nevertheless, these games do exist.

The last approach take to the 'one dealer many players' dilemma of live gambling is one employed by some live 'for television' casinos. There are a few casinos that cast their live blackjack games not only over the web, but also on dedicated SKY, Freesat and/or Freeview cable television channels throughout the UK.

Here a single dealer or 'casino presenter' as they are called may be dealing to hundreds of players at any given time which certainly highlights the issue in question. Clearly a hundred seat blackjack table with each player playing their hand in turn is not going to work. So how does the live television blackjack address this problem?

One solution used, is to deal all cards subsequent to the 2 player cards and the dealer up card into to the centre of the table and allocated them to players in accordance with their bet decisions. For players that stand, any additional cards dealt to the centre of the table are irrelevant. For player that hit, split or doubled down, then the cards are allocated to them according to their bet decisions. The final cards dealt to middle of the table are the dealers.

It's a little confusing to get you head around at first, and you really need to play a few hands to get a feel for how the centre cards reconcile to your played hand. But the key point to note is that regardless of the format in which the cards are placed on the table, standard blackjack rules are in play, and the virtual cards on the interface graphic tell you exactly which cards are yours and which are the dealers.

Live Casinos is a live casino information resource at which Milton Shaw is a contributing writer. Further information on live blackjack may be found at Live Blackjack