Blackjack has been one of the most popular casino table games for hundreds of years, and the online version of the game has made it available to an even wider audience today.

A still more recent innovation has been the growth in popularity of Live Dealer Blackjack, which adds a new and exciting dimension to online blackjack play.

What Blackjack games are available in live casinos?

Many casinos, such as 888.com and William Hill to name but two of them, now offer live dealer blackjack games on their sites. Apart from the traditional game of blackjack which we all know and love, various casinos will offer variations on the game at their live tables. To give you one example, at the 888 casino they now offer side-bets on live dealer games. Side bets are made before cards are dealt – along with your regular bet of course – and you can bet on either Perfect Pairs or 21+3 at 888 casino. A Perfect Pairs bet is a winner if the first two cards dealt to your hand are a pair. 21+3 pays out depending on the combination of your two cards and the dealer’s visible card.

Royal Vegas offer Blackjack Bet Behind at their live dealing tables. This is a feature carried over from the land-based version of the game and which now works online thanks to the live dealer format. To ‘bet behind’ is to bet on the success of another player at the table. By being able to bet on your own plus that of another person doubles your chances of winning, but only if you choose the right player to back!

Why is live Blackjack so popular?

There can be something a little sterile about playing online blackjack when all you are looking at is computer animations flickering across the screen. Live dealer blackjack has really taken off because it helps to capture that authentic casino feeling even as you are playing from the comfort of your own home. Being able to interact with a real person is more entertaining than playing hand after hand of regular online blackjack, and the casinos like this feature as it keeps players at the tables for longer.

The confidence element is also a factor in the eyes of some blackjack players. Card players can be a rather suspicious bunch, and more old-fashioned folk may not entirely trust the random generators which determine the cards dealt during online games. When you can actually see a real person shuffling the decks and dealing out the cards it removes that element of doubt and lets players enjoy their game even more.

What makes a good live Blackjack Casino?

First and foremost, where Live Dealer Blackjack is on offer you must be able to believe in the technology being employed by the casino. You don’t want to be half way through a hand and experience a blackout when their web stream goes down. All the casinos mentioned on these pages are completely trustworthy in that regard, so you won’t have any problems there.

Apart from the technological side of things you have a right to expect professional quality dealers to be working the live dealer tables. Regardless of whether you are playing online or in the swankiest casino in Vegas, the standard of dealer should be just as good. Proper dealers will deal with clients in a polite and friendly manner, and have perfect command of the rules and betting options.

Is it possible to get a good bonus?

William Hill offer a generous £25 bonus to welcome new players to their live dealer blackjack tables without the requirement to make a deposit. Meanwhile Royal Vegas Casino are feeling very generous and they offer to match your first deposit and to give bonuses on your second and third deposits as well. Altogether you could earn a whopping $1,200 in bonuses, combined with as many as 120 free spins. There is another interesting deal on offer at Rich Casino, where they will give you a 250% bonus when you deposit €200 or more.

There are plenty of other great offers out there so do some research to locate the best bonus offer for you.