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Atlassino Academy · Blackjack · Lesson 21 of 21

Bahama Bonus: no tens, bonuses and redoubles

A shoe with no tens and, at Fallsview, a double that can be doubled again or rescued, and payouts that a second bet on the hand takes away.

  • About 30 minutes
  • Illustrated hosts: Maya and Leo
  • Last checked 2 October 2026

At Fallsview, Bahama Bonus is a Spanish 21 table where a double may be doubled again, and that move redraws a corner of the chart. Which corner is it, and what does the table charge for the move?

The short answer

The corner is the double. Played by the chart worked out for these rules, this game doubles in cells where the same game without the redouble takes a card, and after the double card it has a third choice beside standing and doubling again: taking the first bet back and leaving the hand. The chart for this game and the chart for the same game without the redouble name different moves in 21 cells of 330. What the game costs turns on one line posted at the table, and that line is what the dealer does on a soft 17.

One hand: one bet at the start, two bets after the double, four after a redouble, eight after another, sixteen after a third, each step bringing one card. Beside every step after the double stands the rescue, which gives back the first bet only.

  1. The hand startsone bettwo cards are dealt
  2. The doubletwo betsone card comes
  3. A redoublefour betsone more card
  4. Another redoubleeight betsone more card
  5. A third redoublesixteen betsone more card
  6. The rescuethe first bet backevery double on the hand stays with the table
Maya points into an empty card-shaped outline at the end of a row of three face-up spades — a seven, an eight and a nine — where a ten would come next, while Leo strokes his beard at the rail beside the row.

The deck, and what the table prints before any double

Bahama Bonus is dealt from decks with every 10 taken out: the jacks, queens and kings stay, and so does every ace and every card from a 2 to a 9. A card worth ten points is still a common card in this shoe; four of them in every deck are missing.

  • A
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10 taken out
  • J
  • Q
  • K

One suit of one deck: thirteen ranks in a standard deck, twelve here, with the rank printed as 10 crossed out. How many such decks go into the shoe is up to the table; at Casino de Montréal, anything from one deck to eight.

Before the double comes into it, four more lines change the plain game, and two rooms word some of them differently.

What the table prints before any double
The ruleWhat it means at the table
Your blackjack against the dealer’sAt Fallsview a blackjack of yours is paid three to two even when the dealer has one too; at Casino de Montréal it is settled in your favour whatever the dealer holds.
Your 21, and a tieAt Casino de Montréal a 21 of yours is settled in your favour, and two equal totals are a push only at 20 or less.
SurrenderOn the first two cards, before any other move: half of the first bet is lost and the hand leaves the round. At Fallsview there is no surrender against a dealer blackjack.
SplittingAny two cards of equal value, aces too, up to four hands, and a split hand may take cards and be doubled. At Fallsview the Bonus 21 payouts are paid on split hands as well.

None of the four lines is the redouble, but the chart further down counts every one of them — the 21 rule too: a 21 of yours is counted as settled in your favour, which Casino de Montréal prints and the Fallsview card does not.

The double, and the double again

At Fallsview a second bet may go up on two cards or more, on any total, and after a split as well. After that first double comes the move this game is built around: the hand may be redoubled up to three times, each redouble doubles everything already on the hand, and each redouble brings exactly one card.

What each document prints about the double
The questionFallsview, English cardThe French card for the same two roomsCasino de Montréal
When a second bet may go upOn two cards or more, on any total, and after a splitOn two cards or more, on any totalOn any hand that is not a blackjack or a hard 21, and after a split
How many timesOne double, then up to three redoubles, one card each timeOnceOnce, for one more card only
How much a double puts upA redouble puts up as much as everything already on the handThe bet is doubledUp to the first bet, within the limits posted at the table

So the chart further down belongs to a table that deals by the English wording of the Fallsview card. At a table that prints one double, or at Casino de Montréal, every cell the redouble moved leans on a move that table does not offer, and the chart on this page is the wrong chart to carry there.

Where the redouble moves the chart

A first double that can be followed by more doubles is worth more than a first double that ends the hand, and so the chart before the double moves to match. Here it is for six 48-card decks under the English Fallsview card, with the dealer hitting a soft 17. A cell with a heavy frame and a dot is a cell where the chart for the same game without the redouble names a different move.

Hard totals, before any double
Hard2345678910A
5–7HHHHD, differs from the same game without the redoubleHHHHH
8HHHD, differs from the same game without the redoubleD, differs from the same game without the redoubleHHHHH
9HD4, differs from the same game without the redoubleD, differs from the same game without the redoubleD, differs from the same game without the redoubleDHHHHH
10D5D5DDDD4D3HHH
11D4D5D5D5D5D4D4D4D3D3
12HHHHHHHHHH
13HHHHS4*HHHHH
14HHS4*S5†S6‡HHHHH
15S4*S5†S6S6SHHHHH
16S6S6S6SSHHHHRh
17SSSSSSS6S6S6Rh
18+SSSSSSSSSS
  • Hhit
  • Sstand
  • Ddouble
  • D3double with up to 2 cards; with 3 or more, hit
  • D4double with up to 3 cards; with 4 or more, hit
  • D5double with up to 4 cards; with 5 or more, hit
  • S4stand; hit with 4 or more cards
  • S5stand; hit with 5 or more cards
  • S6stand; hit with 6 or more cards
  • Rhsurrender, otherwise hit
  • *hit if the two cards are 6-7, 6-8 or 7-8 (a 6-7-8 bonus is still possible)
  • †hit if those two cards are of one suit
  • ‡hit if those two cards are both spades
  • •differs from the same game without the redouble
Soft hands, before any double
Soft2345678910A
A,2HD3, differs from the same game without the redoubleD, differs from the same game without the redoubleD, differs from the same game without the redoubleD, differs from the same game without the redoubleHHHHH
A,3HD3, differs from the same game without the redoubleD4, differs from the same game without the redoubleD, differs from the same game without the redoubleD, differs from the same game without the redoubleHHHHH
A,4HHD4, differs from the same game without the redoubleD4, differs from the same game without the redoubleD5HHHHH
A,5HHD3, differs from the same game without the redoubleD4D5HHHHH
A,6HHD3D4D5HHHHH
A,7S4S4D4D5D6S6S4HHH
A,8SSSSSSSSS6S6
A,9SSSSSSSSSS
  • Hhit
  • Sstand
  • Ddouble
  • D3double with up to 2 cards; with 3 or more, hit
  • D4double with up to 3 cards; with 4 or more, hit
  • D5double with up to 4 cards; with 5 or more, hit
  • D6double with up to 5 cards; with 6 or more, hit
  • S4stand; hit with 4 or more cards
  • S6stand; hit with 6 or more cards
  • •differs from the same game without the redouble
Pairs
Pair2345678910A
2,2PPPPPPPHHH
3,3PPPPPPPHHH
4,4HHHD, differs from the same game without the redoubleD, differs from the same game without the redoubleHHHHH
5,5DDDDDDDHHH
6,6HHPPPHHHHH
7,7PPPPPPHHHH
8,8PPPPPPPPPRh
9,9SPPPPSPPSS
10,10SSSSSSSSSS
A,APPPPPPPPPP
  • Hhit
  • Sstand
  • Ddouble
  • Psplit
  • Rhsurrender, otherwise hit
  • •differs from the same game without the redouble

In every marked cell this chart doubles, and the chart for the same game without the redouble does something else: the redouble is the only rule that differs between the two, and the only move it moves is the double. Hard totals that play alike share a row, so a dot in that row stands for each total in it.

  • Hard 5double against 6, where the chart without the redouble says “take a card”.
  • Hard 6double against 6, where the chart without the redouble says “take a card”.
  • Hard 7double against 6, where the chart without the redouble says “take a card”.
  • Hard 8double against 5 and 6, where the chart without the redouble says “take a card”.
  • Hard 9double against 3 to 5, where the chart without the redouble says “take a card”.
  • Soft 13double against 3 to 6, where the chart without the redouble says “take a card”.
  • Soft 14double against 3 to 6, where the chart without the redouble says “take a card”.
  • Soft 15double against 4 and 5, where the chart without the redouble says “take a card”.
  • Soft 16double against 4, where the chart without the redouble says “take a card”.
  • A pair of 4sdouble against 5 and 6, where the chart without the redouble says “take a card”.

The marked cells in words, row by row.

Set beside the chart of the Spanish 21 lesson — the same decks, no redouble, and no bonus paid on a split hand — the count of cells with a different move is 22. The one cell that is not about the double is a pair of 2s against an 8, which this game splits and that chart takes a card on, because here a split hand can still be paid a bonus.

A double the chart calls for can still lose, and on a redoubled hand it loses every bet on that hand at once. Playing by the chart makes the share the house keeps smaller; over all the hands of an evening it does not take that share away.

The way out after a double

At Fallsview a hand that has been doubled and has not gone over 21 may be rescued: the player takes back the first bet only, gives up every double and redouble on the hand, and leaves the round.

At FallsviewAfter a double and a redouble: four bets on the hand
Comes back: the first betStays with the table: the double and the redouble, three bets
At Casino de MontréalAfter its one double, here the same size as the first bet: two bets on the hand
Comes back: the doubleStays with the table: the first bet

Two rooms, two rescues. At Fallsview the first bet comes back and every double stays with the table. Casino de Montréal words its rescue the other way round: the amount added as a double comes back, and the first bet is lost.

A rescue is not a surrender. A surrender comes before any other move on your first two cards and costs half of the first bet; a rescue comes only after a double, and at Fallsview it costs everything on the hand except the first bet.

The chart after the double card

Once the double card has come, two bets are on the hand and there are three choices: double again, stand, or rescue. A plain blackjack chart has no row for this moment at all. Here are the rows worked out for it, for the same six decks and the same dealer rule.

After the double card, two bets on the hand: hard totals
Total2345678910A
6SDDDDDXXXX
7DDDDDDXXXX
8DDDDDDDXXX
9DDDDDDDDDX
10DDDDDDDDDD
11DDDDDDDDDD
12SSSSSDDXXX
13SSSSSSXXXX
14SSSSSSXXXX
15SSSSSSXXXX
16SSSSSSXXXX
17SSSSSSSSSX
18SSSSSSSSSS
19SSSSSSSSSS
20SSSSSSSSSS
  • Sstand
  • Ddouble again
  • Xrescue: take the first bet back, give up the doubles
After the double card, two bets on the hand: soft hands
Total2345678910A
Soft 13DDDDDDDDDX
Soft 14DDDDDDDDDX
Soft 15DDDDDDDDDX
Soft 16DDDDDDDDDX
Soft 17DDDDDDDDDX
Soft 18SSDDDSSSSS
Soft 19SSSSSSSSSS
Soft 20SSSSSSSSSS
  • Sstand
  • Ddouble again
  • Xrescue: take the first bet back, give up the doubles

Every cell here is a hand that has already been doubled once and has just taken its double card. The rescue appears where the hand is weak and the dealer’s card is strong, and a 10 or an 11 is doubled again against every dealer card.

The two tables above, row by row in words
  • Hard 6stand against 2; double again against 3 to 7; rescue: take the first bet back, give up the doubles against 8 to ace.
  • Hard 7double again against 2 to 7; rescue: take the first bet back, give up the doubles against 8 to ace.
  • Hard 8double again against 2 to 8; rescue: take the first bet back, give up the doubles against 9 to ace.
  • Hard 9double again against 2 to 10; rescue: take the first bet back, give up the doubles against ace.
  • Hard 10double again against every dealer card.
  • Hard 11double again against every dealer card.
  • Hard 12stand against 2 to 6; double again against 7 and 8; rescue: take the first bet back, give up the doubles against 9 to ace.
  • Hard 13stand against 2 to 7; rescue: take the first bet back, give up the doubles against 8 to ace.
  • Hard 14stand against 2 to 7; rescue: take the first bet back, give up the doubles against 8 to ace.
  • Hard 15stand against 2 to 7; rescue: take the first bet back, give up the doubles against 8 to ace.
  • Hard 16stand against 2 to 7; rescue: take the first bet back, give up the doubles against 8 to ace.
  • Hard 17stand against 2 to 10; rescue: take the first bet back, give up the doubles against ace.
  • Hard 18stand against every dealer card.
  • Hard 19stand against every dealer card.
  • Hard 20stand against every dealer card.
  • Soft 13double again against 2 to 10; rescue: take the first bet back, give up the doubles against ace.
  • Soft 14double again against 2 to 10; rescue: take the first bet back, give up the doubles against ace.
  • Soft 15double again against 2 to 10; rescue: take the first bet back, give up the doubles against ace.
  • Soft 16double again against 2 to 10; rescue: take the first bet back, give up the doubles against ace.
  • Soft 17double again against 2 to 10; rescue: take the first bet back, give up the doubles against ace.
  • Soft 18stand against 2, 3 and 7 to ace; double again against 4 to 6.
  • Soft 19stand against every dealer card.
  • Soft 20stand against every dealer card.

With four bets up, and again with eight, the chart has no rescue in it at all; a rescue at that point would hand back one bet of four, or one bet of eight.

After a redouble, four bets on the hand: hard totals
Total2345678910A
6SSDDDSSSSS
7DDDDDDSSSS
8DDDDDDDDSS
9DDDDDDDDDD
10DDDDDDDDDD
11DDDDDDDDDD
12SSSSSDDSSS
13SSSSSSSSSS
14SSSSSSSSSS
15SSSSSSSSSS
16SSSSSSSSSS
17SSSSSSSSSS
18SSSSSSSSSS
19SSSSSSSSSS
20SSSSSSSSSS
  • Sstand
  • Ddouble again

The same hard totals with four bets on the hand. The choices left are to double again or to stand, and the bet on the table is now four times the bet the hand started with.

What the table pays in place of even money

At Fallsview nine hands are paid at more than one to one, and each of those payouts is the payout of the whole hand, made in place of the one to one the hand would otherwise be paid — not an extra amount added to it.

The nine Bonus 21 payouts at Fallsview, on six lines
The hand, with no second bet on itPaid, in place of one to one
A 21 in five cards3 to 2
A 21 in six cards2 to 1
A 21 in seven cards or more3 to 1
A 6-7-8 or a 7-7-7 in mixed suits3 to 2
A 6-7-8 or a 7-7-7 all in one suit2 to 1
A 6-7-8 or a 7-7-7 all in spades3 to 1

A second bet on the hand takes every one of these payouts away: a five-card 21 on a doubled hand is settled as an ordinary hand. Casino de Montréal does not pay them on a doubled hand either.

  • The Super BonusAt Fallsview, a suited 7-7-7 against a dealer 7 is paid a fixed sum, and every other player with a bet at the table is paid a smaller fixed sum. A split or a double on the hand voids it.
  • Match UpA second bet of your own beside the main one, on either of your first two cards matching the dealer’s up card in rank, settled before the round begins on a payout table of its own. Every side bet is a gamble of its own, and none of them is a way to get money back.
What Match Up pays at Fallsview
Your first two cards against the dealer’s up cardPaid
Two suited matches24 to 1
One suited match and one not suited15 to 1
One suited match12 to 1
Two matches, neither suited6 to 1
One match, not suited3 to 1

The Super Bonus is paid on the hand and needs no bet beside it; Match Up is a bet of your own, settled before the round, and the chart counts it nowhere. The share the house keeps on either is not worked out on this page.

Maya with a hand on her chest, speaking gently and seriously.

Mayaformer floor supervisor · manners, money and breaks

The payouts are the part people remember from this table, and they arrive on hands you were going to finish anyway. A payout is not a reason to leave the chart, and Match Up is a second bet: decide whether it belongs in the evening’s money before you sit, not because the last hand nearly matched.

What the game costs, and the line that decides it

At Fallsview the dealer’s rule on a soft 17 is on the sign at the table, which posts one of two rules. So this one game has two prices, and the sign decides which of the two is yours.

Bahama Bonus, dealer hits a soft 170.41%

Bahama Bonus under the English Fallsview card, at a table where the dealer hits a soft 17.

Bahama Bonus, dealer stands on a soft 170.02%

Bahama Bonus under the English Fallsview card, at a table where the dealer stands on a soft 17.

The same game without the redouble, dealer hits a soft 170.78%

The same game with the redouble taken away, at a table where the dealer hits a soft 17.

Each bar is the share of every bet the house keeps from a player who follows the chart on every hand. One line on the sign separates the upper two, a gap of 0.39 percentage points. The bottom bar, without the redouble, is the longest: played by the chart, the redouble takes part of the price off.

The sign also carries the smallest and the largest bet the table takes, and the largest payout it makes.

The game is listed on the floor at Fallsview, at Casino de Montréal and at Lac-Leamy. What a floor deals changes, and a table that dealt this game last month may be dealing something else tonight.

Leo smiling, explaining with an open hand.

Leoformer dealer · rules and maths

Two lines on the sign before the first chip goes down: the dealer rule and the limits. The dealer rule tells me which of the two prices I am paying, and the limits tell me how far one redoubled hand can go at that table.

Maya with a hand on her chest, speaking gently and seriously.

Mayaformer floor supervisor · manners, money and breaks

Redoubling can raise the bet up to three times on one hand, to sixteen times the first bet, and every raise puts up as much again as everything already on that hand. Set the limit before the shoe, not in the middle of a hand: decide how much the evening gets and how much one hand may carry, and stop when either one is used up.

A losing run is not a debt the table owes you, and putting more money down to get it back only makes the evening dearer. If the money on the table starts to feel like money you need, take a break and call one of the lines below — that is what they are for.

If it stops being fun

If gambling stops being entertainment, help is available. 19+ in most of Canada; 18+ in Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec. More on responsible gaming.

1-866-531-2600Ontario · ConnexOntario · 24 hours
1-800-461-0140Quebec · Jeu: aide et référence · 24 hours
1-888-795-6111British Columbia · Gambling Support BC · 24 hours
1-866-332-2322Alberta · Addiction Helpline (Recovery Alberta) · 24 hours
1-800-463-1554Manitoba · Problem Gambling Helpline · 24 hours
1-800-306-6789Saskatchewan · Problem Gambling Help Line · 24 hours
1-888-429-8167Nova Scotia · Mental Health and Addictions Crisis Line · 24 hours
1-800-461-1234New Brunswick · Gambling Information Line
1-855-255-4255Prince Edward Island · PEI Gambling Support Line · 24 hours
811Newfoundland and Labrador · Gambling Help Line · 24 hours
1-844-533-3030Yukon · Reach Out Support Line (CMHA Yukon)

If you are thinking about suicide, call or text 9-8-8

The chart on one card

That is the lesson. The chart for this game is on one card: print it, or keep it on your phone.

Bahama BonusFallsview rules card · a 21 of yours counted as paid · dealer hits a soft 17
Hard totals
Hard2345678910A
5–7HHHHDHHHHH
8HHHDDHHHHH
9HD4DDDHHHHH
10D5D5DDDD4D3HHH
11D4D5D5D5D5D4D4D4D3D3
12HHHHHHHHHH
13HHHHS4*HHHHH
14HHS4*S5†S6‡HHHHH
15S4*S5†S6S6SHHHHH
16S6S6S6SSHHHHRh
17SSSSSSS6S6S6Rh
18+SSSSSSSSSS
Soft hands
Soft2345678910A
A,2HD3DDDHHHHH
A,3HD3D4DDHHHHH
A,4HHD4D4D5HHHHH
A,5HHD3D4D5HHHHH
A,6HHD3D4D5HHHHH
A,7S4S4D4D5D6S6S4HHH
A,8SSSSSSSSS6S6
A,9SSSSSSSSSS
Pairs
Pair2345678910A
2,2PPPPPPPHHH
3,3PPPPPPPHHH
4,4HHHDDHHHHH
5,5DDDDDDDHHH
6,6HHPPPHHHHH
7,7PPPPPPHHHH
8,8PPPPPPPPPRh
9,9SPPPPSPPSS
10,10SSSSSSSSSS
A,APPPPPPPPPP
  • Hhit
  • Sstand
  • Ddouble
  • D3double with up to 2 cards; with 3 or more, hit
  • D4double with up to 3 cards; with 4 or more, hit
  • D5double with up to 4 cards; with 5 or more, hit
  • D6double with up to 5 cards; with 6 or more, hit
  • S4stand; hit with 4 or more cards
  • S5stand; hit with 5 or more cards
  • S6stand; hit with 6 or more cards
  • Psplit
  • Rhsurrender, otherwise hit
  • *hit if the two cards are 6-7, 6-8 or 7-8 (a 6-7-8 bonus is still possible)
  • †hit if those two cards are of one suit
  • ‡hit if those two cards are both spades

19+ (18+ in AB, MB, QC) · Set a limit before you sit down, not in the middle of a hand · Play responsibly · the line for your province is at Helplines by province

If you are thinking about suicide, call or text 9-8-8

Practice: redouble or stand?

The practice table deals this game by the English Fallsview card, with the dealer hitting a soft 17. Level 1, “More doubles”, is the cells where the redouble makes this chart double, with cells beside them where both charts name the same move, so the answer is not always the same button. Level 2, “After the double card”, is the moment with two bets up: double again, stand or rescue. Level 3, “Bonuses and the rescue”, is the payouts and the rescue as the Fallsview card prints them, and that level names the room because Casino de Montréal words its double and its rescue differently.

Nothing is bet here. The table plays one dealer rule of the two, takes no Match Up bet and counts no money.

The practice table needs JavaScript. Here is one hand from it, with the answer.

Bahama Bonus · Fallsview rules · six 48-card decks · dealer hits a soft 17

You hold a 4 and a 2 — a hard 6 — and the dealer shows a 6. What does the chart for this game say?

The answer: Put a second bet up and take one card.

The chart for the same game without the redouble says “hit”; this game’s chart says “double”. The only rule between the two charts is the redouble: at Fallsview, after the double card you may double again, up to three times, so the first double is worth more, and this chart doubles where the chart without the redouble takes a card.

Every answer about the chart comes from the engine that works out the chart for this game; the questions about payments and the rescue follow the Fallsview rules card.

How the practice run works

One strip, and no rounds. Every square on the strip is one hand of this lesson, and all of the squares are there from the start. Your first answer fills the square it belongs to; when the squares of one level are full, the next level begins by itself, with no button in between. Practising a hand you got wrong turns its cross into “fixed in practice” and does not change the count, because only first answers count.

The cards. No hand in the practice table holds a card of the rank printed 10, because that rank is not in the shoe: a ten-value card is a jack, a queen or a king. The cards before each question follow this game’s chart, so no hand asks you about a spot the chart would never have led you into.

Your progress stays in this browser, and nothing is sent anywhere.

Check yourself

Maya with a finger raised and a knowing look.

Mayaformer floor supervisor · manners, money and breaks

Five quick ones. Pick an answer, then check it. No timer, no points: just whether it stuck.

1At Fallsview you doubled a hard 7 against a dealer’s 6, and the double card was a 4. You hold 11 against a 6, with two bets on the hand. What does the chart for this game say?

Show the answer

Answer: Double again: put up as much as the two bets already on the hand, and take one more card. After the double card the hand is still open at this table, and an 11 against a 6 is a hand the chart wants more money on, not less. A redouble the chart calls for can still lose, and when it does, every bet on the hand goes with it.

  • Double again: put up as much as the two bets already on the hand, and take one more card. With two bets up, the chart for this game doubles a 10 or an 11 again against every dealer card, and a 6 is one of them.
  • Stand: two bets are enough on one hand. Standing on 11 gives up a hand that cannot go over 21 with the next card, and with two bets up the chart for this game never stands on an 11.
  • Rescue: take the first bet back and leave the hand. A rescue gives up the double that is already on the felt, and an 11 against a 6 is one of the strongest hands the chart sees after a double card.
2At Fallsview you doubled a hand, then redoubled it, and it is now a hard 15 that has not gone over 21. With four bets up the chart would not rescue, but you do. What comes back to you?

Show the answer

Answer: Only the first bet: the double and the redouble stay with the table. At Fallsview the rescue hands back the bet you started with and nothing else, so with a double and a redouble on the hand, one bet of the four comes back. Casino de Montréal words its rescue the other way round.

  • Only the first bet: the double and the redouble stay with the table. That is the rescue as the Fallsview card prints it: the original wager comes back, and the doubled and redoubled portions are given up.
  • Half of everything on the hand. Giving up half is how a surrender is settled, and a surrender takes half of the first bet before any other move on the first two cards. A rescue comes after a double and is settled differently.
  • The doubles come back, and the first bet is lost. That is how the Casino de Montréal page words its rescue, at a table with no redouble. At Fallsview it is the first bet that comes back.
3You put a second bet up on a four-card hand, and the double card makes 21 in five cards. Is the five-card payout made? new situation

Show the answer

Answer: No: the double voids the payout, and the hand is settled as an ordinary hand. A Bonus 21 payout is the payout of the whole hand, made in place of one to one, and it belongs to a hand with no second bet on it. A double moves the hand from one kind to the other.

  • No: the double voids the payout, and the hand is settled as an ordinary hand. The Fallsview card says in so many words that doubling down voids all the Bonus 21 payouts.
  • Yes, three to two: five cards make 21. Three to two is what a five-card 21 is paid at Fallsview on a hand with no second bet on it. This hand has one.
  • Half of the payout, because only one of the bets was doubled. The rule has no half measure. A double on the hand takes every Bonus 21 payout away from that hand.
4Which cards are missing from a deck at a Bahama Bonus table?

Show the answer

Answer: The four 10s. A deck at this table is a standard deck with the four 10s taken out. The jacks, queens and kings stay, and each of them still counts ten.

  • The four aces. Every ace stays in the deck: without aces there would be no blackjack and no soft hands, and both are part of this game.
  • Every card worth ten points. The jacks, queens and kings stay in the deck and count ten as always. Only the rank printed as 10 is taken out.
  • The four 10s. That is the deck this game is dealt from: the 2 to the 9, the jack, queen and king, and the ace, with no 10s.
5At Fallsview, the rules card for this game does not say what the dealer does on a soft 17. Where do you find out?

Show the answer

Answer: On the sign at the table, which carries the dealer rule for that table. The general blackjack card of the same rooms leaves the dealer rule to the sign at the table, and the two rules it names give this one game two different prices, both shown further up this page.

  • Nowhere: at this game the dealer always hits a soft 17. The Fallsview card for this game does not say that. The general card of the same rooms names two dealer rules, and either can be posted.
  • On the sign at the table, which carries the dealer rule for that table. The general blackjack card of the same rooms says the dealer draws by the rules posted on the table, and names both rules a table can post.
  • In the list of Bonus 21 payouts. That list says what the long 21s, the 6-7-8 and the 7-7-7 are paid. The dealer rule is a separate line, on the sign at the table.

Back to the question at the start. The corner the redouble redraws is the double itself: more first doubles before the double card, a row of its own after it with the rescue in it, and a price that still turns on the dealer rule printed on the sign. The table charges nothing for the move itself: played by the chart, the same game without the redouble keeps a larger share.

Where to play, and further reading

Blackjack in Canada The casinos that list blackjack, with the minimum bets they quote. Spanish 21 The same 48-card decks without the redouble, with a chart and a price of their own.

19+ (18+ in AB, MB, QC) · Play responsibly · the helplines are further up this page

Further reading

  • Bahama Bonus BlackJack · Fallsview Casino Resort and Casino NiagaraThe deck without tens, the redouble and the rescue, the nine bonus payouts and the Match Up table.

How it’s worked out

Rules, numbers and hosts

Where this happens. Every table on this page is a table in a room you can walk into, and every rule on it is quoted from what that room publishes. A game on a screen at home is asked for different things by a different book of rules, and it belongs to a track of its own.

Numbers. The three shares in the bars, the counts of cells and every chart are worked out when the page is built, by the engine behind our blackjack strategy tool, for six 48-card decks under the English Fallsview card: up to three redoubles, a rescue that gives back the first bet, the Bonus 21 payouts made on split hands as well, and a double that voids them. The engine also settles a 21 of yours in your favour and pushes equal totals only at 20 or less, as Casino de Montréal prints; the Fallsview card does not print that rule, and a Fallsview table that settles it otherwise would have a different price. No document we could read prints the number of decks for this game at Fallsview, and Casino de Montréal prints anything from one deck to eight, so six decks is our reading. None of the rules cards for this game that we could read prints the dealer rule on a soft 17, and the general blackjack card of the same rooms leaves it to the table, so the page carries both prices. All three figures assume a player who never departs from the chart and cards shuffled after every hand.

The counts of cells. The chart for the same game without the redouble is the same engine with the redouble taken away, and that game is Spanish 21 with the bonus payouts made on split hands. That is why the count against the Spanish 21 chart of the earlier lesson, where no bonus is paid after a split, is the larger of the two counts on this page. A cell counts when the two charts name a different move; a cell where only the number of cards a move holds for has changed is not counted.

Two cards for the same rooms, and a page for another room. The English Fallsview card prints the redouble up to three times, while the French card published for the same two rooms prints a double made once; this page follows the English card and says so wherever it matters. Casino de Montréal publishes its own rules for this game, with a double that brings one more card and a rescue worded the other way round, and its page says that where it differs from the By-law, the By-law prevails.

What is deliberately absent. No price is worked out here for the Match Up bet or for the Super Bonus, and there is no figure for how long money lasts at this table. Spanish 21 itself, with its chart for a table that pays no bonus after a split, has a lesson of its own in this track; so do Free Bet Blackjack, Blackjack Switch, Zappit and Double Down Madness, and so do the side bets that sit beside an ordinary blackjack hand.

Hosts. Maya and Leo are illustrated characters. Their backstories, a former floor supervisor and a former dealer, are written for the course: neither is a real person, and neither speaks for any casino. The rules and numbers on this page come from the sources it cites, not from their experience.

No promise. Bahama Bonus is played against the house at both of the tables this page describes. A redouble the chart calls for can lose every bet on the hand at once, nothing here makes the game free of cost, and nothing here says how an evening at this table will end.

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