Pontoon

Scoring Metrics

Pontoon Pays

2:1

5-Card Trick Pays

2:1

Other Wins Pay

1:1

Stick On

15+

Dealer Sticks On

17+

Ties

Dealer wins

Deck

52-card

Game Rules

• Objective: have a hand closer to 21 than the dealer's without going over. Pontoon is the British version of blackjack. Cards 2-10 are worth their face value, Jacks, Queens and Kings are worth 10, and an Ace counts 11 or 1.
• The names are different too. Hit is called Twist (take another card) and Stand is called Stick (keep your hand). The big rule to remember: you may only Stick on 15 or more. Under 15 you have to Twist.
• The deck: every card is dealt from a simulated 52-card deck that is reshuffled after every round, so each card is an independent random draw.
• Placing a bet: choose your bet amount and press Bet. You and the dealer each get two cards. One of the dealer's cards is face up, the other face down. Gold Coins and Diamonds each have their own balance, and you can switch between them between hands.
• Pontoon: an Ace plus a 10-value card as your first two cards is a Pontoon. It is the best hand in the game, beats everything else, and pays 2:1. A 21 made any other way is just a 21.
• Five-card trick: five cards that total 21 or less. It beats every hand except a Pontoon and pays 2:1 on your whole bet. A hand ends as soon as it reaches five cards, so there is no more twisting once you have the trick.
• Dealer peek: if the dealer shows an Ace or a 10-value card, they check the face-down card for a Pontoon straight away. If it is one, the round ends at once and you lose only your original bet. That is true even if you also have a Pontoon, because the dealer wins ties.
• Buy: with your first two cards you may buy one more card by adding a second bet equal to your first. After buying you are free to Twist or Stick as usual. You can buy once per hand, and the bought card counts toward a five-card trick.
• Split: if your first two cards have the same rank (two 8s, or two Kings, but not a King and a Queen), you may split them into two hands with a second bet equal to the first. Each hand gets one more card and then plays on its own. You can split again whenever a hand makes another pair, up to four hands in all. An Ace and a 10-value card after a split is a 21, not a Pontoon.
• The dealer's play: once you have finished, the dealer reveals the face-down card and twists until reaching 17 or more, or five cards. The dealer sticks on every 17, including a soft 17.
• Dealer wins ties. If you and the dealer end on the same total, you lose. The same goes for a Pontoon against a dealer Pontoon and a five-card trick against a dealer five-card trick: the dealer wins every tie.
• Going over 21 is a bust and always loses, even if the dealer busts too. If the dealer busts, every hand you have left in wins.
• Ranking, best to worst: Pontoon, five-card trick, 21, 20, 19 and so on down.
• Payouts: a winning hand pays 1:1. A Pontoon pays 2:1 on your original bet. A five-card trick pays 2:1 on the whole bet, including any bought stake. Because the dealer wins ties, there are no pushes.
• Not offered: insurance, surrender and double down. There is also no jackpot bonus on this table.
• This is a local demo with play chips. Nothing is saved or sent to a server, so refreshing the page resets your balances.