How a round of live blackjack runs
One round at a live table with seven seats, from the bet to the payout, with every card and payout computed.
Seven seats and a dealer at a real table. Join with chips before betting closes.
A live table is a real table in a studio, filmed by cameras, with seven seats and one dealer. You take a seat and place chips while the betting window is open before each round. When the window closes, the stakes are fixed and the deal starts. In this round every seat is taken, with stakes from £100 to £500.
The dealer deals from a physical shoe, and software reads each card onto your screen.
The cards come out of a physical shoe, dealt by hand. As each card is turned, software reads it with optical character recognition and places it in the hand on your screen, so the hand you see is the hand on the felt. The Gambling Commission's standard for live dealer studios asks for fair, independently auditable play, with the dealer recorded on video.
Each seat gets two cards face up. The dealer shows one; this table deals the second later.
Each seat receives two cards face up, and the dealer shows a single card. What happens to the dealer's second card depends on the table. At some tables it is dealt face down as a hole card; at others, like this simulated one, it arrives only after every player has acted. Read the table's rules before you sit down, because the difference changes what you risk on doubles and splits.
Your decision runs on a short timer: hit, stand, double or split. The dealer carries it out.
When your turn comes, a short timer runs on screen. You choose to hit, stand, double or split, and the dealer carries out the choice at the table. In this round seat 6 doubles on 11 against the dealer's 2, seat 7 hits a hard 12 and then stands, seat 2 already holds blackjack, and the others stand on their first two cards.
Every seat taken? Bet Behind a seated hand and follow that player's decisions.
Bet Behind lets you join a table when every seat is taken. You stake on a seated player's hand and take that player's decisions; you do not choose for the hand. Here £100 sits behind seat 7. That player hits a 12, draws a 5 and stands on 17, so the bet behind holds the same 17 and settles exactly as seat 7 does.
The dealer draws to the house rule. On this table, the dealer stands on all 17s.
Once the players have acted, the dealer plays by a fixed house rule and makes no choices. This simulated table follows the rule that the dealer stands on all 17s, soft ones included. The dealer adds a 2, an ace and another 2 to the showing 2, reaches soft 17 and stops. At a table where the dealer hits soft 17, another card would follow.
A £100 natural pays £150 at 3:2. At 6:5 it pays £120: about 1.4 points more house edge.
The payout on a natural, an ace with a ten-value card, is the rule to check first. This table pays 3:2, so seat 2's £100 natural pays £150. The same hand at a 6:5 table pays £120. A natural comes in about 4.7% of hands off a full shoe, so the lower payout adds about 1.4 points to the house edge.
The round settles: wins, pushes and losses are paid before the next betting window opens.
Settlement closes the round. Seats 3, 5 and 6 beat the dealer's 17 and are paid even money, seat 6 on its doubled stake. Seat 2 collects £150 for the natural. Seat 7 and the bet behind it push and get their stakes back, while seats 1 and 4 lose. Only then does the next betting window open.
Sources: Blackjack, Wikipedia (hole card, 3:2 and 6:5, dealer on 17) · Live dealer, Wikipedia (card reading by optical character recognition) · Gambling Commission, RTS 17: live dealer studios · High limit live blackjack guide (seats, Bet Behind, the timer).