Pontoon is basically the same thing as 21 and Blackjack. Many online casinos simply use the name to freshen up the image of ordinary blackjack or 21. Of all the games that you find in online casino Pontoon is the one that seems to have the most variations when it comes to the rules. However the strategies that you use in a game of Blackjack or Spanish 21 to bring the house edge down to 1% are the same ones that you would use to play a game of Pontoon.
The main difference between Pontoon and the other two games is that true Pontoon is played with eight 52-card decks. In a true game of Pontoon any five-card hand will pay two to one, even after the cards are split. Pontoon also has a higher house edge than Blackjack or 21 because the player loses to the house with all pushes and ties.
Another difference between Pontoon and Blackjack is that there is no bonus payout if you get 21 in five cards without busting (sometimes called a five card Charlie or five card trick in Blackjack.)
Spanish 21 differs from Pontoon and Blackjack in two ways. In Spanish 21, all the 10s are removed from the deck. In addition, the player is paid for a hand total of 21, or the standard three-to-two payoff for a blackjack, even if the dealer's hand is a natural blackjack. Spanish 21 is rarely offered in online casinos because it is so friendly to the players. In Spanish 21 you can double down on two or more cards, double down up to four times after a split and bonuses are awarded if you achieve certain combinations of 21. Pontoon is at the opposite end of the spectrum when it comes to being this player friendly and Blackjack is somewhere in the middle. The lower house edge in a game of true Pontoon can be attributed to the eight decks that are used to deal the cards.
In Pontoon the house edge can be as low as 0.17%, so long as you follow strategies such as ignoring the insurance option if it is offered, choose a game where the dealer does not have a soft seventeen and finding a game that offers a bonus on a five card trick.
Of course online you are going to find tons of permutations of the game of Pontoon including ones that contain characteristics of both Spanish 21 and free black jack game. Some casinos will offer a game of Pontoon that is played with less than eight decks (thus increasing your advantage over the houses.) Other sites will vary the rules of Pontoon to offer a refund on pushes as opposed to a total loss on “pushes” and the option to double down twice. The fact that Pontoon has been mutated as a game so much is why you should carefully check the rules of each game before you play so that you are not blindsided by a rule that belongs more in a game of 21 or Blackjack.
