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Triple Up 21

Last Update: Sep 07, 2009

Introduction

Triple Up 21 is a blackjack variant found at a few casinos in Las Vegas. It allows the player to triple up (or "triple down" if you prefer) in some situations. This is at the cost of blackjack paying even money, including blackjack ties.

Rules

Contrary to what the rule cards may say, the following are the rules of Triple Up 21. In any game, ask the dealer about the rules if you are not sure.

Player may triple up (triple his bet) on certain initial two-card hands. With six decks, the player may triple up on any initial two-card hand. With two decks, tripling up is restricted to hard totals of 9 to 11. With one deck, tripling up is restricted to hard totals of 10 and 11. Tripling on a blackjack with one and two decks may also be allowed, depending on the casino.
Player blackjack always wins.
Blackjack pays even money.
Dealer hits soft 17.
Surrender not allowed.
Insurance not allowed.
Player may re-split any equal-valued cards, including aces, up to four hands.
Player may double on any initial two-card hand.
Double after split may or may not be allowed, depending on the casino.

Strategy

The following three charts show the basic strategy for one, two, and six decks.

It is not a typo that the player should triple down on a blackjack, against a dealer six, in the six-deck game. Tripling on a blackjack may be allowed in single-deck and double-deck games too, in which cases it should also be done against a dealer six only. It is a very borderline play, reducing the overall house edge by much less than 0.01% when allowed.

House edge

The following table shows the house edge according to the number of decks and whether double after a split (DAS) is allowed, assuming the basic strategies above and a cut-card game.

Decks	No DAS	DAS
House Edge in Triple Up 21
1	1.03%	0.89%
2	1.19%	1.04%
6	1.16%	1.02%

Locations

Known locations to have Triple Up 21 are:

Santa Fe Station, LV (two decks)
Texas Station, LV (two decks)
Fiesta Rancho, LV (unknown number of decks, some sources say two, some say six)
Fiesta Henderson, LV (two decks)
Boulder Station,LV (two decks)
Eureka, Mesquite (two decks)