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Place a blackjack side bet up to €500 on the side bet areas around the box; Enjoy great payouts if your side bet wins! What is a Perfect Pair in blackjack? When playing the blackjack Perfect Pairs side bet, and your first two cards are a pair, there are three winning scenarios: Mixed pairs (e.g. King of Diamonds and King of Clubs) - 6:1. Pairs are some of the most confusing starting hands for a novice blackjack player to handle.Most rookies memorize the correct hitting, standing, and doubling decisions for hard totals with relative ease but when it comes to pair splitting, they are utterly perplexed. If you can not, the make sure to check out some of the best Perfect Pair titles below. Perfect Pairs Blackjack Rules. What you need to know if you are thinking about giving Perfect Pairs a try is that perfect pairs side bet can only be placed alongside a standard blackjack wager, with bet limits the same for both parts of your bet. Blackjack Strategy Chart (2020) - Become the best at the online casino card game. Learn when to hit, stand, double down, split and so on in the guide. If it is not possible to split your pair, treat your pair as a hard hand; Basic Blackjack Strategy Guide. Complete Guide to Blackjack Switch: Learn the Rules, How to Play, Best Casinos and a Simple PRO Strategy that KILLS the House Edge.
Table game purists love blackjack because of its simplicity and clockwork nature.
You start with two cards, as does the dealer, and by hitting, standing, doubling down, or splitting along the way, the goal always remains the same – reach a total of 21, or close to it, without going over. By applying the tenets of blackjack gambling strategy – which offers strict guidelines on how to play every possible player total vs. dealer up card scenario – skilled blackjack players can shave the house edge down to under 0.50 percent.
That makes blackjack in its most basic form one of the most favorable games spread on any casino floor. Thus, it’s no surprise to see blackjack reign supreme as the most popular table game offered by Las Vegas casinos for the last 50 years and counting.
Along the way, however, clever casino executives and gambling game designers have managed to do the seemingly impossible – improve on blackjack’s fundamental structure. Recognizing that modern gamblers like to have several irons on the fire, so to speak, these innovators have successfully integrated a slew of optional side bets alongside blackjack’s base gameplay.
Blackjack side bets come in all variety of formats, but the all share one thing in common – flexibility.
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To celebrate the exciting world of blackjack side bets, I’ve taken to this blog to pen a series on several of the most popular options available in Sin City. You can learn about classics like the “21 + 3” side bet, the iconic “Lucky Ladies”, and its close cousin “Lucky Lucky” by visiting those pages for further insight.
And when you’re done there, bring it back to this page to brush up on one of the more interesting blackjack side bets ever devised – the “Perfect Pairs.”
Introduction to the Perfect Pairs Side Bet
The year was 1999 and Australian blackjack dealer John Wicks found himself growing a bit bored with the basic gameplay at his table.
To keep himself focused on the task at hand, Wicks began mentally tracking various patterns in the randomized deal of his multiple-deck shoe. Eventually, after noticing that players occasionally received paired holdings as their starting hand, Wicks began brainstorming the next big thing in blackjack.
Wicks realized that the eight-deck shoes which are standard in Australian casinos were capable of producing three different versions of a paired player hand.
First off, the player can look down to see a pair of any card rank in differing colors, such as the 7 of hearts and the 7 of spades. Next up were the so-called “colored” pairs, made up of two identical card ranks using the same colored suits (7 of spades + 7 of clubs; or 7 of hearts + 7 of diamonds). And finally, in the rarest combination, the eight-deck shoe could even dispense two identical cards like the 7 of spades + 7 of spades to form a “Perfect Pair.”
Wicks began letting his players know when they received these curious combinations, and inevitably, gamblers became intrigued by a random shuffle’s uncanny ability to make magic happen on the felt. As his players began celebrating the arrival of Perfect Pair combos, the proverbial lightbulb went off above Wicks’ head.
After tinkering with the idea for a while during his spare time – working out the probabilities and devising appropriate payouts – Wicks eventually secured patent protection for his new Perfect Pairs side bet. He convinced his home casino to give the experiment a trial run, and when players provided rave reviews, casino game manufacturing giant TCS John Huxley came calling with an acquisition offer.
Here’s how TCS John Huxley describes the Perfect Pairs side bet to potential casino operator customers:
“Perfect Pairs is both fast and easy to play. It has great player appeal and significantly boosts game turnover without affecting playing strategy. It has been proven to increase both cash drop and win/hold percentages and is extremely popular with players. It is a great enhancement to any Blackjack game.”
Today, the Perfect Pairs side bet is a mainstay in the Australian and Asian blackjack market, but you can also find several casinos in Las Vegas spreading the popular option.
How to Land a Winner on the Perfect Pairs Side Bet
I already went over the three qualifying hands that can trigger a Perfect Pairs side bet payout, but you can review those in the table below:
Perfect Pairs Side Bet Qualifying Hands
| HAND | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|
| Perfect Pair | Any 2 cards of identical rank AND suit (7 of spades + 7 of spades) |
| Colored Pair | Any 2 cards of identical rank AND color (6 of spades + 6 of clubs) |
| Red + Black Pair | Any 2 cards of identical rank but different colors (5 of clubs + 5 of hearts) |
The best part about the Perfect Pairs side bet is that you don’t need specific cards to match up in order to win. Landing a lowly pair of deuces (2s), a pretty pair of Kings, or even an Ace-Ace combo will do the trick.
Now then, on to the good stuff… the sweet payouts awarded when you make a Perfect Pairs side bet winner. As you can see below, Wicks designed his Perfect Pairs side bet to be flexible based on each casino’s preferred payout settings:
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Perfect Pair Side Bet Payouts
| HAND | PAY TABLE #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perfect Pair | 25 to 1 | 30 to 1 | 25 to 1 | 25 to 1 |
| Colored Pair | 12 to 1 | 10 to 1 | 12 to 1 | 15 to 1 |
| Red + Black Pair | 6 to 1 | 5 to 1 | 5 to 1 | 5 to 1 |
Pay table # 1 above is considered to be the standard for Perfect Pairs side betting, but you’ll run into the other three alternatives from time to time.
Blackjack side bets generally require players to wager at least the posted table minimum for the base game, which tends to be $5 in most Sin City table game pits. That means landing a true Perfect Pair can turn a minimum bet into $125 using pay table # 1, or $150 on pay table # 2.
Probabilities and House Edge Rates for the Perfect Pairs Side Bet
When using an eight-deck shoe in blackjack, players obviously have eight of each unique card to work with when trying to land paired starting hands. That is to say, the shoe contains eight different 2 of spades, 3 of hearts, 4 of clubs, and so on up the ladder.
But as the data presented below makes clear, drawing two of the exact same card (rank and suit) is quite rare indeed:
Perfect Pairs Side Bet Combos, Probabilities, and Expected Return Rates
| HAND | COMBOS | PROBABILITY | EXPECTED RETURN |
|---|---|---|---|
| Perfect Pair | 1,456 | 1.69 percent | 0.421687 |
| Colored Pair | 1,664 | 1.93 percent | 0.231325 |
| Red + Black Pair | 3,328 | 3.85 percent | 0.231325 |
| Non-Pair | 79,872 | 92.53 percent | -0.040964 |
| Total | 86,320 | 1.00 | -0.040964 |
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As you can see, the probability of landing a true Perfect Pair using an eight-deck shoe stands at just 1.69 percent.
And while you might suspect the odds would double in the player’s favor when it comes to colored pairs, the probability only rises slightly to 1.93 percent. You’ll have a better chance of landing a Red + Black pair at 3.85 percent, but all told, your combined win probability when wagering on the Perfect Pairs side bet is only 7.47 percent.
That means more than 9 out of 10 deals will produce no paired starting hand to speak of, causing your Perfect Pairs side bet to be collected by the house.
However, despite this low win rate, the Perfect Pairs side bet (when using pay table # 1) offers players a relatively favorable house edge rate of 4.09 percent.
That’s well within acceptable parameters for a table game side bet, and even a full-fledged casino game based on chance alone. To wit, double-zero roulette wheels provide the house with an inherent edge of 5.26 percent on every wager placed.
On a final not about house edge rates for the Perfect Pairs side bet, be sure to examine the pay table in use carefully before placing any wagers. When casinos opt for any of the three alternative pay tables, the house edge can fluctuate wildly as a result:
Perfect Pairs Side Bet House Edge Rates (by Pay Table)
| PAY TABLE | HOUSE EDGE |
|---|---|
| #1 | 4.09 percent |
| #2 | 3.37 percent |
| #3 | 7.95 percent |
| #4 | 2.17 percent |
That’s right, the standard pay table used on Perfect Pairs side betting action is actually the third-worst out of four options from the player’s perspective.
You should avoid pay table # 3 like the plague given its 7.95 percent house edge, but pay tables #2 (3.37 percent) and #4 (2.17 percent) provide a better chance of success over the long run.
Traps to Watch Out for When Playing the Perfect Pairs Side Bet
Other than the extremely high house edge rate incurred by playing Perfect Pairs against pay table # 3, the main trap used by casinos to prey on unsuspecting players concerns deck construction.
It doesn’t take a genius to realize that a side bet like Perfect Pairs becomes easier to win when more decks are in the shoe. More decks equals more cards of the same rank to work with, making the possibility of finding a pair on the deal much more likely.
Conversely, when the casino opts for smaller shoes containing fewer than eight decks, the player loses valuable variety in terms pairable cards. Check out the table below to see just how drastically fewer decks in the shoe affects your house edge on the Perfect Pairs side bet:
Perfect Pairs Side Bet House Edge Rates (by Pay Table and Number of Decks)
| DECKS | PAY TABLE #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 22.33 percent | 25.24 percent | 26.21 percent | 20.39 percent |
| 4 | 10.14 percent | 10.63 percent | 14.01 percent | 8.21 percent |
| 5 | 7.72 percent | 7.72 percent | 11.58 percent | 5.79 percent |
| 6 | 6.11 percent | 5.79 percent | 9.97 percent | 4.18 percent |
| 8 | 4.09 percent | 3.37 percent | 7.95 percent | 2.17 percent |
Any casino willing to commit highway robbery by using the Perfect Pairs side bet on anything other than an eight-deck shoe doesn’t deserve your business gambling real money on blackjack.
Whenever house edge rates rise above 5 percent, let alone the double-digits, sharp gamblers know instinctively to stay away and preserve their bankroll for better bets.
Conclusion
The Perfect Pairs side bet may not be perfect – what with only three qualifying winning hand types and relatively low payouts up top – but it’s still a fun way to spice up blackjack’s base game. Landing certain pairs like the 6-6, 7-7, or 8-8 can lead to extremely tricky situations for basic strategy players, and usually, these tough totals will result in a base game loser. But when you have the Perfect Pairs side bet in play, finding one of these difficult pairs becomes a blessing in disguise thanks to the supplementary payout subsidizing any potential losses to the dealer.
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Rules of Perfect Pair Blackjack
The perfect pair rules and statistics are simple but vary according to the changing pairs. Also, the payouts and thereby, the house edge varies depending on the online/brick and mortar casino you are playing blackjack in.
How to Do a Perfect Pair Side Bet
To play a Perfect Pair wager, players must bet in the designated side bet area on the blackjack table, before they are dealt the initial two cards. Normally, there are two separate betting areas for normal wagers and side wagers and the Perfect Pair side bet has to be placed in the side bet zone.
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As for the Perfect Pairs bet amount, it should at least be the minimum wager of the table but does not need to match the amount of the regular bet. Some casinos can have specific rules regarding the bet amount such as the wager can be half of the table minimum but such instances are rare.
How to win a Perfect Pair Side Bet
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To win a Perfect Pair side bet or increase the odds, players must follow the Perfect Pair strategy. First, it is crucial to understand how many cards are available in the deck after the initial two cards have been dealt to the players. Many online blackjack variations are played with just two decks of cards. In such games, the odds of the player hitting a Perfect Pair are typically better, promising a 30:1 payout too. The more decks, the lesser will be the probability.
If the player wants to risk a small stake, it is better to stick to the Mixed Pair bet. Also, when playing Perfect Pairs, knowing when to ‘hit’ and when to ‘stand’ by following the optimal blackjack strategy is crucial. For instance, it is ideal to split high pairs in online blackjack but not always feasible when the player is expecting an outcome of the side bet.
Qualified Hands, Payout Rate, Probability
There can be three variations of the Perfect Pair side bet and the odds vary depending on the pair. Typically, in an 8-deck game, the best odds are available on the Perfect Pair (two cards of the same value and same suit), and that is a 1.7% chance of being paid out 25:1. The same for a colored pair and mixed pair would be 1.9% and 3.9% respectively.
The following table gives a clear idea of the hands and their respective payouts, combinations, probabilities, and returns with the Perfect pair side bet in a blackjack game with 8 decks of cards.