Blackjack 5 Card Trick
The automatic win upon receiving five cards in blackjack is called “5 Card Charlie”. However, the rule doesn’t apply to most blackjack games online or in land-based casinos.
You’ve probably heard this from someone who plays blackjack at home. That’s where the five card rule is the most prominent.
When it comes to real casinos, though, it’s simply not there. So, to answer your question:
“No, 5 cards do not automatically win in blackjack.”
There are practically no land-based casinos that would allow this blackjack rule in Europe or America. You’re much more likely to find it in online blackjack software. However, it’s a rare occasion even at virtual casinos.
Best Blackjack Casinos
- A Few Words about Blackjack. We assume that you opened this article because you are a beginner.
- Rules Of 5 Card Trick In Blackjack You must be allowed to gamble online in the country of your access.
- Ace Tracking or Ace Prediction. Some of the advanced card counting methods incorporate a.
What is 5 Card Charlie Rule? 5 Card Charlie is a blackjack rule that gives an edge to the player. It simply states that if you collect five cards without busting, you automatically win. The exception is the dealer’s blackjack, which usually wins even if the player has a blackjack too.
- Specialised in live games
- Amazing user interface
- Weekly promotions
- Specialised in live games
- Amazing user interface
- Weekly promotions
- Launched2014
- UK License
- Min. Deposit10
- Amount of Games400+
- Support
- Withdrawal time1-3 days
- Welcome Bonus£150
- Deposit percentage50%
- Free spins0
- Turnover40x
- BonusesGiveaways
- Websitelveroulette.com/
- Terms & conditionsT&C applies
- ReviewRead review
- MEGA FUN Casino
- Live Casino
- Spins at player favourite
- MEGA FUN Casino
- Live Casino
- Spins at player favourite
- Launched2010
- UK License
- Min. Deposit£20
- Amount of Games+500
- Support
- Withdrawal time0-7 days
- Welcome Bonus£150
- Deposit percentage100%
- Free spins50
- Turnover30-60x
- BonusesGiveaways
- Websitemegacasino.co.uk
- Terms & conditionsT&C applies
- ReviewRead review
- Unique Design
- Speedy Withdrawals
- Leaderboards
- Unique Design
- Speedy Withdrawals
- Leaderboards
- Launched2012
- UK License
- Min. Deposit£10
- Amount of Games1,000+
- Support
- Withdrawal time0-3 Days
- Welcome Bonus£300
- Deposit percentage100%
- Free spins30
- Turnover30x
- BonusesFree Spins
- Websitecasumo.com
- Terms & conditionsT&C applies
- ReviewRead review
What is 5 Card Charlie Rule?
5 Card Charlie is a blackjack rule that gives an edge to the player. It simply states that if you collect five cards without busting, you automatically win.
The exception is the dealer’s blackjack, which usually wins even if the player has a blackjack too. The payout of this kind of a win can differ as well, ranging from 1:1 to 2:1.
“The odds of collecting five cards without busting are roughly 50:1 (other rules can affect this probability).”
This isn’t a likely scenario in blackjack. However, it’s much more likely than getting six or seven cards without busting. Such rules exist as well, yet you won’t find them easily in real or licensed online casinos anyway.
5 Card Charlie + Other Rules
If you do find a blackjack game with this variation, it most certainly has some additional rules. All kinds of other rules may apply in conjunction with the automatic win rule, namely:
- Split
- Double Down
- Insurance
- Side Bets
Obviously, if you split your cards, you’ll have to collect five cards in each hand separately. Also, this auto-win rule doesn’t work as side bets do.
In other words, if you get five cards and win, you immediately end the round. This means that you can’t win both by getting a Charlie and beating the dealer on the same round. Only one kind of a win is possible per round.
Is There A 5 Card Rule In Blackjack
Why Don’t Five Cards Win?
The answer to that is simple. The rule isn’t in popular use because it wouldn’t be a lucrative strategy for the house. Depending on other rules of the game, it could tip the scale in the player’s favour. So, casinos simply can’t have that.
“Automatic five card win rule adds 1.46% RTP to the game.”
With many blackjack software and real casino rules, these games already have house edges below 1%. That’s why adding this rule simply wouldn’t be feasible.
Of course, some games have lower payouts, so this rule could be added to them. Yet, casinos don’t like to implement it anyway as it isn’t part of the classic blackjack.
Blackjack Games with 5 Card Win Rule
Nevertheless, it isn’t impossible to find games with the automatic win rule. Here are a few titles that we know of:
- Blackjack 5-Card Charlie
- Blackjack Six Card Charlie
- Blackjack Charlie 7
The number indicates how many cards you need to collect to win without checking their value. Unfortunately, not all of these titles are legally available to the UK players.
Regardless, should you stumble upon such a variant and wish to play it, you should know how to do it well.
Blackjack 5 Card Charlie Strategy
Every single rule in blackjack affects the gameplay. So, the best strategy differs accordingly too. The Charlie rules are not an exception in this case.
There are certain tips and tricks that you can use to increase your odds in this variant. They don’t guarantee success in every round. However, you’re more likely to end up with a positive balance if you stick to these strategies:
- Don’t count on it
- Know when to hit or stand
- Know when to double down
Here’s the explanation of each of these points:
1. Don’t Count on It
Don’t count on getting five cards from the start. Remember, this will only happen once in 50 rounds or so. So, it makes no sense to change your gameplay in any significant way if you’re playing Charlie blackjack.
That is unless you’re getting close to actually collecting five cards and are still under 21. If not, just play it as you would any other standard blackjack game and pay attention to other rules.
Depending on the variant, other rules might be much more important in most cases. For example, things like card decks used, dealer’s rules and splitting and doubling will affect the game in every round. The Charlie rules won’t.
So, take the automatic win rule into consideration only if you already have at least 3 cards in your hand.
2. When to Hit or Stand
Depending on the number of decks used in the game and your current hand, you have several choices. You can either:
- Hit
- Stand
- Double down (if allowed)
The lower the number of decks used, the more important are the cards already in the game. If you can’t make out anything from them though, we suggest to:
- Hit if your hand is soft 17 or lower
- Hit if you have four cards worth up to soft 21
- Stand if you have a hard 17 or higher
- Hit if you have a 7 or higher card, no aces and your hand is worth between 12 and 16
- Stand if all your cards have a value of 2 to 6 and your hand is worth at least 13 unless you already have four of them
3. When to Double Down
Generally, doubling down is an overused strategy in blackjack. However, there are some cases where it’s lucrative to use it.
Doubling can be used to capitalize on the automatic win to double your winnings. All you’d have to do is collect four cards and then double down on a fifth one without busting.
If you have less than four cards, you’ll want to consider which path is better. Should you aim for five cards or lose this opportunity by doubling down? In most cases, we’d suggest you to:
- Double down on hard 10 or hard 11
- Double down on soft 15 to 18 if all your cards have low value
You shouldn’t blindly follow these guidelines though, due to numerous possible rule variations for which we can’t account for.
Remember that automatic win rule is always in your favour. So, it can’t make your matters worse than they’d be in classic blackjack games.
Some of the advanced card counting methods incorporate a separate count of aces. But ace tracking doesn’t have anything to do with counting cards.
Aces are the most important cards in blackjack. When you receive an ace you have a four out of 13 chance to hit a natural blackjack. The higher than one to one payments for natural blackjacksplay a big part in reducing the house edge.
Aces are also valuable because you can use them as a value of one or 11. This lets you draw to a better hand without the chance of busting in many situations. Any hand you have with an ace isplayed with an advantage over the casino.
So if you can figure out a way to determine when you’re going to get dealt an ace you can bet more o those hands.
Ace tracking is a method you can use to help you get an idea of when an ace will be dealt soon.
At the end of the deck or shoe the dealer shuffles the cards. This mixes them up, but rarely are they shuffled well enough to truly randomize the results based on the way the cards were put inthe discard tray.
Even automatic shuffling machines only randomize the cards to a small degree.
This means that if you know a few of the cards put into the discard tray immediately after an ace you can predict when an ace is coming.
Ace tracking isn’t perfect, but with practice you can start learning how to do it. And even if you don’t do it perfectly it can still give you an edge at times.
The basic idea is when you see an ace you pay attention to the next few cards that go into the discard tray. After the shuffle when you see these cards dealt, usually with one or two cardsbetween them, you can expect the ace to come soon.
If you watch the three cards put on top the ace and they come out with two cards between them you predict that the ace will be dealt two cards after the last of the three are dealt.
Most players that stumble onto ace tracking notice two or three cards that are easy to remember.
Here’s an example:
You’re playing in a double deck game and see an ace of spades put into the discard tray followed by a king of clubs, a king of diamonds, and the other king of clubs.
After the shuffle you see a king of clubs followed by two other cards, the king of diamonds followed by two other cards, and finally the other king of clubs. This is a good indication that aftertwo more cards the ace of spades will be dealt.
Blackjack 5 Card Trick
This example is fairly simplified, but sometimes tracking aces is this easy.
Once you realize how this works you can learn more about how particular dealers and even automatic shuffling machines randomize the cards. Though it’s rare, you can find dealers that shuffle inalmost the exact same way each time, which leads to the same gaps in tracked cards time after time.
While it’s fairly easy to track similar cards put into the discard tray after an ace, you can learn how to track random ones as well. An ace followed by a two of clubs, seven of hearts, and jackof diamonds is as easy to follow as any other group as long as you can remember the order, rank, and suit of the cards.
It can be confusing to track every ace when you start, but with enough practice you can learn how to track most of them. In a six deck show there are 24 aces, so it can be a challenge to keepeverything straight.
Start by tracking aces of a single suit. Track all of the aces in spades or heats to get started.
Keep practicing with one suit until you can track them all and add a second suit. Keep working until you reach the point where you can’t track more. Even if you find you can only track one or twosuits it can give you an advantage.
Just like counting cards, this is something you can do at home to improve your skills. All you need is a discard tray and six decks of cards.
Start by using a single deck. Try to shuffle the same way you see dealers shuffle where you play. Once you’re comfortable with a single deck add a second one.
Keep adding decks until you can work through a six deck show tracking a single suit. Then add a second suit and continue improving your abilities.
It takes quite a bit of time to get good at it, but once you learn how to do it, and more importantly prove to yourself that you can do it, you’ll find that you start automatically doing it whenyou play.
Card counters find that they reach a point where counting is automatic, which lets them do other things while counting. You can get to the same point tracking aces.
Once learn how to do it you’ll find that even if you take a break from playing for weeks or even months you can pick t back up quickly with just a small amount of practice and review.
It’s also helpful to watch for a group of aces that go into the discard tray together. When three or more aces go into the tray close together it’s easy to watch for them after the shuffle.
Ace tracking works even better is you’re working on a team. When two or more team members are playing at the same table and you know an ace is coming soon it increases the odds that one of youwill get it.
This is simple math and helps overcome the inexact science of working through the shuffle. If you’re playing heads up the odds are roughly 50 / 50 that you’ll get an ace that you know is comingsoon.
But if two team members are playing against the dealer one of you will get the ace roughly two thirds of the time. And if three team members are playing along against the dealer the odds go up to75%.
The actual percentage is higher than 75% because in most cases you can predict the aces in fewer than six or seven cards. Three of you receive six cards before drawing so if you’re accuratelypredicting aces one of you will usually get it.
In the event you track an ace and one of you don’t get it the odds are high the dealer has it. This isn’t as valuable as if one of you receives it, but it’s still valuable. If the dealer isshowing a 10 value card and you know the odds are high their down card is an ace you can take insurance to reduce your losses.