Poker or Black Jack?
That is the question!
2WayWinner allows a player to play either Texas Hold’em Poker or Blackjack after receiving two cards and looking at the dealer’s up card. As a result, this game can give the player the best chance to win. Particularly, the player has opportunity to turn a very unfavorable hand into a very promising winning hand. This game is played with one standard 52-card deck. Each player plays against the dealer. There is an optional side bet (i.e., “Dealer Bonus”); the bonus wager will be paid based on the bonus pay table. This game is played using a standard size blackjack table and accommodates one to six players. Players cannot play multiple hands.
Game Procedure
1. Initial wagers (Ante wagers)
Players will begin the game by placing wagers of equal amounts on both the blackjack and poker circles marked “Ante”.
2. Dealing Hands
Deck is shuffled by the dealer, and 2 cards are dealt, 1 by 1, to the Player (face down) and 2 cards to the Dealer (one card face-up).
After all the cards have been dealt, the dealer will announce to the players, “Poker or Blackjack?” Then, the players will view their two cards and the dealer’s up card to decide whether they want to play poker or blackjack with their hands. Players have the option to surrender, and lose one of the two ante wagers.
The player who decides to play blackjack with his/her hand will place a wager equal to the amount of his/her ante wager on the black “play” circle. The player who decides to play poker with his/her hand will place a wager equal to the amount of his/her ante wager on the red “play” circle.
3. Blackjack
Players who chose to play blackjack against the dealer will have the options to stay, hit, double down, or split. (Players may split only once and cannot double down after splitting. Only one additional card will be received when splitting aces.)
After all players complete placing their bets on the blackjack “play” circles, the dealer will turn the dealer’s hole card over and “hit” or “stay” following standard blackjack rules. (Dealer must hit on soft 17.)
The dealer will pay or take bets on the blackjack circles according to the blackjack rules. Winning hand- The dealer will pay all players’ wagers even money. The Poker ante goes back to the player (push). Losing hand – the dealer will take all players’ wagers including the Poker ante.
4. Poker
Players who chose to play poker against the dealer will place a bet on the poker “play” circles. (Note: Upon the completion of blackjack hands, the dealer will collect all the cards from the blackjack players.) Then the dealer will push his/her cards in the middle of the table as community cards and goes around in a clockwise manner by announcing “check or bet”. The players who choose to play Poker now have the option to bet. The bet amount must be equal to the amount of their ante wager. (Note: The players who have natural blackjack can bet up to 2 times the original ante wager.) If the players check, the dealer should get a hand signal from the players. The dealer will draw more cards on the table if the dealer has less than 5 cards. If the dealer has more than 5 cards after the blackjack hands (e.g., 2, 3, A, 8, 2, 10), the dealer will use only the first 5 cards as the community cards. The “10” will be burned. The dealer will draw 2 more cards from the remaining deck as his/her poker hands and put the remaining cards in the discard rack. Starting from the right to left, the dealer will take or pay the “Dealer bonus” according to the dealer’s hand. The dealer will then evaluate each player’s hand against the dealer’s hand. The best possible five card hand wins. Winning hand – If the player wins the hand, the dealer will pay the players on the Poker ante, the Player wager, and the Bet wager even money. The Blackjack ante goes back to the player (push). If the players have a winning hand with a Full House or better, the Blackjack ante will be paid even money. Losing hand – When the players lose their hand, the dealer will take all wagers including the Blackjack ante.
Others rules:
1. Bonus
The community bonus is a side wager betting what type of poker hand the community cards will make. Payout starts with pair of Jacks or better.
The community Bonus wager is an initial wager need to be placed at the beginning of the game before any cards has been dealt to the players.
If the dealer has a blackjack hand with 10 showing, he will collect the losing bet, then burn a card, complete the community cards pay or take according the payout chart.
2. Conditions:
If no player in the game chose to play blackjack with their hand, the dealer will automatically turn over the hole card and continue by playing Hold’em Poker.
If a player has a natural blackjack (“A” and “10”), she/he has two options:
(1) the player can be paid on the blackjack ante wager with 6 to 5 odds, and the game will be over for the player; or
(2) the player can choose to play poker with the hand and bet up to 2x the amount of the ante wager.
If a dealer has an “Ace” as an up card, the dealer will announce around the table “Poker?” At this time, the players must decide if they want to play blackjack or poker with their hand by place the play wager. (No surrender is allow at this point) If the dealer has a blackjack, the players who choose poker will not lose their ante and continue the game as Hold’em Poker. If the dealer has a blackjack and the players choose to play blackjack, they will lose their blackjack play and ante wager only.
If the player and the dealer both have blackjack, the game is a push unless the player chooses to play Poker.
When a player plays blackjack and s/he wants to split or double down, only the wager bet on the blackjack “play” circle can be split or doubled down.
