Blackjack Perfect Pairs: Side Bets, Odds, and Strategy

Blackjack is the king of table games. This casino classic strikes the perfect balance between easy fun and strategic opportunity. Learning the card ranks is simple, and once you know them, building a hand becomes effortless and exciting.

There’s also plenty of room for strategy and optimisation. You could spend countless hours dissecting strategy charts and perfecting every move if you wanted. Blackjack can be as casual or complex as you want. Blackjack side bets, such as Perfect Pairs, 21+3, and Lucky Ladies, are available in many casinos and add extra excitement to the game.

What draws us all in, though, is the excitement of the moment when the dealer’s hand is revealed. That’s when you get to see how you stack up against the house, and get paid if you played your cards right.

What is Perfect Pairs Blackjack?

There’s no need to learn a new approach to blackjack when you play Perfect Pairs. The base game is the same as standard blackjack. You and the dealer are dealt a two-card hand, and you must try to outscore the dealer without going over 21 points and busting. The moves are the same; choose to hit, stand, split, double, or surrender in your quest for the superior hand. The dealer, meanwhile, will aim to build a score of at least 17 unless you bust. The first two cards dealt to the player are crucial for determining the outcome of the Perfect Pairs side bet, as these cards decide whether you win the side bet and what type of pair you may form.

Where these games deviate from standard blackjack is when side bets come into play. Perfect Pairs and Perfect Pair 21+3 have side bets you won’t find in any other game. For starters, they both have a Pairs side bet that pays if your two-card hand happens to be a pair. To place a Perfect Pairs bet, players must make a separate, additional wager in the designated side bet area before the cards are dealt, independent of the main blackjack hand. If you get a pair, you’re paid based on how “perfect” the pair is.

The Pairs side bet has three ranked tiers. A regular mixed pair (for example, 9c,9h) is the easiest bet to win and pays the least. Meanwhile, a properly coloured pair (for example, 10h,10d) pays more. The top payout is reserved for the “perfect pair”: same suit, same rank (for example, Qs, Qs). This is possible since Perfect Pairs has a six-deck shoe.

Perfect Pair 21+3 has another side bet on top of the Pairs we just discussed, called the 21+3. This bet is based on your hand and the dealer’s up-card, combining to form a three-card poker hand. It could be a flush, straight, straight flush, three-of-a-kind or best yet, a suited three-of-a-kind. The payout range for the 21+3 side bet goes from 5 to 1 (for a flush) all the way to 100 to 1 (for a suited three-of-a-kind).

What is Perfect Pairs blackjack? Now you know. The regular hand is played as normal, with the only difference being the opportunity to place the Perfect Pairs side bet, offering players the chance for extra payouts. You can play these side bets in conjunction with the main game for a little extra fun and opportunity to win. That way, even if you don’t beat the dealer with your blackjack hand, you could still walk away a winner.

Side Bets in Perfect Pairs Blackjack Game

Launch a round of Perfect Pairs, and you’ll find the side bets option located beside the main betting diamond. After putting down your main bet, you can place a separate wager on the Perfect Pairs side bet. This is a blackjack side bet, similar to other popular options like Lucky Ladies, and can be any amount within the game’s betting range; it doesn’t have to replicate the original bet size in any way.

In Perfect Pairs 21+3, the side bets are on either side of the main betting circle. The three-card poker hand bet is on the left and labelled “21+3”; the Perfect Pairs side bet is on the right and labelled “PP”. You can place any size bet within the game’s overall range on either of these blackjack side bets.

The side bets have tiered payouts depending on the strength of the pair or poker combination that you put together. The higher the rank, the more cash you pocket. With the Perfect Pairs side bet, the highest possible outcome is the same suit, same rank pair (Ac, Ac), known as the perfect pair, while with 21+3, the highest possible outcome is a suited three-of-a-kind (4c,4c,4c). Other blackjack side bets, like Lucky Ladies, also offer unique payouts for specific card combinations.

The best parts of using side bets are that they act as a hedge for the main bet and offer far bigger payouts than what you’d get with the standard blackjack ones, which max out at 3 to 2. Perfect pairs add excitement and the potential for higher winnings to the blackjack experience. Losing a round of blackjack stings a little less if you’ve managed to hit one of your side bets, especially if it pays a premium.

The House Edge

Many players gravitate to blackjack for the low house edge. After all, when you play a six-deck variant and follow basic strategy, which is very easy when playing online, the house edge is a nominal .539%. That’s hard to beat.

But you won’t find that kind of house edge in the blackjack side bets, like Perfect Pairs and 21+3. These bonus bets have higher house edges, with the Perfect Pairs side bet specifically ranging from 2% to 11%, depending on the number of decks and other factors such as game rules and card shoe configurations. For example, in an eight-deck blackjack game, the house edge on the Perfect Pairs side bet is calculated to be around 10.7%. The payouts are high (up to 100 to 1 with 21+3, up to 30 to 1 with Pairs), and the idea of landing a pair or a winning poker hand is exciting, but since these bets take a bigger bite out of your bankroll, it’s best to sprinkle them in every few rounds, or when you’re feeling lucky.

Another option is to bet in ratios that reflect the house edge of the main bet vs the side bets. For example, if you bet $10 on the main bet every round, you could toss $1 on the Perfect Pairs side bet. That way, you can still have fun with the side bets while being mindful of the higher Perfect Pairs house edge. However you choose to incorporate the bets, always practice sound bankroll management when you play blackjack.

What Are the Odds of Perfect Pairs?

Understanding the odds and probabilities behind the Perfect Pairs side bets will help clarify the payouts and house edge, and empower you to make the best decisions possible at the table. That’s why we’re tackling the question: what are the odds of Perfect Pairs?

In an eight-deck shoe, there are 1,456 possible combinations for a perfect pair. That leads to a 1.68% probability of hitting one. For a coloured pair, there are 1,664 possible combinations, meaning a 1.92% probability. The mixed pair, the easiest of the three, has 3,328 possible combinations for a 3.85% probability. But the greatest probability of all is a non-pair; there are 79,872 possible combinations of landing a non-pair for a 92.5% probability.

In reality, landing those pairs is a rare achievement, which is why they’re side bets. High risk comes with high reward, and you’ll find plenty of that in Perfect Pairs.

Payout

Now we’ll focus on what draws us to the side bets, and that’s the payouts. In Perfect Pairs, the side bet pays 6-to-1, 12-to-1, or 25-to-1, depending on how close your pair is to being perfect.

If you landed a perfect pair with a $5 bet, you’d win $125. $5 on a coloured pair would yield $60, and $30 on a mixed pair.

The pair's side bet in Perfect Pairs 21+3 pays 5-to-1, 10-to-1, or 30-to-1 for the same ranks.

If you landed a perfect pair with a $5 bet in Perfect Pairs 21+3, you’d win $150. $5 on a coloured pair would yield $50, and $25 on a mixed pair.

The poker side bets have six tiers that range from 5-to-1 to 100-to-1.