Side bet rule card: 21+3 and Perfect Pairs at Pragmatic Play tables
Both side bets appear on Pragmatic Play's live blackjack tables, BlackjackX 1 among them, whose official page lists both. Two reviews give the RTPs for the studio's tables, and 8-deck maths gives the same.
| Item | 21+3 | Perfect Pairs | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sample table | BlackjackX 1 – Pragmatic Play | BlackjackX 1 – Pragmatic Play | official studio page |
| What you bet on | your two cards + the dealer's upcard make a poker hand | your first two cards form a pair | two independent sites |
| Top payout | 100:1 (suited trips) | 25:1 (perfect pair) | two independent sites |
| RTP | 96.30% | 95.90% | two independent sites + mathematical constant |
| House edge | 3.70% | 4.10% | mathematical constant |
| Table limit | we do not publish it | we do not publish it | not published |
A side bet wins or loses independently of the main bet. It has no effect on how your blackjack hand plays out, and the reverse holds too.
21+3: your two cards and the dealer's card as a three-card poker hand
21+3 borrows from poker. It treats your two cards plus the dealer's upcard as one three-card hand and rates it.
| Hand | Example | Payout |
|---|---|---|
| Suited trips | ♥7 ♥7 ♥7 | 100:1 |
| Straight flush | ♠5 ♠6 ♠7 | 40:1 |
| Three of a kind | ♥7 ♦7 ♣7 | 30:1 |
| Straight | ♣5 ♦6 ♥7 | 10:1 |
| Flush (same suit) | ♦2 ♦9 ♦K | 5:1 |
Eight decks make suited trips possible: the shoe holds eight copies of each card. It is also the rarest line, which is why it pays most. The source gives this table for Pragmatic Play tables; other studios may differ.
Perfect Pairs: how well your first two cards match, in three grades
Perfect Pairs looks only at your two starting cards. If they share a value you win, and the closer the match, the more you get.
| Pair | Meaning | Example | Payout |
|---|---|---|---|
| Perfect pair | same value, same suit | ♠Q ♠Q | 25:1 |
| Coloured pair | same value, same colour (red or black), different suit | ♥Q ♦Q | 12:1 |
| Mixed pair | same value, one red and one black | ♥Q ♠Q | 6:1 |
The dealer's cards do not count here. A ten and a jack are not a pair, even though both are worth 10 in blackjack.
One round, three bets: two sevens in your hand, one with the dealer
An invented round at a Pragmatic Play table.
- Betting window. 2,000 HUF on the main bet, 500 HUF on 21+3, 500 HUF on Perfect Pairs. A side bet usually needs a main bet beside it.
- Deal. You get ♥7 and ♦7; the dealer's upcard is ♣7.
- Perfect Pairs settles. Two red sevens of different suits: a coloured pair, 12:1. The 500 HUF wins 6,000 HUF.
- 21+3 settles. Three sevens in mixed suits: three of a kind, 30:1. That is 15,000 HUF won.
- The main hand. With both side bets closed, blackjack begins. Hard 14 against a seven — basic strategy says hit. A nine comes, 23: bust, the 2,000 HUF is gone.
- Balance. The round as a whole is a winner, even though your blackjack hand lost.
A round like this is rare. That is exactly why everyone remembers it, and why side bets seem cheaper than they are.
Working it out from 415 cards: where Perfect Pairs' 4.10% comes from
The Perfect Pairs house edge can be worked out by hand. Eight decks hold 416 cards. After your first card 415 remain, and 31 of them share its value: 7 of the same suit, 8 of the same colour but another suit, and 16 of the opposite colour.
| Outcome | Probability | Payout |
|---|---|---|
| Perfect pair | 7/415 ≈ 1.69% | 25:1 |
| Coloured pair | 8/415 ≈ 1.93% | 12:1 |
| Mixed pair | 16/415 ≈ 3.86% | 6:1 |
| No pair | 384/415 ≈ 92.53% | stake lost |
The weighted wins add up to 25×7 + 12×8 + 6×16 = 367 units per 415 hands, against a loss of 384 units. The difference is −17/415, or −4.10%: exactly the 95.90% RTP. Mathematics, not studio data.
The 21+3 derivation is longer (many hand types, many combinations), but the 3.70% falls out of it the same way.
What 100 hands cost by bet type: base game versus side bets
Illustrative calculation (not Dukat.bet data): for 100 hands you stake 1,000 HUF on each bet type. Turnover is 100,000 HUF in all three cases.
| Bet | RTP | Expected loss on 100,000 HUF turnover |
|---|---|---|
| Main bet (basic strategy, on a table of about 99.5%) | ~99.50% | ~500 HUF |
| 21+3 | 96.30% | 3,700 HUF |
| Perfect Pairs | 95.90% | 4,100 HUF |
In money terms, 21+3 costs roughly seven times and Perfect Pairs more than eight times as much as the main bet. The 99.50% for the main bet is the figure reported for Ezugi's Rumba Blackjack 1 on the blackjack rule card; Pragmatic Play says some variants on its own tables can reach up to 99.59%.
Add a side bet to every round and your budget also drains faster. You can price that in beforehand on the session limits page.
Why it pays so much and is still expensive
100:1 or 25:1 looks generous. Yet the payout is always somewhat less than the hit's rarity would ‘deserve’. The gap is the house margin, and on side bets it is thicker.
On the main bet your decisions can push the house edge down. On a side bet there is nothing to decide: the cards arrive and the bet settles. Strategy does not help here.
The third reason is pace. A side bet settles instantly every round, so at a live table you pay its price very often. How that leads to chasing the next round is covered on the pace and tilt page.
Ezugi tables and Bust It: where the side bet price stays open
We deliberately gave figures for Pragmatic Play tables only. Ezugi's tables also offer 21+3 and Perfect Pairs, but our sources disagree: one lists the same payout table, the other reports a lower 21+3 RTP for the studio as a whole. Without two matching sources we print no number.
Ezugi's Ride Free Blackjack table, according to its launch announcement, adds a new side bet, Bust It. We found neither a payout table nor an RTP for it. The variant itself is covered on the blackjack variants card.
What the side bet box on the table does not spell out
The interface shows the box and the chip; everything else sits in the help screen.
- The payout table. It can vary by studio, even by table. Open the table rules before you bet.
- The RTP. Rarely shown on the box, yet it is the real price of the side bet.
- The limit. Side bets often have a separate cap. We do not publish it.
Side bets are for players aged over 18 only, and they are entertainment rather than investment: nothing assures a profit, and the long run always tilts towards the house.