Pontoon Pro (NetEnt): Play This Blackjack Cousin Free in Canada

The vocabulary first

Twist means hit. Stick means stand. Buy means double your bet and take a card, and in traditional pontoon you can keep buying on later cards (NetEnt's limits are in the help screen).

A pontoon is an ace plus a ten-value card, the best hand. A five-card trick is five cards totalling 21 or less, and it beats everything except a pontoon.

Then the important differences:

• Both dealer cards are dealt face down. You play blind.
• You must twist on 14 or less; you can't stick until 15.
• The dealer wins all ties, including tied pontoons.
• Splitting is allowed on pairs; check NetEnt's re-split rule.

A quick hand, start to finish

You get 9 and 4: 13, so you must twist. A 3 arrives, 16. You could stick now, or buy. You stick. The dealer turns over 10 and 7, 17, and wins. Annoying? Very. Next hand you hold 2, 3, 4, 2 (11 with four cards), twist, get a 9: five cards, 20, a trick paying 2:1. That's pontoon in two hands.

That tie rule sounds brutal. It is, partly. The payouts for pontoon and five-card tricks are how the game pays you back.

What it pays

Pontoon payouts differ between versions, so confirm both 2:1 lines in game info. If either is lower, the house edge changes noticeably.

House edge: surprisingly low

With correct play, under 1%. Traditional British pontoon is often quoted around 0.4%, which beats a lot of blackjack tables. NetEnt publishes the return for its own rule set; check in game info.

Why so low, with the dealer winning ties? The 2:1 pontoon and the five-card bonus are generous, and buying on any number of cards lets a good player press their advantage. Lose those and the picture flips. (A bit like the Jets' power play: brilliant when it works, a mess when one piece is missing.)

Start with the five-card trick

The big habit change: five-card tricks deserve chasing. With four cards totalling 11 or less you twist without thinking, since you can't bust and a fifth card under 21 pays double.

Also, buy more on soft hands than you'd double in blackjack, because the dealer's cards are hidden and the dealer wins ties. Hmm, that sounds contradictory. It isn't: buying on a soft total protects you against the bust, and the extra card can turn into a trick.

Pontoon strategy charts exist and differ from blackjack charts. Keep one open while you play free. No chart makes pontoon a winning proposition over time.

RNG only, more or less

Pontoon is rare on live studios, so for most Canadians this is an RNG game: software shuffle every round, free mode available, no timer. That suits a game where you need to count four small cards before deciding. Live blackjack (the regular kind) is covered on our live casino page.

A side note on the name: in Australia, "Pontoon" is a completely different game, closer to Spanish 21. NetEnt's is the British one. Don't mix up strategy charts. Searching "pontoon strategy" online brings up both, and the Australian one will steer you wrong here.

Where Canadian players can try it

For Québec: Jackpot City and Royal Vegas accept Québec and offer French. NetEnt's older Professional Series tables were withdrawn from some lobbies over the years, and we did not confirm Pontoon Pro at either site; search before you deposit.

Interac e-Transfer works at both, minimum C$10. Their welcome offers carry 35x wagering, amounts shown to us in euros (confirm the C$ figure in the cashier), and table games often count at a lower rate. See Interac casinos for how deposits and withdrawals usually go.

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Ontario and Alberta: regulated sites only. 18+ in QC, MB and AB; 19+ in other provinces and territories. Help line in Québec: 1 800 461-0140.

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