Evolution are quite well-known as industry leaders when it comes to live dealer blackjack. The original has been a favorite among blackjack fans for quite a while. That said, live casino games do come with some downsides. Namely, limited seats and often large minimum bets. To address these and find a niche for new customers, this software provider developed a range of so-called First Person games. Among them is 2019’s First Person Blackjack game.
First Person Blackjack by Evolution is an online blackjack game that attempts to bring the experience of live dealer broadcasts to an RNG game format. Essentially, it’s a typical game of 21 in which the results are determined by a random number generator. However, everything else about the game was designed to seem like live casino blackjack. There are several benefits to this approach. Firstly, you won’t have to worry if you’ll be able to find an available seat as you would for the original Evolution Live Blackjack. Secondly, the minimum bet is set at just $1 – which contrasts the usual $5.
Speaking of which, if you want to play the game live, you can easily do so at any moment. Just click the ‘GO LIVE’ button available in the UI, and you’ll be taken to an available Evolution Blackjack table.
The rules of First Person Blackjack are fairly straightforward, though we can’t call them all player-friendly. In most instances, they follow the pattern of Vegas Strip Blackjack, with some small differences.
First of all, this title uses 6 decks per shoe. This would usually make counting cards in First Person blackjack just a tad easier than with some competitors. However, there is almost no deck penetration worth mentioning – the shoe is shuffled after each round. That said, you can play up to 5 hands at a time, which is another advantage over the live version.
As is often the case, the dealer must draw to 16 and stand on a soft 17. Insurance bets pay 2:1 and Blackjack pays 3:2. Also, you can double up on any hand and split any pair. Lastly, the dealer peeks for Blackjack if they get an ace.
AS far as side bets go, there are two available: 23+1 and Perfect Pairs. These are easily the most common type of online blackjack side bets, so most players should be familiar with them.
Thanks to some subtle rule changes and whatnot, First Person Blackjack’s RTP rate is on the lower end at 99.29%. Of course, this is still better than most other games at online casinos, but dedicated blackjack fans won’t be impressed. We mentioned the payouts earlier, which are fairly standard compared to the competition.
Of course, this RTP rate assumes you play online blackjack using optimal strategies and blackjack charts. The side bets suffer from the usual low RTPs: 96.30% for 21+3 and 95.90% for Perfect Pairs.
Since the rules don’t deviate far from what you’re probably used to, you should already know how to play First Person Blackjack. If you’re a beginner, we can direct you to our beginner’s guide to online blackjack as well as the strategy section of this site.
Beyond that, there aren’t many tips we can offer for this specific title. Being able to double on any hand is quite freeing, though, and we recommend taking full advantage of that rule. If you’re into optimizing your blackjack strategy, you should also stay away from the side bets. While fun, they offer much worse RTP than the base game.
The goal of this release is to mimic the experience of playing Evolution Live Blackjack as closely as possible. It’s a success in that regard – the 3D animations and presentation are on-point. That said, while this game is generally well made, there are definitely better rulesets out there.