Like all casino games, the house has a statistical advantage in a game of Pontoon. However just as is true in blackjack you can reduce the house edge by playing casino online strategies. These strategies include knowing when to hit and stand, when to double down your bet and when to split your cards.  As in blackjack, you have to make these decisions while viewing your two visible cards and the dealer’s visible card.

Casinos love Pontoon and feature it on their sites because the house advantage is actually very high. This is because the game features the use of eight decks. The casino card bingo game with the absolute lowest odds is Vegas Blackjack, which uses a single deck and has house odds as low as .16%. This is definitely not true of Pontoon. One key to reducing your odds of losing at online Pontoon would be to choose a game that is varies from the traditional game by using less decks. These permutations are quite common on UK bingo online casinos, as the houses have realized that nobody wants to play a card game where the house has a huge advantage in terms of odds.

Also be a bit wary of online casinos offering special rules like surrender and double-after-split. Although it seems like the house is giving the players a lucky break, they actually make quite a bit of money when players make mistakes.

Here are some practical strategies that you can use when playing Pontoon (and blackjack too!

Look for a game that uses less than the usual eight decks to play Pontoon.

Don’t double down unless you are holding a ten or eleven.

Don’t forget that most online casinos will let you double down if you are holding a ten or eleven after a split.

Look for an online casino that offers 3:2 payout on blackjacks and avoid those that pay out 6:5.

Avoid games where the dealer can still draw a card on a soft seventeen. Choose a table where the Dealer must stand at seventeen.

Try to avoid games where the double down is restricted to certain totals, such as 9-11 or 10 –11.

Try to find games where the Jacks or Twos are wild as this gives you more of an advantage against the house. However keep in mind that sometimes to compensate for this the house has a restriction on the game play in some other manner (such as the dealer being able to draw on a soft seventeen.

Only take insurance if your intuition is telling you it is a sure thing or if you have seen all the Aces go by during past hands and you don’t think there is an Ace left in the decks.

Avoid pontoon games where the rules say that a player must loose money on a push.

If the online casino offers the early surrender option, which is the option to forfeit half your wager before the dealer checks for a blackjack, and you suspect you have a losing hand, take it!