Can You Play Online Blackjack with Friends?

Blackjack is entertaining even when playing by yourself. You can visit a land-based or online casino and quickly jump into some blackjack action.

However, this game is a lot more exciting when you’re playing with friends. You can cheer together when the dealer busts out and jeer when they get 21.

Unfortunately, you might not always be able to get together with your buddies and play blackjack. This is especially true if your friend group lives far apart.

With that said, can you play online blackjack with friends? Yes, you can! The following guide discusses how to link up with your buddies and enjoy this game online.

Two Ways to Play Online Blackjack With Friends

For years, online blackjack was a solo affair. You logged onto an online casino and played hands against a cyber dealer. This software-generated version is still highly popular today. However, it provides no opportunity to play the game with buddies.

As you’ll see throughout this guide, live and social gaming sites have their differences from each other.

Live Dealer Blackjack

Live blackjack is the perfect alternative to the land-based version. It takes place in a studio and features a real dealer.

You can interact with the dealer through a chat function. You’ll also enjoy the sights and sounds of the casino studio while playing.

Live dealer blackjack is the closest that you’ll get to sitting with friends together at a table without actually going to a land-based establishment. You can all sit at the same table and chat up the dealer.

Where Can You Play?

You can enjoy live blackjack at any casino that features a live dealer studio. Fortunately, more and more mobile casinos are adding this game.

Upon finding an online casino with live dealer gaming, you just need to navigate to the appropriate section.

Typically, this step involves selecting the “Games” option and browsing everything that the casino has to offer. You should find the live blackjack section in a few minutes or less.

Joining a Table

You won’t have any difficulty joining a live blackjack table by yourself. But how do you do so with a group of friends?

You start by visiting a casino’s live blackjack section and browsing the tables. The goal is to find a table with as many empty seats as possible—or at least enough to accommodate your group.

The next step involves letting everybody know which table you’re on. Your friends can then go through the same process and find your table.

Look for a Free Bet

Before playing blackjack, you and your buddies should look for bonus opportunities. Many online casinos offer bonuses, including promotions that are specific to live dealer blackjack.

Regarding the latter, you may able to get a free bet. A free wager allows you to place one bet without risking anything.

Here’s an example of how these offers work:

• You deposit at an online casino
• You use a bonus code that offers a free bet worth up to $25
• You wager $25 and win
• Your prize is $25 ($50 total – $25 stake)

As seen in the last step, live casinos only pay the profit from free wagers—not the stake as well. Nevertheless, you won’t complain about starting off with $25 in free funds!

You can also qualify for traditional deposit bonuses as well. Some online casinos include blackjack amid their bonus offers.

Here’s an example on how your friend group can take advantage of a blackjack deposit bonus:

• An online casino offers a 100% match bonus worth up to $200
• You deposit $100 and, thus, qualify for a $100 bonus
• Blackjack rollover is 60x
• 100 x 60 = $6,000 must be wagered

Social Casino Blackjack

Social gaming doesn’t technically offer real money gambling. Instead, social casinos start you off with free chips for use on blackjack, slots, or any other available games.

You receive free chips upon signing up. Assuming you run out of these no-deposit funds, then you’ll need to purchase more chips.

However, you can exchange your “free” chips for prizes that have a monetary value. This being said, you could win valuable prizes in a roundabout way through social gaming.

Where Can You Find Social Casinos?

Facebook is the best place to begin searching for social blackjack sites. It offers social casinos like Zynga and others along with a wide network of players.

Of course, you can find plenty of other social gaming sites, too. These casinos allow you to connect with friends on social networks and play games together.

How Do You Get Started?

After finding a social casino, you can start inviting your friends. Most gaming sites make this process really easy.

Your social media friends will likely appreciate that they don’t have to spend anything to get started. Instead, they can just hop on your table and begin trying to beat the dealer.

Take Advantage of a No Deposit Bonus

Again, social casinos provide no deposit funds so that you can get started without risking any money. For example, they might offer 10,000 free chips/coins to join. Your friends can also take advantage of these deals.

Keep in mind, though, that you won’t be able to exchange these chips for valuable prizes right away. You’ll need to meet a rollover requirement first or even purchase more chips.

Which Option Should Your Blackjack Friend Group Choose?

Both live dealer and social blackjack can be entertaining in their own right. With that said, your buddy group should carefully consider each type of casino before making a decision.

Live dealer blackjack allows you to play for real money. It also offers enticing bonuses that can pad your winnings. If you and your friends like putting money on the line, then you should definitely consider a live casino.

You might also appreciate how live dealer gaming is streamed directly from a studio. This aspect makes it feel like you’re actually playing in a real casino.

Another potential benefit is that you don’t actually have to risk any money. You’ll like this aspect if your friend group just wants to play for fun rather than betting real money.

Should You and Your Friends Cheat?

Live dealer blackjack presents a unique opportunity to cheat. Your group can get together on a table and collude by sharing card values.

You can pull this off through a couple of different ways:

• Play mobile blackjack in the same house/apartment and tell each other what cards you have.
• Chat with each other through a messenger service.

By colluding, you’ll gain more information on what cards have and haven’t been dealt. You’ll be able to make more informed decisions on whether to fold, hit, stand, or double down.

However, this sort of collusion doesn’t result in a huge advantage. It offers a marginal benefit that feels like more trouble than it’s worth.

The latter is unlikely to happen considering that you and your friends won’t gain a big edge by cheating. But it presents another concern to mull over.

In short, I suggest playing for fun with your friends. Online blackjack collusion doesn’t provide enough extra winnings to be worth the risk.

Conclusion

Online blackjack may not seem like it would offer any opportunities to play with buddies. However, it does provide two such routes in live dealer and social blackjack.

The latter is best for when you’ve got social media friends who aren’t really gamblers. Social gaming lets your group grab a no deposit bonus and quickly start playing hands.

Live blackjack is great for when you and friends want to recreate the land-based casino atmosphere. You’ll be able to bet real money and qualify for bonuses.