Boss Media Blackjack

Boss Media blackjack games are among the oldest of all real-money blackjack online. Boss Media is a Swedish-based company that's been producing online gambling software longer than most other companies – unfortunately, that longevity hasn't been matched by innovation. That is to say that their games are a bit dated.

Their software is known for having a realistic design – far from the cartoonish animations of some software providers, these games are meant to imitate a real blackjack table. Boss Media provides a premium-style online game, quick to respond, attractive enough to the eye, but without many updates over the past decade to keep the game relevant.

We've provided a bit of background information on Boss Media below. The rest of this page takes a look at the blackjack variations available, the house edge for each, and ideal strategy for Boss Media blackjack games.

About Boss Media

Boss Media was founded in 1996 as the software provider for Gold Club Online Casino, which launched as one of the first large-scale Web-capable gambling operations in the world in 1997. Soon after, Boss Media launched Casino.com, where they published news and reviews related to the burgeoning online gambling industry. Those two early ventures led the company to offer their software as a white label venture for other people interested in operating online casinos. That was the birth of Boss Media as a provider of turnkey casino solutions.

By the time Boss Media sold all of its online casino interests, in response to changes in the US market in the years 2004-2006, they were licensing three dozen online casinos, providing them with all their gaming software as well as their back-end software and support.

These days, you won't see many Boss Media blackjack games, because few casinos are licensing their games, and they've long since closed down all the casinos they operated on their own. As far as we can tell, only five casinos host any Boss Media blackjack or other casino games, none of which are major players in the world online gambling industry. None of the handful of casinos offering Boss Media blackjack games accept US players.

The Boss Media Blackjack Time Limit

A curious feature of Boss Media software is the built-in time limit feature. We're pretty sure this is built in to most online gambling software – but we notice it much more on Boss Media games because the time limit seems to be extremely short.

The time limit kicks in once all the cards are dealt, and you have a set number of seconds to make your first decision. If you don't make a decision, the software assumes that you want to stand. We couldn't find any information on the company's website about the specific length of time the player has to make a decision – so our advice is that you pay attention.

Games Available

The best online game designers understand that variety is important. Casinos don't offer just one slot machine or one blackjack table – not the good ones, anyway. Lots of gamblers prefer to have a variety of titles to choose from. Boss Media produces a variety of blackjack games, some with just a few little differences between them. The goal is to swell the size of their casino library, sure, but also to provide a variety of games to suit the many and varied tastes of blackjack gamblers.

Here's a list of the eleven blackjack games available via Boss Media's library of online gambling software:

This is a standard game of blackjack using Vegas rules. Boss Media's 3D Blackjack is only unique in that it runs in a gimmicky 3D graphics environment. 3D graphics were big a few years ago, but the fad never really caught on beyond a couple of casinos.

This variant is a standard game of blackjack using Vegas rules. Black Jack Charlie 7 includes a special winning hand. If the player holds any hand of seven cards without busting, he wins a 1:1 payout automatically, regardless of the dealer's hand.

Blackjack is the standard version of the game as played at all Boss Media-powered casinos. The rules are identical to those at a standard Las Vegas game, meaning insurance bets pay out 2:1, blackjack pays 3:2, no doubling after split aces, etc. All Boss Media blackjack games based on standard Vegas rules give the house an edge of 0.46%.

Another standard game of blackjack using Vegas rules. Bonus Pairs Blackjack allows players to make a side bet that pays out based on the combination of your first two dealt cards. To compensate for the bonus bet payouts, Bonus Pairs Blackjack pays out just 1.5:1 for a natural blackjack.

This blackjack variant that follows standard European rules. The main difference between Boss Media's standard blackjack game and their European Blackjack Gold variant is that in the Euro rules game the dealer must stand on all totals of 17, and also checks for blackjack differently than with the standard Vegas variant. The house edge on this game is a bit higher than on variants based on Vegas blackjack – the house has a 0.66% edge on all Euro versions of Boss Media blackjack.

High-limit Blackjack is a variant based on European rules that allows for slightly-higher bets and requires a larger minimum wager. Though Boss Media allows licensing casinos to set their own wager limits, their High-limit game generally has a minimum and maximum double that of the standard game.

This is a hybrid of Euro and Vegas rules in a miniature format. This game is the only variant by Boss Media that uses eight decks, and it includes some other tough restrictions, like limiting you to one split, and giving the dealer a hit on a soft total of 17. Favored by mobile gamblers and those with limited Internet capabilities for its sleek and quick design. Gives the casino an edge of about 0.7%.

Multi-Hand Blackjack is a standard Vegas edition of blackjack that allows you to play up to five hands independently at one time.

This standard-rules Vegas style variant of blackjack includes a series of five side bets which pay out from 5:1 up to 500:1. Because of the impact of those hefty payouts, this is one of the worst games produced by Boss Media in terms of odds. The casino's edge is well over 0.8%, or about double the edge they hold over the player for the standard six-deck version of blackjack.

Single-Deck Blackjack is available at just one Boss Media casino as far as we could tell. It's set up so that the house edge isn't just a crazy giveaway – for instance, there's no 3:2 payout for a natural, and the split and doubling rules are downright criminal. According to Wizard of Odds, if you play this game using basic strategy, you actually have a slim edge against the house. The trouble is finding it, and placing wagers large enough to make a difference, since the max bet is a chilly $5.

This is a mobile-compatible and mobile-specific version of Boss Media's single-deck game.

Boss Media Cashback Rates

The following chart shows the cashback payment rate for all the games and game categories in Boss Media's library. Take note that only the six-deck version of blackjack is eligible for the software's cashback program.

Single-deck Blackjack	0%
Craps, Baccarat, 6-deck Blackjack, Roulette, Casino War	0.1%
PaiGow Poker	0.2%
Sic Bo, Video Poker, Slots, Money Wheel	0.5%

The software restricts access to the cashback program for bets on single-deck blackjack to compensate for the reduced house edge.

Strategies & Tactics for Boss Media Blackjack

The easiest strategy you can choose when you sit down to play Boss Media blackjack games is picking the right game. We say "the right game," when really we mean "the game that has the lowest house edge." In blackjack the difference between the house edges on any two games can be as small as a few tenths of a percent. Over the long-haul, these tiny differences add up to big differences in your bankroll.

We've already established that the game offering the best odds is single-deck blackjack. Unfortunately, that game has all but disappeared, probably because of the fact that it actually gives the player using basic strategy a 0.11% edge against the casino. Since you probably can't find that game to play, you should stick to one of the many variants based on the standard Vegas blackjack rules, such as Blackjack, 3D Blackjack, or Black Jack Charlie 7.

A blackjack strategy that's always a winner, regardless of what software you choose to play, is to set a win goal and a loss limit. This will create a range inside of which you can gamble comfortably without worrying about gambling away the rent money or blowing your winnings before you cash out.

Having said that, setting a winning limit or a losing limit won't affect your real bottom line. The goal with money management tactics isn't to win more, or to win more often, but to make sure that your time spent playing blackjack is purely for entertainment, and not intended to chase losses or hit some required winning point.

Here we share some basic strategy tips for Vegas-style blackjack as produced by Boss Media:

• You should always hit hard totals of 8 or less.
• You should always stand on hard totals of 17 or more.
• Hard totals of 9, 10, and 11 require that you make a decision. Will you take a hit or double down? Your decision should be based on the dealer's total. This requires a little bit of practice and experience.
• A hard total of 12 means you should take a hit, assuming the dealer has a low total (below 4). The only time you should stand with a hard total of 12 is if the dealer is showing a 4, 5, or 6.

• You should always hit soft totals of 17 or less.
• You should always hit with a soft total of 18, unless the dealer has a total of less than 9, in which case, you should stand.
• If you have a soft total of 19 or greater, you should always stand.

• Strategy involving pairs is a bit more complex, since you have to decide whether or not to split. The list below covers the proper move for every pair in the game:
• Always split pairs of Aces or 8s.
• Never split pairs of 4s, 5s, or 10s. They should be played according to basic strategy, as though they were hard totals.
• Always split pairs of 2s if the dealer is showing a total of less than 8. Otherwise, you should always take a hit.
• Play a pair of 3s the same way you play a pair of 2s, except that you take a hit against a total of 3 instead of splitting.
• You should always split a pair of 6s if the dealer is showing less than 7.
• You should always split a pair of 7s if the dealer is showing less than 8.
• If you hold a pair of 7s, you should stand against a dealer 10. Against any other total, take a hit.
• You should stand with a pair of 9s, assuming the dealer is showing a 7, 10, or an Ace. Otherwise, split your 9s.