Face Up 21

Anyone who has played the plain vanilla version of blackjack will pick up the rules to Face Up 21 quickly, since there are only a few changes in rules and strategy.
As with any other blackjack game, the hand begins with the dealer dealing herself and all players two cards. Instead of the dealer getting one card shown and one face down,
like in the version of blackjack that most people learn the game with, both cards are dealt "face up," which is where the game gets its name. The dealer still follows
the old rules of hitting and standing on her cards. The dealer hits on sixteen, soft seventeen or less. She stands on hard seventeen, soft eighteen or more.
In the casino, the betting rounds would follow the same pattern for the player as they do in regular blackjack, but for the purposes of speeding up gameplay,
Real Time Gaming software adds automatic actions to the hand. When the dealer must stick on their first two cards and the player's two cards don't beat it,
the game will automatically hit until the player wins or busts out.

There is a trade-off for being allowed to see both of the dealer's cards up front. On the plus side is that the change in strategy can pull the advantage away from the house and closer to the player. For example, in regular blackjack, the rule of thumb for being dealt two matching face cards or two tens is that you stick with the 20 point hand rather than split them, no matter what the dealer's cards are. When the player can see that the dealer is going to be forced to hit, such as when he has 16, and the player looks down to see two 10's in his own hand, good Face Up 21 strategy is to go ahead and split the 10's, since the likelihood of the dealer busting is high.

Choosing the best time to implement the double down feature is much simpler in RTG's Face Up 21. Double down is an option the player has when their first two cards are less than 21. The player doubles their initial bet for the privilege of receiving one—and only one—more card. The optimal time to play this is when the player's first two cards add up to nine, 10 or 11 and the dealer is showing a weak hand. In regular blackjack, a "weak" hand for the dealer would be their single face-up card showing a four, five or six, meaning the dealer will actually be forced to hit. Players are hoping their next card will be a 10-pointer, giving them an advantage over the dealer should the dealer also hit a 10-point card which causes them to bust out. In Face Up 21, players start with much more information about the dealer's chances of busting. For example, if the dealer shows a six on the first card, but the second is a four, the player might want to hold back on that double down bet since the dealer's chances of hitting a good hand with their third card have skyrocketed.

There are some downsides to the game, though. The game pays out even money to a player wining with a natural blackjack rather than the three to two payouts of normal blackjack. All ties are awarded as dealer wins rather than pushes. For some players, the upsides will outweigh the down, and many players will find themselves naturally gravitating toward this Real Time Gaming game.