What a Push Is, and How Often It Happens
Updated
A push is a tie. You and the dealer finish on the same total, your bet comes back, and the hand is over. It happens on roughly 9% of hands — which is a big enough share to change how you should read every other number about the game.
- A push returns your bet. You neither win nor lose.
- It happens about 9% of the time.
- Win 42%, lose 49%, push 9% — that is the real split.
- Two blackjacks also push, though some tables pay the player first.
Why the 9% matters
People assume blackjack is close to a coin flip because it feels like one. It is not: you lose more hands than you win. What disguises that is the push, which takes about one hand in eleven out of the reckoning entirely.
Among hands that actually get decided, you win about 46% and lose 54%. The reason the house edge is still only 0.46% is that your wins are worth more — blackjacks pay 3:2, and doubles and splits let you put extra money out when you are ahead.
When you push
Any time your final total equals the dealer’s, from 17 through 21. Both busting is not a push — if you bust you have already lost, whatever the dealer does afterward. That asymmetry is where a large part of the house edge comes from.
Two blackjacks push as well. Some tables pay a player blackjack immediately before checking the dealer’s hand, which is a small bonus and worth noticing.
Other names for it
“Push”, “tie” and “stand-off” all mean the same thing. On a felt it is usually written as “dealer wins ties” if the table does not push — which is a rule to walk away from, and one you mostly meet in blackjack variants rather than the main game.
Keep reading
By Martin Kosek · every number on this site is computed by us, not copied.
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