# Even Money, 6:5 and 3:2: Every Payout You Will Meet

A tour of every blackjack payout: 3:2 and 6:5 naturals, the 7:5 middle ground, 1:1 variants, insurance at 2:1, even money, and the ordinary win and push. What each one costs.

Source: https://21trainer.app/articles/blackjack-payout-variants/
Updated: September 12, 2026
Publisher: 21 Trainer, makers of Blackjack Strategy: 21 Trainer, an educational blackjack trainer for iPhone (https://apps.apple.com/app/blackjack-strategy-21-trainer/id6759527695)

> **Educational content, not gambling advice.** 21 Trainer and this article teach blackjack strategy and card counting as skills, using virtual chips only. No strategy or counting system guarantees winnings, and nothing here encourages real-money play. If gambling is a problem for you or someone you know, call 1-800-522-4700 (National Council on Problem Gambling).

Blackjack has a reputation as a simple game to settle up. You win, you lose, you push. In practice a single table offers at least four different payout ratios, and which ones apply is decided partly by the rules printed on the felt and partly by a choice the dealer will offer you in a hurry.

This is a tour of all of them. Not the strategy, the arithmetic: what each payout returns, what it costs, and which ones a player gets to refuse.

## The natural: 3:2, 6:5 and everything between

A natural is a two-card 21, an ace with any ten-valued card. It is the only hand in blackjack that has ever paid better than even money, and the ratio it pays is the most consequential number on the table.

The traditional payout is 3:2. Bet 10 units, catch a natural, collect 15 in winnings plus your original bet. That ratio is old enough that most players treat it as part of the definition of the game.

The reduced payout is 6:5. The same 10 unit bet returns 12 units instead of 15. That sounds like a small trim, and it is not. As Wizard of Odds calculates, moving from 3:2 to 6:5 costs the player roughly 1.39 percentage points of house edge, which makes it the single most expensive common rule change in blackjack. A game with a house edge near half a percent under good rules becomes a game with an edge near two percent, so the reduction can nearly quadruple what an otherwise decent game costs. Our full comparison of [3:2 and 6:5 blackjack](https://21trainer.app/articles/blackjack-3-2-vs-6-5/) goes through the arithmetic hand by hand.

For scale, compare that to the rule changes players argue about. Per the commonly published figures, a dealer hitting soft 17 costs the player about 0.22 percent, and double after split gains about 0.14 percent. The payout change is several times larger than either. No combination of liberal rules elsewhere on the felt buys back what 6:5 takes.

Between the two sits 7:5, which is uncommon but real. A 10 unit bet returns 14 units. It is better than 6:5 and worse than 3:2, and the reason to know it exists is so that you read the felt rather than assume anything short of 6:5 must be standard.

| Payout on a natural | Winnings on a 10 unit bet | Where you see it |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 3:2 | 15 units | The traditional table game |
| 7:5 | 14 units | Uncommon, sits between the two |
| 6:5 | 12 units | Widespread, often at low minimums |
| 1:1 | 10 units | Some variants and many machines |

## The games that pay 1:1 on a natural

The bottom row of that table is not a typo. Some variants pay only even money on a natural, and they are upfront about it because the reduction is buying the player something else.

Blackjack Switch is the clearest example. The player plays two hands and may swap the second card between them, which is a genuinely powerful privilege, and the 1:1 natural is part of how the game pays for it. The variant also changes other rules to balance the ledger. It is not a worse game because of the payout; it is a different game whose payout you cannot evaluate in isolation.

Video and electronic blackjack machines are the other place 1:1 naturals turn up, along with an assortment of other reduced payouts. A machine's paytable is its own document, printed on the screen or the cabinet, and it does not have to resemble the table game a few steps away. Read it first. The same caution applies to any novelty variant on the floor: a name you do not recognize means a paytable you have not read.

## Insurance at 2:1, and even money in disguise

Insurance is the one payout on the table that is better than 3:2, and it is offered only when the dealer shows an ace. It is a side bet, up to half your original wager, that the dealer's hole card is a ten. It pays 2:1.

Basic strategy declines it. Always. The bet pays 2:1 on a proposition that comes in less often than one time in three under ordinary deck composition, which is why our article on [blackjack insurance](https://21trainer.app/articles/blackjack-insurance-explained/) treats it as a straightforward negative. The only recognized exception belongs to counters: the Hi-Lo insurance index is about +3 true count, and at or above that the remaining deck is rich enough in tens to change the answer. Our guide to [index deviations](https://21trainer.app/articles/index-deviations-explained/) covers how that works.

Even money is the same bet wearing a different coat. When you hold a natural and the dealer shows an ace, the dealer will offer to pay you immediately at 1:1 rather than settle the hand normally. It is presented as a guarantee, and it feels like one: a sure win instead of a possible push.

What it actually is: insurance on your own natural. If you insure a natural, the two outcomes cancel out to exactly even money every time. The dealer has a natural, your hand pushes and the insurance pays; the dealer does not, you collect 3:2 and lose the insurance. Either way you end up with 1:1.

So the question "should I take even money?" is the question "should I take insurance?", and the answer is the same. Basic strategy declines it, a counter takes it at the insurance index, and nobody should take it because a sure thing feels better than a good thing. At a 6:5 table the calculation shifts, since the natural you are giving up is worth less to begin with, which is one more quiet cost of that rule.

## The ordinary payouts nobody mentions

Everything else settles at 1:1. Draw to 20 and beat the dealer's 19, you are paid one unit for one. Double down for a second unit and win, you collect two. Split a pair into two winning hands and each pays 1:1 on its own bet. The dealer busts and you are still standing, 1:1.

And then there is the push, which pays nothing at all and returns your bet. Pushes are more common than new players expect, especially on 17 through 20, and they are a structural feature of the game rather than a near miss. Our article on [push frequency](https://21trainer.app/articles/blackjack-push-frequency/) covers how often they occur.

Two details worth knowing. A natural paid at 3:2 on an odd bet produces a half unit, which is why a 5 unit bet returns 7.5 and why 6:5 games are often spread at minimums that make the arithmetic tidy. And a hand of 21 made with three or more cards is not a natural. It wins at 1:1 and it loses to a dealer's two-card 21.

## Reading the felt before you sit

The payout is printed on the table layout, usually in the arc of text near the dealer that also names the soft 17 rule. It takes a second to read and it is the single most valuable second at the table. Our guide to [reading the blackjack felt](https://21trainer.app/articles/reading-the-blackjack-felt/) covers everything else that arc tells you.

The most common trap on a casino floor is a 6:5 table sitting next to a 3:2 table at the same minimum. From a few steps away they are indistinguishable: same chips, same layout, same dealer. One of them costs several times more per hour to play. Nothing about the atmosphere will tell you which.

The broader habit is to evaluate rules as a stack rather than one at a time. Deck count, soft 17, double after split, surrender and payout all move the number together, as our article on the [blackjack house edge](https://21trainer.app/articles/blackjack-house-edge-explained/) explains, and the [house edge rule calculator](https://21trainer.app/articles/house-edge-rule-calculator/) shows how they combine. A 3:2 game with a couple of mediocre rules will usually beat a 6:5 game with generous ones.

One honest closing note. No payout makes blackjack a winning proposition on its own. Every rule discussed here changes how much the game costs, not whether it costs. This is educational material about how a game is structured, not advice to play it.

## Frequently asked questions

### What is the difference between 3:2 and 6:5 blackjack?

It is the payout on a natural, a two-card 21. At 3:2 a 10 unit bet returns 15 units of winnings; at 6:5 the same bet returns 12. As Wizard of Odds calculates, moving to 6:5 costs the player roughly 1.39 percentage points of house edge, the single most expensive common rule change, enough to nearly quadruple the house edge of an otherwise decent game.

### Should you ever take even money on a blackjack?

Basic strategy declines it. Even money is insurance in disguise: when you hold a natural and the dealer shows an ace, insuring the hand always settles it at 1:1 regardless of what the dealer has. It is the same bet on the dealer's hole card, and basic strategy declines insurance in every situation. Counters make an exception only at the insurance index, about +3 true count in Hi-Lo.

### Does any blackjack game pay 1:1 on a natural?

Yes. Some variants pay only even money on a natural, notably Blackjack Switch, where the reduced payout is what pays for the privilege of switching cards between two hands. Video and electronic blackjack machines also commonly use reduced payouts. A machine's paytable is printed on the screen or cabinet and should be read before playing, because it will not match the table game.

### What does 7:5 blackjack pay?

A 7:5 natural pays 7 units for every 5 wagered, which sits between the traditional 3:2 and the reduced 6:5. On a 10 unit bet that is 14 units of winnings, against 15 at 3:2 and 12 at 6:5. It is uncommon but it exists, and it is worth recognizing on the felt rather than assuming any payout better than 6:5 must be the standard one.

### Where is the blackjack payout printed?

On the felt itself, usually in the arc of text near the dealer that also names the soft 17 rule. The most common trap on a casino floor is a 6:5 table sitting beside a 3:2 table at the same minimum, which looks identical from a few steps away. Reading the layout before sitting down takes seconds and is the single most valuable habit at the table.

## Keep reading

- [Blackjack 3:2 vs 6:5](https://21trainer.app/articles/blackjack-3-2-vs-6-5/)
- [Blackjack House Edge: What Half a Percent Really Means](https://21trainer.app/articles/blackjack-house-edge-explained/)
- [Blackjack Insurance, Explained](https://21trainer.app/articles/blackjack-insurance-explained/)