What is Ante Up 21? - A Guide to the Newest Table Game to Hit Las Vegas

The popularity of poker has grown over recent years, largely thanks to the coverage the World Series of Poker has received on television. Despite the lack of television coverage, blackjack remains popular in Last Vegas. Ante Up 21 is a new table game that combines the two games. Foster/Young International Gaming, LLC has combined these two games into the newest table game in Las Vegas. It is currently being played at the Fremont Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

The game does involve several bets before the hand is ever calculated as to who the winners are. To start the game the player must make the minimum bet for both the bet and the ante. The bet is the money placed on the blackjack hand and the ante is the opening bet on the poker hand. If a player just wants to play the blackjack hand, they do not place a bet in the ante spot at the table. The blackjack bet may be higher than the ante, but the ante can not be higher than the blackjack bet. Both must be equal to or above the table minimum.

The deal of the game starts just like a standard blackjack hand. The player gets two cards and the dealer gets one dealt up and one face down. Each player then must decide if they wish to play their hand as just a blackjack hand or poker as well. If they want to play it as a poker hand they must match their ante bet with a second bet. If they choose not to play the poker portion of the hand, their ante bet is lost.

The hand is played out then as a normal blackjack hand and winners for the blackjack portion are determined just like at any other blackjack game at a casino. There are several specifications though for the poker part of the hand. The first is that each player and the dealer forms their best two-card poker hand. The best hand is a pair of Aces, the worst is a 3-2. There are no flushes, straights, etc. To qualify to play poker the dealer must have Queen high as a minimum hand. If the dealer does not have this the player is paid out 1-1 on his ante bet and he receives his bet back.

If the player ties the hand of the dealer in poker, then the ante and bet are both pushes. A player is still alive in the game if he busts, but he receives no additional cards after his bust card. If the dealer gets blackjack on the deal, the bet is a push. Meanwhile, the ante is won or lost based on comparing the player's two cards with the natural blackjack of the dealer. One final stipulation is that if player splits his hand for the blackjack portion of the game they can only use those first two cards they were dealt to form their blackjack hand. The good news for the player of course is that they will have a pair of some value since they were able to split the blackjack hand.

The Ante Up 21 game is not widespread through Las Vegas at this point. Ante Up 21 is only being played at the Fremont Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. With the popularity of poker though, and the continual success of blackjack at casinos, this is a game that is bound to become very popular.