You will come across blackjack variants at Australian online casinos that have innovative rules. These make the game more interesting and attract more players. This article discusses one such rule known as Six Card Charlie.

Actually the Charlie Rule is a general one. If the player is dealt a specified number of cards without busting then the player's hand automatically wins, irrespective of the value of the dealer’s hand. In another version of the Charlie Rule, the player’s Charlie hand loses only to a dealer blackjack. In most cases, the Charlie Rule specifies that the player should be dealt six cards without busting. The reasons for this are explained later. The mechanics of the Six Card Charlie are discussed first.

A Six Card Charlie is a hand of six cards whose value is not over 21 following the usual online blackjack valuation. In a Six Card Charlie automatic win the return to the player increases by 0.16%. This advantage is significant in the long run. Normally the average return would be about 95.5%, depending on the exact rules of the online blackjack variant. Therefore the 0.16% increase is something that the Australian online casinos can absorb. Therefore the Six Card Charlie Rule is the one which is usually employed.

The optimum strategy with a Six Card Charlie Rule calls for more aggressive play. You gain in the long run by hitting and trying for a Charlie hand, when in the normal online blackjack the optimum strategy would be to stand. The Charlie Rule optimum strategy is displayed on a strategy card similar to the normal one. The difference is that certain cells are marked with either '1' or '2'. If the player's and dealer's hand values correspond to a cell marked '2' then the player should hit if he is 1 or 2 away from a Charlie otherwise he should stand. Similarly if he is on a cell marked '1' in a Six Card Charlie Rule then he should hit if he is 1 away from a Charlie, otherwise he should stand.

A Five Card Charlie hand increases the average return by about 1.5%. This will raise the average return to over 100%, which is not viable for the online casino. Hence if at all the Five Card Charlie Rule is offered in any online blackjack variant then some other advantage is taken away from the player in order to compensate. A Seven Card Charlie hand increases the average return by 0.01%. This advantage is insignificant.