--- title: 'How to Win Side Bets in Blackjack: Do Strategies Actually Work?' source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=qm5kbNDhX84' video_id: 'qm5kbNDhX84' date: 2026-07-24 duration_sec: 952 channel: 'Ninja Gamblers' --- # How to Win Side Bets in Blackjack: Do Strategies Actually Work? > Source: [How to Win Side Bets in Blackjack: Do Strategies Actually Work?](https://youtube.com/watch?v=qm5kbNDhX84) ## Summary This video tests popular strategies for winning side bets in blackjack, such as perfect pairs, 21+3, and insurance. The host uses a modular D'Alembert betting system combined with basic strategy to see if side bets can be profitable. After a 25-minute session, the experiment concludes that side bets have a high house edge and are not worth playing. ### Key Points - **Side Bets Overview** [00:01] — Side bets in blackjack offer high payouts (up to 100x) but have low winning chances. Common side bets include perfect pairs, 21+3, and insurance. - **Perfect Pairs Payouts and House Edge** [01:31] — Perfect pairs pays 5:1 for mixed pairs, 10:1 for colored pairs, and 30:1 for perfect pairs. The house edge is 6-7% on six or eight-deck tables, compared to 0.5% for basic strategy blackjack. - **21+3 Payouts** [02:12] — 21+3 pays based on poker hands formed by the player's two cards and dealer's up card: flush 5:1, straight 10:1, three of a kind 30:1, straight flush 40:1, suited three of a kind 100:1. - **Insurance Edge** [02:27] — Insurance pays 2:1 when dealer has blackjack but has a house edge of 7-8%, making it a bad bet. - **Testing Strategy** [03:39] — The host tests a strategy: wait for a cold streak (8 hands for perfect pairs, 10 for 21+3), then use a modular D'Alembert progression on side bets while playing basic strategy on the main bet. - **Session Results** [13:43] — After 25 minutes, the host profited only $2. Side bets lost $73, insurance drained funds, and 21+3 didn't help. The main bet alone would have been more profitable. - **Conclusion** [14:30] — Side bets are statistically unfavorable due to high house edge. The host advises avoiding them and sticking to basic strategy. ### Conclusion Side bets in blackjack are not a viable strategy for consistent winnings; they function more like a lottery. The best approach is to avoid them and focus on basic strategy. ## Transcript attractive. Unlike the usual main bet, which usually only doubles your money if you win, side bets have really high payouts. They can multiply your money by up to 100 times. Now, most players already know that they have very low winning chances, so they tend to be a bad way to play Blackjack. But, is there a way to actually beat them? Can you use them in some way to your advantage? Are there any side bet strategies? Well, many people online talk about certain strategies that allow you to win side bets. Do they actually work or are they just legends? Today, we're going to test them and find out. Welcome to Ninja Gamblers, where we break down the smartest strategies for roulette, Blackjack, craps, and baccarat. If you're into table games, join our free community. You'll get all the charts we use, exclusive content, discussions with fellow ninjas, and member-only bonuses. It's free, private, and takes 10 seconds to join. Link in the description and first comment. In a previous video, we explained how side bets work in Blackjack and mentioned the most popular ones like perfect pairs, 21 plus 3 insurance, and a few others. If you haven't seen that video or you're not familiar with side bets, I suggest watching it first. The link is at the top right corner. Today, I'll focus on the three most common ones you'll find on online Blackjack: perfect pairs, 21 plus 3 and insurance. Perfect pairs pays 5 to 1 for mixed pairs, 10 to 1 for colored pairs, and 30 to 1 for perfect pairs, meaning same card and same suit. The house edge on six or eight-deck tables is usually between 6 and 7%. That is huge considering that playing normal Blackjack with basic strategy gives a Blackjack with basic strategy gives a house only a mere 0.5% edge. Now, what's basic strategy? Well, it's this chart here and you can get it by joining our free community together with many other charts and extra content you'll be able You can join from the link in the description. Now, 21 + 3 pays when your two cards and the dealer's up card form of poker hand. A flush pays 5 to 1, a of poker hand. A flush pays 5 to 1, a straight 10 to 1, three of a kind 30 to 1, a straight flush 40 to 1, and a suited three of a kind 100 to 1. Insurance pays two to one when the dealer hits blackjack. It looks like a safety net, but it's basically a disguised push with a bad edge of around 7 to 8%. So, now that I've covered the payouts and the odds, let's see how to win with side bets in blackjack, or at least let's test if it's even possible at all to use these huge payouts on our advantage. course, the payouts and house edge probability I just explained is true only if you're playing on a game that is not rigged. If you play on the wrong site, you can easily get scammed with rigged games, low table limits, delayed withdrawals, or even worse. You win and the account gets blocked for suspicious If you want to play safely, always [music] stick to licensed casinos where payouts are guaranteed and games are independently tested by the licensing We've made a list of verified casinos with legal licenses for each country. You'll find it on the screen and also in the description and pinned comment. Now, there are many theories online about how to win side bets in blackjack. Most of them suggest waiting for a cold streak before placing any bets and then using a progressive system. In this session, I'll test exactly that using modular d'Alembert together with basic strategy, which as I said, you can free. I'll be looking at the three side bets available on this table. I'll play normally with Dalembert and keep counting how many hands the side bets don't appear. After eight hands of perfect pairs not appearing, I'll start placing the first bet of 50 cents on it and keeping the bet for another eight hands, playing Dalembert there, too, until I either hit it or lose for eight times in a row. For 21 + 3, I'll wait 10 hands before placing the first bet and follow the same logic, running [music] 10 hand cycles. And of course, I'll take insurance whenever it's offered. All this while keeping on with Dalembert and the basic strategy for the main bet. This is, by the way, a very different way of playing than what I usually do, as I never play on any side bet. But, let's see what happens. Remember, with modular Dalembert, you start with a base bet of 10 units and increase one unit after a loss and decrease one unit after I'll leave the Dalembert video here in the top right corner for more info. Let's start. Okay, let's bet $10. First hand, I've got nine against the dealer's five. The chart says to double, so let's do it. Hit a seven. Great. Dealer busts, I win. Nice start. Dealer busts, I win. Nice start. Now, I'll remove one unit and bet nine. us from risking to burst. Two wins in a row. I remove one unit and Two wins in a row. I remove one unit and bet $8. A clean 20 against a two. We stand. Looking good. Thanks for keeping me humble. All right. Annoyingly lost. So, I increase my bet of one unit back to $9. Nine versus nine, I'll hit. Got a solid 19, I stand. [music] Dealer shows 18. Nice. Four hands in and no pairs. No 21 plus three yet. So, let's fast forward. I'll keep playing until either perfect pairs or 10 for 21 plus three don't show up for eight times in a row and I can start the side bet cycles. Time to start the perfect pairs side bet. And lost the side bet as expected. Anyway, got an 11 here. Time to double. A four. That's 15 against a queen. And of course, the dealer [music] lands 17. Since I lost, I must add one unit on both the main bet and the side bet. And obviously lost the insurance. Shocker. This hand looks terrible, but Shocker. This hand looks terrible, but somehow I got a nice 20. Now betting 14 and raising the side bet again. It's been 10 cold hands without 21 plus three. So, time to add it to the mix. three. So, time to add it to the mix. Let's see what happens. was a double for sure, but I was too focused on adjusting the bets. And yeah, me. At least I won the hand, but lost both side bets. So, let's add one more unit to each side bet and drop one unit to the main bet. Yeah, it's done to become a bit complex Yeah, it's done to become a bit complex to keep track. $23 profit. Side bet wins. Now, two sixes versus a dealer's two. Easy split. Oh, no. 13 and two. Hit one and stand Oh, no. 13 and two. Hit one and stand the other. in mysterious ways. Let's keep pushing 21 plus three. Up Let's keep pushing 21 plus three. Up another unit. Maybe this one hits. at 21 plus three. I keep going. One more units up. The good thing about RNG tables is that it gives you enough time to breathe between decisions and place the correct bets. There would be no way I can keep bets. There would be no way I can keep up with this at live blackjack. Bust. [music] No surprise there. Keep the system. Bet 12 on the main bet Keep the system. Bet 12 on the main bet and 2.5 on the side bet. 19 against a king, stand. Let's speed it up again. See if any of those side bets finally hit or I just keep donating money to the casino. be the end of my 21 + 3 cycle and I'll reset to 50 cents. And by the way, eight hands without any pair. So, let's go back to perfect pairs. And wow, pair of aces first hand back. Nailed the side bet but lost 21 + 3. I'll take that trade. Split time, 15 and 21. Yep, small profit from perfect 21. Yep, small profit from perfect pairs. Speeding up. And lost the side bet again. I'm going to apply fast forward again I'm going to apply fast forward again until the game decides I deserve mercy. still nothing on 21 + 3. Over 20 hands without a hit. not? Am I going to win any 21 + 3 bet today? I'm going to speed it up again cuz I can't stand this pain train. doesn't even cover what I've lost. Betting [music] $25 total to win 1250 Betting [music] $25 total to win 1250 and push on 20. RNG has jokes. and push on 20. RNG has jokes. Let's speed it up again. blackjack. Lost the side bet again. Speeding up until something worth Speeding up until something worth watching shows up. aces. Nice $9 profit. Split again and of course lost both My side bet profit disappeared instantly. Let's speed up before I start questioning why I decided to play this session. I won $5 on 21 + 3 for the second time in forever and immediately lost insurance again. Amazing balance. Speeding up. I've burned through a small fortune in insurance bets at this point. Let's keep insurance bets at this point. Let's keep speeding. Last hand. Eight against a two. I hit. Make 17. coming next. And yes, I'm done with this madness. After 25 minutes of playing, I profited the incredible amount of $2. >> [music] >> All right. Let's analyze what happened. collected $67 in return, losing about $73 just on those. That profit would have been mine if it wasn't for the side bets. Insurance drained me, and 21 + 3 didn't help either. So, in a nutshell, I would have made a much, much bigger profit by just playing on the main bet, following D'Alembert and the basic following D'Alembert and the basic strategy, completely ignoring side bets. So, experiment failed. Side bets may look fun, and if you get lucky, you can hit huge payouts. But if you're still wondering how to win side bets in blackjack, the answer is simple, you can't. Statistically, they don't contribute to your overall winnings. And in this session, we paid the price of that brutal house edge. They're more of a lottery than a strategic bet. So, the ninja's advice is, don't play on side bets. Stay away from them. You'll be better off just playing basic strategy. What do you think? Do you use side bets or avoid them like the plague? Let us know in the comments. Now, two ways we can help you level up your game. First, join our free community. Join the discussions with other ninjas. Get all our strategy charts, tools, exclusive bonuses, and extra content. Plus a discount on our roulette mastery playbook, the guide teaching you the complete framework we use to link all the systems together and master the game. Link in the description. Second, if you're playing later, remember to only use licensed casinos from our verified list. Government licensed, tested RNG, and guaranteed payouts. Also in the description and on the first comment. And don't forget to always play smart like a true ninja. See you next time.