What Is a Push in Blackjack? The Tie Rule Explained With Examples

A push in blackjack is a tie. If your hand and the dealer's hand finish on the same total, and neither of you has gone over 21, nobody wins: the dealer returns your bet and the hand is over. So what does push mean in blackjack in practice? A 10 USDT bet that pushes gives you back exactly 10 USDT, no more and no less.

This guide covers when a push happens and when it doesn't, the special cases (blackjack against blackjack, doubled and split hands), and how pushes fit into the house edge and RTP math.

What a push in blackjack means

Blackjack has three possible results for each of your hands:

Both the Wizard of Odds and Bicycle Cards rules describe a push the same way: a tie returns the player's bet. In a casino the dealer usually knocks on the table or simply leaves your chips in place. In an online game you'll see "Push" or "Tie" on screen and your stake goes back to your balance.

A push is sometimes called a "stand-off". The word doesn't matter; the outcome is always a zero result for that hand.

Push examples: when it happens and when it doesn't

Card values first: 2 to 10 count at face value, jacks, queens and kings count 10, and an ace counts 1 or 11, whichever is better for the hand.

Example 1: a simple push. You stand on 10 + 9 = 19. The dealer turns over 10 + 7 = 17, draws a 2, and also has 19. Push: your bet comes back.

Example 2: different cards, same total. You hold 8 + 6 + 6 = 20. The dealer has king + queen = 20. Push. Only the total matters, not how many cards made it.

Example 3: a soft total. You have ace + 7, which is soft 18 (the ace counts as 11). The dealer finishes on 10 + 8 = 18. Push.

Example 4: both bust. Not a push. You hit 15 and draw a 9 for 24. Your bet is taken immediately. The dealer later draws to 23. Your hand was already lost; there's no tie between two busted hands.

Example 5: your 21 against the dealer's 21. You hit to 7 + 4 + 10 = 21. The dealer reaches 21 with three cards too. Push. But if the dealer's 21 is a blackjack (ace + 10-value card as the first two cards), it beats your multi-card 21 and you lose.

Example 6: blackjack against 21. You're dealt ace + king, a blackjack. The dealer draws to a three-card 21. You win and are paid the blackjack bonus. A two-card 21 always beats a 21 made with more cards.

Blackjack against blackjack

If you and the dealer both have blackjack, it's a push. The blackjack bonus (3:2, or 6:5 at some tables) is paid only when your blackjack beats the dealer's hand. So a 10 USDT bet returns 10 USDT, not the 25 USDT total you'd get from a 3:2 win.

In games where the dealer checks the face-down card for blackjack when showing an ace or a 10-value card (our simulation used this "peek" rule), this push is settled straight away. If the dealer has blackjack and you don't, you lose your original bet before anyone acts.

Pushes on doubled and split hands

• Doubled hand. If you double a 10 USDT bet to 20 USDT and the hand pushes, both stakes, 20 USDT in total, come back.
• Split hands. After a split, each hand is settled separately. One hand can win while the other pushes. For example, you split 8s against a dealer 7: one hand finishes on 18 and the other on 17. If the dealer makes 17, the first hand wins and the second pushes, for a net +10 USDT on 20 USDT of bets. Our guide to splitting in blackjack has the full rules.

How pushes affect the odds and RTP math

A push has an expected value of exactly zero: you get back what you put in. That makes the basic formula for one hand simple. If you bet 1 unit:

RTP (return to player) is the total paid back divided by the total bet over a long run of hands. A push pays back exactly the stake, so it counts as a return of 1.00 on that hand. The house edge is 100% minus RTP. Both are long-run averages: over a short session your result can be far from them, and they describe what happens on average over a very large number of hands.

Per hand played vs per hand resolved

Here's where pushes trip people up. The usual way to quote the house edge, including in our simulation, is per hand played: pushes are in the denominator. Some people instead track results only over hands that were won or lost. Same money, different denominator:

Worked example (a made-up 10-hand session, for arithmetic only). You bet 10 USDT on each of 10 hands: 4 wins (+40), 5 losses (−50) and 1 push (0). Net result: −10 USDT.

• Per hand played: −10 ÷ (10 × 10 USDT) = −10% of the amount bet.
• Per hand resolved: −10 ÷ (9 × 10 USDT) = about −11.1%.

Both numbers describe the same session. Ten hands is far too few to say anything about the real edge; the point is only that leaving out pushes changes the percentage. When you compare a blackjack figure with another source, check which way it's measured.

What our simulation measures

We dealt 10 million hands for each of four 6-deck rule sets, with the player following basic strategy, and scored every hand, pushes included, as a share of the initial bet:

These are Monte Carlo estimates, so each has a standard error of about 0.036 percentage points. The differences between rule sets are close to the Wizard of Odds rule-change figures, within about two standard errors of the difference. We didn't record push frequency separately, so we don't quote a push percentage here.

Even money: a push you shouldn't avoid

When you have blackjack and the dealer shows an ace, some tables offer "even money": you take a guaranteed 1:1 payout now instead of risking a push if the dealer also has blackjack. It sounds safe. The Wizard of Odds two-deck strategy chart says never take it, and the arithmetic shows why.

Using a simple approximation that treats the cards as an infinite deck, 16 of every 52 cards are worth 10 (the 10, jack, queen and king of each suit), so the chance that the dealer's hidden card completes a blackjack is 16 ÷ 52 = 4 ÷ 13.

Taking even money pays exactly 1 unit. Refusing is worth about 1.038 units on average, so accepting the guaranteed payout gives up about 0.038 units each time. The possible push is a price worth paying. This arithmetic assumes a 3:2 payout. With a 6:5 bonus the same formula gives 1.2 × (9 ÷ 13) ≈ 0.83 units, so the comparison is different; the bigger problem there is the payout itself, as our 6 to 5 blackjack analysis shows.

Strategy: pushes don't change your decisions

Basic strategy already accounts for pushes. When a chart says stand on hard 17 or hit 12 against a 7, those moves were calculated with every possible outcome, ties included. You don't need to adjust for pushes.

What doesn't work:

• Playing to "at least push". Standing on a total just because the dealer might tie it isn't a strategy. Follow the chart; our blackjack strategy card lists every hand.
• Treating pushes as part of a streak. A push doesn't make the next hand more or less likely to win. Each hand is a fresh deal.
• Raising the bet after a push because it "didn't count". Every hand carries the same edge.

What does help: if you're not sure about a hand, our blackjack calculator gives the basic strategy play for your rules.

Pushes and your USDT bankroll

Pushes smooth your results a little: some hands end with no movement in your balance. They don't change the long-run cost, which comes from the house edge applied to everything you bet. At the 0.47% edge of a 6-deck S17 DAS game, 1,000 USDT of total bets costs about 4.70 USDT on average, pushes and all.

Keep your blackjack bankroll in a stablecoin like USDT so price swings don't blur your actual results. In fast crypto-native games such as crash gambling there's no push at all: every round is a win or a loss, so the same bankroll moves faster.

Common mistakes

• Thinking both players busting is a push. You bust first, so you lose.
• Expecting a blackjack bonus when the dealer also has blackjack.
• Taking even money to avoid a possible push.
• Comparing a per-hand-resolved loss rate with a per-hand-played house edge.
• Leaving pushes out of your session records.

For decks and rule choices, see our double deck blackjack strategy, or go back to the blackjack hub for every guide in this section.