Australian Pontoon

Pontoon is an unlicensed variant of the American game Spanish 21 that is played in Australian and Malaysian casinos, in Treasury Casino, Brisbane, it is known as Treasury 21. In Jupiters Casino, Gold Coast, it is known as Jupiters 21, in The Reef Casino, Cairns, it is known as Paradise Pontoon, and in Tasmania, it is known as Federal Pontoon.

It should not be confused with the blackjack variant called Pontoon, found in the UK and British Commonwealth, and played with regular 52-card decks. Pontoon has proven to be far more popular in Australia than Spanish 21 has been in the United States.

History

Pontoon is the British or domestic version, Blackjack the American or casino version, of Vingt-et-un (French for Twenty-one), a French gambling game popular at the court of Louis XV and later, much favored by Napoleon, especially at St. Helena. In the twentieth century it became the most popular game of the armed forces of English-speaking nations. Pontoon, unlike casino Blackjack, has no official rules and varies widely from school to school.

Object

Pontoon is an arithmetical game played on a table with the same layout as blackjack. In each deal, the punter's aim is to receive cards totalling more in face value than the banker's, but not exceeding 21, otherwise he is "bust" and loses. A 21 consisting of an Ace and a card worth 10 is a pontoon, and pays extra, although banker's pontoon is unbeatable, as he always wins in the case of equality. Like Spanish 21, it is played from either a shoe or a 4-deck continuous shuffling machine (CSM). The shoe games use six or eight Spanish decks, which are regular 52-card decks, minus the ten-spot cards. Cards Two to ten count 2 to 10 respectively, courts 10 each, Aces 1 or 11, as their owners may freely declare.