Many blackjack tables offer side bets on various outcomes including:[28]

Player hand and dealer's up card total 19, 20, or 21 ("Lucky Lucky")

Player initial hand is a pair ("Perfect pairs")

Player initial hand is suited, and connected, or a suited K-Q ("Royal match")

Player initial hand plus dealer's card makes a flush, straight, or three-of-a-kind poker hand ("21+3")

Player initial hand totals 20 ("Lucky Ladies")

Dealer upcard is in between the value of the player's two cards ("In Bet")

First card drawn to the dealer will result in a dealer bust ("Bust It!")

One or both of the player's cards is the same as the dealer's card ("Match the Dealer")

The side wager is typically placed in a designated area next to the box for the main wager. A player wishing to wager on a side bet usually must place a wager on blackjack. Some games require that the blackjack wager should equal or exceed any side bet wager. A non-controlling player of a blackjack hand is usually permitted to place a side bet regardless of whether the controlling player does so.

The house edge for side bets is generally higher than for the blackjack game itself. Nonetheless, side bets can be susceptible to card counting. A side count designed specifically for a particular side bet can improve the player's edge. Only a few side bets, like "Insurance" and "Lucky Ladies", correlate well with the high-low counting system and offer a sufficient win rate to justify the effort of advantage play.

In team play, it is common for team members to be dedicated to only counting a side bet using a specialized count.