Hi-Lo 13 Blackjack: Odds, Payouts & House Edge

August 1, 2026 · Counting Edge Editorial

Focus here: Hi-Lo 13 Blackjack and its optional wagers on whether the player’s first two cards total above, below or exactly 13. This game should not be confused with the Hi-Lo card-counting system.

Compare this wager with other optional bets in our blackjack side-bet guide, or browse the main blackjack variations directory.

Hi-Lo 13 Blackjack is a European blackjack variation with three optional side bets based solely on the player’s first two cards. Before the deal, the player can wager that the two-card total will be higher than 13, lower than 13 or exactly 13.

The Hi and Lo wagers normally pay even money. Exactly 13 pays 10 to 1. Aces count as 1 for the side bet, even when the same ace can subsequently count as 11 in the main blackjack hand.

The defining online version was released as Hi Lo 13 European Blackjack Gold in the former Microgaming portfolio, now generally associated with Games Global catalog listings. Availability is inconsistent by casino, market and platform, so players should verify the actual game title and help screen rather than assuming every similarly named blackjack table uses the same rules.

Hi-Lo 13 Blackjack at a glance

How the Hi-Lo 13 side bet works

The side bets must be placed before the cards are dealt. The three outcomes are mutually exclusive:

• Hi: the first two cards total more than 13.
• Lo: the first two cards total less than 13.
• 13: the first two cards total exactly 13.

Only the player’s original two cards are used. The following do not affect the result:

• The dealer’s upcard
• The dealer’s eventual hand
• Any card the player draws
• Whether the player doubles
• Whether the player splits
• Whether the main blackjack wager wins or loses

The side bet is normally resolved immediately after the first two player cards appear. The ordinary blackjack hand then continues independently.

Example: side bet wins while blackjack loses

The player wagers on Hi and receives 8-8. The side-bet total is 16, so Hi wins at 1:1.

The player can still lose the main blackjack wager after splitting, standing or busting. The earlier side-bet win is unaffected.

Example: blackjack wins while the side bet loses

The player wagers on Hi and receives ace-king.

For blackjack, ace-king is a natural 21. For Hi-Lo 13, however, the ace counts as 1 and the king counts as 10, producing a side-bet total of 11. The Hi wager loses even though the main hand is blackjack.

How cards are valued for Hi-Lo 13

There are no soft totals in the side bet

An ace cannot be switched between 1 and 11 to choose a favorable Hi-Lo result.

Examples:

Exact two-deck Hi-Lo 13 probabilities

The following calculations assume:

• Two standard 52-card decks
• 104 physical cards before the deal
• Aces count as 1
• Face cards count as 10
• Two cards are drawn without replacement
• Hi pays 1:1
• Lo pays 1:1
• Exactly 13 pays 10:1

There are:

C(104, 2) = 5,356

possible unordered two-card combinations from a full two-deck shoe.

Hi is the most frequent outcome, followed by Lo. Exactly 13 occurs in approximately 8.36% of two-card hands.

Correct two-deck house edge for each wager

For an even-money wager:

House edge = 1 − (2 × probability of winning)

For the exactly 13 wager paying 10:1:

House edge = 1 − (11 × probability of winning)

The multiplier is 11 because a winning wager returns the original stake plus ten units of net winnings.

Hi is the least costly of the three standard wagers. Lo is the worst because it pays the same even money as Hi despite occurring less often.

The old version of this page listed the percentages 6.65%, 7.99% and 10.08%, but assigned them to the wrong outcomes. Direct enumeration shows that the proper order is:

1. Hi: approximately 6.65%
2. Exactly 13: approximately 7.99%
3. Lo: approximately 10.08%

Which two-card hands total exactly 13?

Because aces count as 1 and no card has a value of 11 or 12, only four value combinations produce exactly 13.

The 3 plus a ten-value card combination accounts for more than half of all exactly 13 results because the two-deck game contains 32 cards valued at 10.

Fair payouts versus the posted paytable

A fair net payout is the price that would produce no long-run house advantage before considering rounding or operating costs.

All three wagers pay below their mathematical fair price. That difference creates the house edge.

A different provider can use the same Hi-Lo 13 concept but change:

• The number of decks
• The ace rule
• The dividing total
• The Hi or Lo payout
• The exactly 13 payout
• Whether ties lose, push or receive a separate payout

Do not apply this page’s percentages to a game with a different paytable or rule definition.

How deck count changes the odds

The probability changes slightly because drawing two physical cards without replacement produces different duplicate-rank effects as more decks are combined.

These calculations assume the same ace rule and paytable at every deck count.

Increasing the number of decks slightly improves the Hi wager but makes the 10:1 exactly 13 wager worse after moving beyond one deck. Deck count therefore cannot be ignored when evaluating an equivalent side bet.

Expected cost of repeated Hi-Lo 13 betting

House edge becomes easier to understand when converted into expected loss.

$5 Hi wager

At a 6.646751% house edge:

$5 × 0.06646751 = approximately $0.33 expected loss per wager

Over 100 wagers, total action is $500 and theoretical loss is approximately $33.23.

$5 Lo wager

At a 10.082151% house edge:

$5 × 0.10082151 = approximately $0.50 expected loss per wager

Over 100 wagers, total action is $500 and theoretical loss is approximately $50.41.

$5 exactly 13 wager

At a 7.991038% house edge:

$5 × 0.07991038 = approximately $0.40 expected loss per wager

Over 100 wagers, total action is $500 and theoretical loss is approximately $39.96.

Actual results over 100 rounds can differ dramatically, particularly for the exactly 13 wager. Expected loss is a long-run average rather than a prediction of one session.

What happens if you bet all three outcomes?

Placing equal wagers on Hi, Lo and exactly 13 guarantees that one betting area wins, but it does not guarantee a net profit or even a push.

Suppose the player wagers $1 on each outcome, for $3 total.

When Hi or Lo wins

• Winning even-money wager: +$1
• Two losing wagers: −$2
• Net result: −$1

When exactly 13 wins

• Exactly 13 wager: +$10
• Hi and Lo wagers: −$2
• Net result: +$8

Because exactly 13 occurs only about 8.36% of the time, the combined strategy still has negative expectation.

For each $3 round of total action:

Expected loss ≈ $0.2472

That is an effective house edge of approximately:

8.24% of total money wagered

Betting every box is therefore not a mathematical hedge against the casino advantage.

Main blackjack rules in the European Gold version

The side-bet mathematics should be separated from the rules governing the underlying blackjack hand.

Published descriptions of Hi Lo 13 European Blackjack Gold generally list:

• Two decks
• Reshuffling after every completed round
• Blackjack paying 3:2
• Dealer standing on hard and soft 17
• European no-hole-card dealing
• Doubling only on hard totals of 9, 10 or 11
• No doubling after splitting
• One split
• No resplitting aces
• Additional cards permitted after splitting aces
• No surrender
• Insurance paying 2:1 when offered

The game’s help screen remains controlling. Legacy software versions, casino configurations and later adaptations can differ.

European no-hole-card dealing explained

Under European no-hole-card dealing, the dealer initially receives only one visible card. The dealer’s second card is not taken until players have completed their decisions.

This differs from an American hole-card game, where the dealer normally receives a second card at the start and may check for blackjack when showing an ace or ten-value card.

Why the rule matters

Suppose the dealer shows an ace or ten-value card and the player:

• Doubles the original wager
• Splits into two hands
• Splits and then places further permitted wagers

If the dealer later completes a natural blackjack, the settlement of those additional wagers depends on the game’s rule:

• European no-hole-card exposure: additional split or double wagers may also lose.
• Original bets only: only the player’s original wager is lost and qualifying additional wagers are returned.

Do not assume that every game called European blackjack uses the same settlement. Check specifically whether the help screen says:

• All bets lose to dealer blackjack
• Original wager only
• Original bets only or OBO
• No peek
• No hole card

The correct basic strategy changes when doubles and splits are exposed to an undiscovered dealer blackjack.

Correcting the dealer-rule confusion

The former version of this guide said that the dealer receives one face-up and one face-down card, hits soft 17 and does not offer insurance.

Those statements do not match the commonly published European Gold rules:

• The dealer does not initially receive a face-down hole card.
• The dealer stands on soft 17.
• Published descriptions list insurance at 2:1 when the dealer shows an ace.

These distinctions affect strategy and should not be treated as cosmetic details.

Main-game RTP versus side-bet RTP

The main blackjack game has been listed with an optimal-strategy RTP of approximately 99.60%, equivalent to a house edge near 0.40% under the specified assumptions.

That figure does not include the optional side bets.

This illustrates why a small optional wager can generate more expected loss than the larger main bet.

Example with a $10 main bet and $5 Hi wager

Assume the main blackjack game has a 0.40% house edge under accurate strategy:

• $10 main wager expected loss: $0.04 per hand
• $5 Hi wager expected loss: approximately $0.33 per hand

The side bet is half the size of the blackjack wager but produces more than eight times the expected loss in this illustration.

Basic strategy for Hi-Lo 13 Blackjack

There is no playing strategy after the Hi-Lo side bet has been resolved. The side wager is determined entirely by the initial deal.

For the main blackjack wager, strategy must account for:

• Two decks
• Dealer standing on soft 17
• European no-hole-card procedure
• Doubling restricted to hard 9–11
• No double after split
• One split
• Ability to hit split aces
• No surrender
• The dealer-blackjack settlement rule

Do not use a generic American peek-game chart without checking these differences.

Our basic blackjack strategy guide explains how rules alter the correct decision framework.

Can card counting beat the Hi-Lo 13 side bet?

The answer depends on how cards are generated and shuffled.

Published RNG version reshuffling every round

If the complete two-deck virtual shoe is independently reshuffled before every hand, previous rounds provide no useful depletion information about the next side bet.

Traditional card counting therefore cannot identify a favorable next-round Hi, Lo or exactly 13 wager.

Persistent physical or virtual shoe

If an equivalent wager is attached to a finite shoe that is not reshuffled after every round, exposed cards change the remaining probabilities.

In principle, detailed composition tracking could identify situations where one outcome is more or less likely than its full-shoe probability.

However, the standard Hi-Lo blackjack count is not designed specifically to distinguish:

• Totals below 13
• Totals above 13
• Exact combinations of 3-10, 4-9, 5-8 and 6-7

For example, the ordinary Hi-Lo count treats 4, 5 and 6 identically as +1, yet those ranks interact with different partner cards in the exactly 13 wager.

A useful side-bet analysis would need rank-composition information, the exact remaining shoe and a game-specific betting model.

Hi-Lo 13 is not the Hi-Lo card-counting system

The shared words “Hi-Lo” do not make the side bet a card-counting system. A player can place the Hi-Lo 13 wager without knowing how to count cards, and someone using the Hi-Lo count does not automatically gain an edge over this side bet.

How to identify the correct game version

Before relying on any rules or percentages, open the game information screen and confirm:

• Exact game title
• Provider
• Number of decks
• Whether the shoe resets each hand
• Ace value for the side bet
• Hi and Lo dividing point
• Hi payout
• Lo payout
• Exactly 13 payout
• Dealer soft-17 rule
• Hole-card procedure
• Dealer-blackjack treatment of split and double wagers
• Doubling restrictions
• Splitting restrictions
• Insurance availability
• Published RTP

A game using “high,” “low,” “lucky 13” or “over/under” in its title may have completely different rules.

Is Hi Lo 13 European Blackjack Gold still available?

Hi Lo 13 European Blackjack Gold remains listed in several game databases under the former Microgaming or current Games Global portfolio. However, availability is uneven, and some catalog trackers show no active lobby or demo in particular markets.

The game may be:

• Available only in selected countries
• Present at some legacy Microgaming casinos
• Unavailable on a casino’s mobile platform
• Hidden because of local game-certification rules
• Removed from a lobby despite remaining in historical catalogs

Do not choose a casino based solely on an old review claiming that the title is available. Search the operator’s current lobby and verify the game before depositing.

Is Hi-Lo 13 worth playing?

There are two separate questions.

Is the main blackjack game competitive?

A published main-game RTP near 99.60% is competitive when the player follows strategy appropriate to the European no-hole-card rules.

The restrictions on doubling and splitting are partly offset by:

• 3:2 blackjack
• Dealer standing on soft 17
• Two decks
• Ability to draw after splitting aces

The exact dealer-blackjack settlement remains important.

Is the side bet competitive?

No standard Hi-Lo 13 wager approaches the return of the main game:

• Hi house edge: approximately 6.65%
• Exactly 13 house edge: approximately 7.99%
• Lo house edge: approximately 10.08%

A player focused on maximizing expected return should normally skip all three and place only the main blackjack wager.

A player choosing the side bet for entertainment should understand that:

• Hi is mathematically the least costly standard option.
• Lo is the most expensive option.
• The 10:1 payout does not make exactly 13 favorable.
• Betting all three outcomes does not eliminate the house edge.
• Previous losses do not make any result “due.”

Common Hi-Lo 13 mistakes

Counting an ace as 11 for the side bet

The ace always counts as 1 for the published Hi-Lo 13 wager.

Assuming ace-king is Hi

Ace-king totals 11 for the side bet, so it is Lo despite being a natural blackjack in the main game.

Using the wrong house-edge labels

For two decks, Hi is approximately 6.65%, exactly 13 is approximately 7.99% and Lo is approximately 10.08%.

Assuming a 10:1 payout is close to fair

The fair net payout for exactly 13 is approximately 10.955:1. A posted 10:1 payout retains an edge of about 7.99%.

Combining the main-game and side-bet RTP

The published 99.60% figure applies to the main blackjack wager under optimal play. It does not apply to Hi, Lo or exactly 13.

Assuming two decks make the RNG game countable

A two-deck label does not create a counting opportunity when the virtual shoe is independently reshuffled after every completed hand.

Assuming European blackjack means dealer soft 17 is hit

European dealing describes the hole-card procedure, not one universal soft-17 rule. The published Gold version stands on soft 17.

Assuming every no-hole-card game takes all additional wagers

Some games use original-bets-only protection. Always verify the dealer-blackjack settlement.

Frequently asked questions

What is Hi-Lo 13 Blackjack?

Hi-Lo 13 Blackjack is a European blackjack variation with optional wagers on whether the player’s first two cards total more than 13, less than 13 or exactly 13.

How do aces count in Hi-Lo 13?

An ace always counts as 1 for the Hi-Lo 13 side bet. After the side bet is resolved, the same ace can count as 1 or 11 in the main blackjack hand.

What are the Hi-Lo 13 payouts?

The published Microgaming European Gold version pays 1:1 for Hi, 1:1 for Lo and 10:1 for an initial total of exactly 13.

What is the house edge on the Hi wager?

In a two-deck game with aces counting as 1 and an even-money payout, the exact calculated house edge on a total above 13 is approximately 6.6468%.

What is the house edge on the Lo wager?

In the same two-deck game, the exact calculated house edge on a total below 13 is approximately 10.0822%.

What is the house edge on exactly 13?

Exactly 13 occurs in approximately 8.3645% of two-card hands. At a 10:1 payout, the calculated house edge is approximately 7.9910%.

Which two-card hands total exactly 13?

The possible value combinations are 3 plus a ten-value card, 4 plus 9, 5 plus 8 and 6 plus 7.

Can you bet Hi, Lo and 13 at the same time?

Some interfaces permit wagers on multiple outcomes, but equal bets on all three still produce negative expectation. Under the standard two-deck paytable, the combined house edge is approximately 8.24% of total action.

Is Hi-Lo 13 related to Hi-Lo card counting?

No. Hi-Lo 13 is a side bet based on a two-card total. Hi-Lo card counting is a separate system used to track the composition of a blackjack shoe.

Can card counting beat Hi-Lo 13?

Not when the RNG version independently reshuffles the complete shoe after each round. A persistent finite shoe could create composition-dependent changes, but a specialized rank analysis would be more useful than the standard Hi-Lo count.

Related CountingEdge guides

• Blackjack side bets
• Blackjack variations
• European blackjack rules
• Hi-Lo card-counting system
• Basic blackjack strategy
• Blackjack house edge explained
• Doubling down in blackjack
• Splitting aces and eights
• When to hit or stand
• How to play blackjack

Rules, catalog and mathematics sources

• Wizard of Odds: published Microgaming blackjack rules and RTP table
• Blackjack.com.au: Hi-Lo 13 rules, ace treatment and European Gold game description
• Beating Bonuses: historical Hi-Lo 13 probability and paytable reference
• Online-Casinos.com: 2026 game-rule review
• SlotCatalog: Games Global catalog and regional availability data

Mathematics note: Counting Edge independently enumerated all 5,356 unordered two-card combinations from a complete two-deck shoe. The calculations use aces as 1, all face cards as 10 and the 1:1, 1:1 and 10:1 net paytable stated above. Other deck counts, card values or payouts require recalculation.