Whether you're talking about the perfect pair of shoes or a perfect pair of lovers, nothing can beat perfection. And a perfect pair of blackjack cards can win you a big bonus payout in the Perfect Pairs online blackjack game.

You start a game of Perfect Pairs Blackjack just as you start any game of online blackjack: by placing your bet on the virtual blackjack table. But the interesting twist in the Perfect Pairs Blackjack game is that, in addition to your regular blackjack bet, you can make a Perfect Pairs side bet. The Perfect Pairs side bet can be the same amount as your regular bet, or it can be bigger or smaller.

The outcome of the Perfect Pairs side bet is based on your first two cards and is decided immediately after the deal of the cards. If your first two cards are a pair, you win a payout as follows:

• Mixed pair: A pair of different colors, such as a red ace and a black ace, pays out 7 to 1.
• Colored pair: A pair of the same color, such as an ace of hearts and an ace of diamonds, pays 15 to 1.
• Perfect pair: Two of the same card, such as an ace of hearts and another ace of hearts, pays out 30 to 1.

Perfect Pairs blackjack is played with two decks of blackjack cards. That is what makes it possible to get a perfect pair — two of the same card.

The dealer's hand has no effect on your Perfect Pairs side bet. If you have a pair, you win; if you don't have a pair, you lose. It all depends on the cards in your hand; the dealer's cards have nothing to do with it.

The denomination of your pair is irrelevant. Remember, you're not playing poker here. In poker, a pair of 9s beats a pair of 8s. In Perfect Pairs blackjack, they're equal.

The Perfect Pairs side bet is determined immediately after the deal of the cards. If you don't have a pair, you lose the side bet. If you have a pair, you are credited with your bonus payout and the side bets are removed from the virtual blackjack table.

After the side bet is determined, the online blackjack game proceeds as a normal game of European Blackjack. Whether you won or lost the side bet has no bearing on whether you will win or lose your regular blackjack bet. As in all blackjack games, you win the regular bet in Perfect Pairs blackjack if you obtain a hand of cards whose total is closer to 21 than the dealer's hand, but without going over.

The European Blackjack rules, which are also applicable to Perfect Pairs online blackjack, provide that the dealer must stand on all 17s. You may double down only on a hand of 9, 10, or 11. You may split only one time, you may not split unlike 10-value cards, and you cannot double down after splitting. You may hit after splitting aces. There is no dealer's hole card, and there is no insurance and no surrender.

Since the Perfect Pairs side bet is determined immediately upon the deal of the cards, it has no effect on your blackjack play or your blackjack strategy. You may use a standard blackjack basic strategy chart, appropriate for a 2-deck blackjack game in which the dealer stands on soft 17.

A point to bear in mind is that if you have a pair in Perfect Pairs Blackjack, you are free to split or not split according to your blackjack strategy. Splitting your pair will have no effect on your Perfect Pairs side bet, which has already been won and paid before you start to play your hand.

The great thing about playing Perfect Pairs Blackjack online is that you know that the bonus payouts are realistically winnable. It's not like you have to be exceptionally lucky or be hit by lightning to win a jackpot. Anyone who plays blackjack, whether in a land-based casino or in an online casino, knows that pairs appear pretty regularly. That's one of the reasons why the blackjack experts devote so much effort to perfecting their blackjack splitting strategies.

A perfect pair is a difficult, but not impossible, achievement. But mixed pairs and colored pairs are everyday occurrences in any game of blackjack. So if you play Perfect Pairs Blackjack online, do not be surprised if you see a steady stream of 7-to-1 and 15-to-1 jackpots heading your way. You can definitely win at blackjack when you play Perfect Pairs Blackjack.

Perfect Pairs could be the perfect online blackjack game for you!