Luckyjunky

Blackjack is a popular game. I think it draws so many people in because it’s relatively easy to learn. And for people like me, people that can’t stand handing money over to the casino, we like blackjack because it’s a game with a low house edge, and one that can be turned in our favor with a little bit of effort.

• Blackjack Basic Strategy Card
• Blackjack Basic Strategy Practice

A little bit of strategy.

How to Win at Blackjack — and Walk Out Of the Casino Alive. Split, double down, take insurance, or surrender depending on the situations. Basic Strategy: cuts the house’s edge and save.

And strategy is what you’re going to find on this page. Below I’ve listed a few blackjack strategies that can help you improve your edge against the casino. Further down the page I provide some tips on strategies to avoid, how to improve at blackjack and I discuss whether or not blackjack strategies are illegal.

Basic Blackjack Strategy – This page will teach you how to lower the house edge from as much as 6-8% to as little as .4%. Not only will basic strategy lower the house edge, but it’s the foundation for all card counting systems, too.

Hi-Lo System – The Hi-Lo system is considered to be a good starting point for beginners due to it’s effectiveness and relative ease to learn. This strategy assigns values of +1, 0 and -1 to each card. You’ll figure a true count, and based on the number of decks you’ll know how many units to bet.

Knock-Out System – This system was developed by Ken Fuchs and Olaf Vancura in 1998. This is an easier system for beginners to learn. However, it’s not nearly as effective as the Hi-Lo system.

Ten Count System – Known as the first mathematically sound system for card counting, the Ten Count system was introduced in 1962. When used correctly, this system gives the player a 1% edge over the casino. Only for use in single deck blackjack games.

Zen Count – The Zen Count system was created by Arnold Snyder. It’s a system for advanced players, and uses +1 and -1 like the Hi-Lo and Knock-Out system, but also uses the values +2 and -2.

How to Play Specific Blackjack Hands

There are five options when playing blackjack. A player may hit, stand, double down, split, and surrender. A hit is when a player draws a card. A player may hit as many times as possible until the hand has gone over 21. A stand is when a player is done drawing cards and would like to stick with the total.

A double down requires players to put more cash on the table. A wager equal to the original bet is placed and one card is drawn. A player must keep that card and no other cards may be hit.

Split is when a player is dealt a pair. Some houses will allow players to split ten-value cards; however, we do not suggest ever doing that. Our Free Blackjack App does not allow splitting ten-value cards unless they are a pair. Most games will allow players to double down after splitting.

Surrender is available in many casinos. This is where a player gives the house half of his bet and folds.

Casinos also offer blackjack side bets but we don’t suggest you play them because the games have a high house advantage.

When to Double Down

Players should double 11 against all cards except an ace. Ten should be doubled against any card two through nine. Nine should be doubled versus a three through six. Soft hands of 18 or lower, meaning an ace and a card 7 or lower, should be doubled versus a five or six. Soft 15-18 should be doubled against a 4, while a soft 17 and 18 should be doubled against a dealer’s 3 through six.

When to Split

Always split eights and aces. Never split 5’s and 10’s. From there, nines should be split against everything except a 7, 10, or ace. Twos, threes, and sevens should be split against a two through seven. Sixes should be split versus a two through six. Fours should be split against a four through six, but only if doubling after the split is allowed.

When to Surrender

Players should surrender 15 against a ten or ace, 16 against a nine, ten, or ace, and 17 against an ace if the dealer hits a soft 17. Many casinos do not allow surrender.

When to Hit

Players should hit any hand that does not have an ace and cannot bust. Always make sure the hand should not be split or doubled first. From there, players should hit to 17 against a dealer’s seven or higher. Players should also hit 12 against a two or three. Make sure to always hit or double a soft 17, depending on the table rules and the dealer’s door card.

The most misplayed hand is a soft 18. It should be hit against a nine, ten, or ace and doubled against all other dealer cards except a seven or eight.

Avoid 6-5 Blackjack Tables

One of the easiest ways to improve your chances at a blackjack table is to avoid playing 6-5 blackjack tables. Playing at a 6-5 blackjack table rather than a 3-2 table increases the casinos edge by 1.39%!

Blackjack Strategies to Avoid

I just listed 5 blackjack strategies that you want to learn. Here are 3 that you want to avoid.

• Assume the dealer has a 10. This has a house edge of over 10%.
• Mimic the dealer. This has a house edge of 5.48%.
• Never bust. The player never hits a hard 12 or higher. This has a house edge of 3.91%.

Like anything worth learning, it takes dedication, work and time to improve at blackjack. You won’t become a blackjack master overnight, despite what those infomercials or get rich quick programs tell you.

There are a number of ways to improve at blackjack, though, so long as you’re willing to put in the time. Here is what you can do:

• Read books. There are a number of blackjack books that will teach you how to play blackjack, basic blackjack strategy and a number of advanced card counting techniques. Many blackjack books will talk about the life of a pro blackjack player and how to deal with casinos, too.
• Join blackjack forums. Another option is to join a blackjack forum. Only a couple are truly worth your time. But signing up to one of them will give you access to many knowledgeable players that range from blackjack newbie to blackjack pro.
• Join blackjack courses and coaching sessions. Another way to improve at blackjack is to sign up for a blackjack boot camp, coaching session or video course. You’ll want to do your due diligence, as any person can put together a program. But the right course and/or teacher can drastically shorten your learning curve.
• Do the work. This includes creating flash cards, charts and a deck of cards at home to practice, practice and practice some more.

The best way to improve at blackjack is to use all of these methods. That’s my opinion.

Is Blackjack Strategy Illegal?

No, absolutely not.

In fact, basic strategy is all but encouraged in casinos. Some casinos even provide their players basic strategy cards to use at the blackjack tables. Remember, even though basic strategy reduces the house edge, casinos are still making money off of players that use it.

I think the confusion regarding the legality of blackjack strategy comes from card counting. Since you hear about players being kicked out of casinos, and you see them get beaten up on TV in a dark room somewhere, people apparently think that it’s against the law.

Blackjack Basic Strategy Card

But that’s not the case at all.

Card counting is not illegal. In fact, some casinos can’t punish players for being skilled at blackjack. This is the case in New Jersey.

However, all casinos frown on card counting, and for obvious reasons. With the exception of states like New Jersey, all other casinos reserve the right to ask you to leave, sometimes to never return. If you do return, you run the risk of being arrested for trespassing.

Before it gets to that point, though, casinos will try to make card counting harder for players. They’ll increase the number of decks, shuffle more often to prevent deck penetration and have dealers chat up potential card counters so they lose their count.

Absolutely. Basic blackjack strategy and card counting systems are based on math, and have been proven to work.

Keep in mind that this is all over the long run, too. In other words, just because you have a 1% edge doesn’t meant that every trip to the casino you’ll come out ahead. You might lose your ass. That’s because there is variance involved. In other words, there are ups and downs, and they don’t always coincide with the odds. In the short term the odds are erratic. The odds will only even out after you put in hundreds, if not thousands of blackjack hands.

The one exception blackjack strategy is online. Strategy doesn’t (often) work online because the games are created to use infinite decks, which technically means there can be multiple, identical cards. It’s not possible to track deck penetration, either, and the decks are shuffled after every hand, too.

Each decision you make while playing blackjack has a positive or negative
impact on your potential profit or loss. Every situation you have while playing
has a single best way to play.

If you make the correct play it either makes you the most money in the long
run or loses the least amount of money in the long run. This is called basic
strategy.

Some hands lose money in the long run and some win in the long run, so your
job is to make the best possible play to maximize the wins and minimize the
losses.

When you read about the expected house edge in blackjack games based on the
rules the percentages are based on perfect basic strategy. If you don’t use the
proper strategy you give the house a higher edge against you. This can add an
extra one or two percent to the house edge, depending on how far from the proper
strategy you stray.

You can usually find blackjack games with rules that offer a house edge of
less than 1%, and can often find games with a house edge under a half percent.
If you don’t use basic strategy you can be playing with a house edge of 1.5% to
3% instead of a half percent.

This quickly adds up.

If your average bet is $100 and you play 100 hands per hour and you give the
casino and extra 1% you lose an extra $100 per hour. By giving them an extra 2%
it’s $200 per hour.

If you want to play blackjack the first thing you need to do is decide to
always make the best possible play.

You probably realize that there are hundreds of hands when you combine all of
the possible hands you can have with the different up cards the dealer can have.

The good news is that by using a simple chart you can quickly find the best
play. And you can use a strategy chart or card at the table while playing in a
live casino or when playing online.

If you play in a live casino some of the other players may try to pressure
you if you take too long to make a decision. But it’s none of their business and
you can play any way you want as long as you don’t hold up the game too long.

If you’re worried about holding up the game sit in the middle of the table or
to the dealer’s right hand side so you have longer before you have to act. This
gives you more time to consult your strategy chart before being force to make a
decision.

You don’t even need to memorize the best plays.

But with a little effort and time you can quickly memorize the most common
plays and in time memorize all of the best plays.

The next section has a chart and the following section has the hand by hand
explanations. Then you’ll find a section explaining a few ways to start
memorizing all of the plays.

Basic Strategy Chart

This is the most universal basic strategy chart and can be used in all
blackjack games with any rule combinations. A few small adjustments can be made
against certain rules combinations, but it becomes complicated to memorize
multiple charts. We’ve included a short section later explaining these
adjustments for the dedicated player.

The dealer’s up card is listed across the top. Your cards are listed down the
first column to the left. Simply go down the left column until you find your
cards and then go across to the column with the dealer’s card to find the best
play.

The key for each play is as follows:

• Hit – Hit
• Stand – Stand
• DblH – Double
• DblS – Double if permitted, otherwise stand
• Split – Split
• SplitD – Split if double after split is permitted, otherwise hit
• SUR – Surrender if permitted, otherwise hit

Expand | Shrink

Text Version and Vision Impaired

Many players use the chart listed above but a few players prefer to read the
correct plays. Having the correct plays written out also is valuable to people
who have vision problems and use software to hear what’s on the page.

Blackjack Basic Strategy Practice

We’ve listed the proper plays for each situation below in four sections.
Simply find the section that describes your hand and follow the instructions.

Hands with an Ace or Soft Hands

Any starting hand you hold with an ace is called a soft hand. A soft hand is
when you have an ace that can be used as a one or 11. In the following
combinations, if you have more than two cards, simply add the cards that aren’t
an ace.

This can happen when you start with an ace and a different side card and hit.
Starting with an ace two and receiving a four after hitting leaves you with ace
two four. Looking at the chart you look at the line for a soft 17. Using the
list below you look at the one for ace six because the two and four add up to
six.

• Ace ace – Always split a pair of aces. Split aces as many times as allowed.
• Ace two or soft 13 – You always hit with a soft 13 and double if allowed
  against a dealer five or six.
• Ace three or soft 14 – Always hit and double against a five or six if
  allowed.
• Ace four or soft 15 – You always hit with a soft 15 and double if allowed
  against a dealer four, five, or six.
• Ace five or soft 16 – Always hit and double against a four, five, and six if
  allowed.
• Ace six or soft 17 – Double against a three, four, five, and six if allowed
  and otherwise hit.
• Ace seven or soft 18 – Stand against a dealer two, seven, and eight, hit
  against a nine, 10, or ace, and double if allowed against three, four, five, or
  six.
• Ace eight or soft 19 – Stand at all times.
• Ace nine or soft 20 – Always stand.
• Ace 10 – Blackjack! Always stand.

Pairs

Whenever you have a pair for your first two cards you need to decide if you
should split.

• Two two – Split against a dealer four, five, six, and seven, hit against a
  dealer eight, nine, 10, and ace, and against a dealer two or three split if you
  can double after split and hit if double after split isn’t allowed.
• Three three – Play your hand exactly the same as two two. If double after
  split is allowed split against a dealer two or three, otherwise hit against
  these two cards. Hit against a dealer eight, nine, 10, and ace, and split
  against a dealer four, five, sis, and seven.
• Four four – When double after split is allowed split against a dealer five
  and six, otherwise hit. Hit against all other dealer cards.
• Five five – Never split fives. Hit against a dealer 10 or ace and double
  against all other dealer cards if allowed.
• Six six – Hit against a dealer seven, eight, nine, 10, and ace. Split against
  a dealer three, four, five, and six. Split against a dealer two if double after
  split is allowed, otherwise hit.
• Seven seven – Split against a dealer two, three, four, five, six, and seven.
  Hit against a dealer eight, nine, 10, and ace.
• Eight eight – Always split eights.
• Nine nine – Split against a dealer two, three, four, five, six, eight, and
  nine. Stand against a dealer seven, 10, and ace.
• Ten ten – Always stand with a total of 20.
• Ace ace – Aces should always be split. If you receive another ace on one of
  your split aces you should split again. Do this as many times as possible.

Hard Totals

A hard total is any hand that doesn’t have an ace where you can use it as a
one or 11. In any two card starting hand you can use an ace as either one or 11,
but after you hit one or more times you can reach a total where the ace can’t be
used as an 11 without busting. When this happens you hold a hard hand.

• Hard four – The only hard four is a pair of twos. This is covered in the two
  two line under pairs. If splitting isn’t allowed then always hit with a hard
  four.
• Hard five – Always hit with hard five.
• Hard six – Hit against all dealer cards with a hard six.
• Hard seven – Always hit with a hard seven.
• Hard eight – Hit against all dealer totals with hard eight.
• Hard nine – If double is allowed, double against a dealer three, four, five,
  or six, otherwise hit. Hit against all other dealer cards.
• Hard 10 – When double is allowed, double against a dealer two, three, four,
  five, six, seven, eight, and nine, otherwise hit. Hit against a dealer 10 and
  ace.
• Hard 11 – Double against any dealer car except an ace if doubling is
  permitted, otherwise hit. Hit against a dealer ace.
• Hard 12 – Stand against a dealer four, five, and six. Hit against all other
  dealer cards.
• Hard 13 – Stand against a dealer two, three, four, five, and six. Hit against
  a dealer seven, eight, nine, 10, and ace.
• Hard 14 – Stand against a dealer two, three, four, five, or six and hit
  against seven or higher.
• Hard 15 – Against a dealer two, three, four, five, and six you should stand.
  Against a dealer seven, eight, nine, 10, and ace you should hit.
• Hard 16 – Stand against a dealer total of two, three, four, five, and six.
  Hit against all other dealer totals.
• Hard 17 – Stand against all dealer hands.
• Hard 18 – Always stand with a hard 18.
• Hard 19 – Stand against all dealer hands.
• Hard 20 – Always stand with a hard 20.
• Hard 21 – Stand against all dealer totals.

Surrender

If surrender is allowed you should surrender with a hard 15 against a dealer
10 and with a hard 16 against a dealer nine, 10, or ace. If surrender isn’t
allowed then hit in these four situations.

Adjustments for Different Rules

The chart and instructions above are designed for a game where the dealer
stands on a soft 17. If you play in a game where the dealer hits on a soft 17
you can make the following adjustments.

As we mentioned above, it can be complicated to keep two different charts
straight in your mind so learning the first chart is best. However, there are
only six hands that change so it’s possible to learn and use the differences.

Split hands

Instead of splitting eight eight against a dealer ace,
surrender if allowed, otherwise split.

Soft hands

With a soft 18 against a dealer two and with a soft 19 against a
dealer six double if allowed, otherwise stand.

Hard hands

With a hard 11 against a dealer ace double if allowed, hit
otherwise. With a hard 15 against a dealer ace surrender if permitted, otherwise
hit. With a hard 17 against a dealer ace, surrender if permitted and otherwise
stand.

Insurance or Even Money

Notice that there’s not a single hand that recommends taking insurance or
even money. This is because taking insurance is always a losing proposition.

When the dealer has an ace showing you have the option of making another bet
equal to the size of your first bet that pays two to one if the dealer has a 10
hole card. If you take insurance and the dealer has a 21 you lose your first bet
but get double on your second so you break even.

But when the dealer doesn’t have 21 you lose the insurance bet and your first
bet plays out as normal.

On the surface this may seem like a good bet, but a simple look at the math
behind the bet shows why you should never take insurance.

When the dealer has an ace showing she has a blackjack any time a 10, jack,
queen, or king is her down card. This means four of the 13 possible cards pay
off on the insurance bet.

But this also means that the other nine cards, two through nine and ace, make
you lose the insurance bet. This is a ratio of nine to four, with nine losing
cards and four winning cards. But the bet only pays two to one.

The odds of nine to four is worse than two to one, so it’s a losing bet.

Forget your normal hand because it doesn’t have anything to do with the
insurance offer. Insurance is just a bet on what the dealer has as a down card.
And since it’s offered at bad odds you can now see that it should be avoided.

This is just another way the casinos try to be sneaky and build a bigger long
term edge against you.

How to Memorize Basic Strategy

The easiest way to start memorizing basic strategy is to use the chart
provided above to make every playing decision. As you play you’ll start
recognizing the correct play for most hands before checking your chart.

Sign up for a free account at one of our recommended online casinos and start
playing the free blackjack games. You can play over 100 hands per hour in most
cases so you can get a great deal of practice in a short amount of time.

Eventually you’ll only need to check your chart on the most difficult plays
and if you play long enough all of the plays will come from memory.

The other way is more difficult for most players, but if you have a strong
mind for memory you can simply start memorizing the chart.

A quick tip is to group similar hands together.

All of the hard hands totaling four, five, six, seven, and eight are played
the same way. On all of these hands you always hit. If you’re playing a game
where doubling isn’t allowed, you can add all of the hard totals of nine, 10 and
11 to this. As a side note, you should avoid games where doubling isn’t allowed
as they have a higher house edge.

Other easy to learn hands include:

• Always split aces and eights.
• Soft 13 and 14 are played the same.
• Soft 15 and 16 are played the same.
• Soft 17 only has one dealer card played differently than soft 15 and 16.
• Hard 13, 14, 15, and 16 are played the same unless surrender is allowed.
• Hard 10 and 11 are the same except for one dealer card.
• Two two and three three are played the same.
• All of the hard totals 17 and above are played the same.
• All of the soft totals of 19 and above are played the same.

The majority of hands are hard hands and the complete hard hand strategy is
fairly simple. Memorize it first and you’ll find that you won’t need to refer to
the chart often.

The next chart to memorize after you’ve mastered the hard hands is the soft
hands. Most of them are straightforward as well, with the main changes of
knowing when to double down.

Once you have the hard and soft hands memorized the splits will come easy to
finish out your mental chart. You only need to learn the split rules for twos,
threes, fours, sixes, sevens, and nines.

The main thing is to not be afraid that you can’t learn the chart and to get
started right away. Almost anyone can improve their results and reduce the house
edge with a small amount of effort and time.

Card Counting

If you learn how to count cards you can play with a small edge against the
house while playing blackjack. This page is about basic strategy so we aren’t
going to dig into the realm of card counting, but it does have quite a bit to do
with basic strategy.

Card counters learn perfect basic strategy before they start trying to learn
about counting. If you can’t put in the work to learn perfect strategy you have
no hope of being a successful card counter.

Once you master basic blackjack strategy then you should investigate card
counting to see if it’s something you might want to learn. Counting cards online
won’t get you an edge because the software shuffles the cards after each deal,
but if you play live it might be able to help you win or at least play a break
even game.

Conclusion

Learning and using blackjack basic strategy gives you the best chance to win.
It reduces the house edge as much as possible and helps you have more winning
playing sessions.

Most players don’t take the time to learn basic strategy, but if you use the
information above you can quickly start using the best play for every situation.
Use the tips in the how to memorize basic strategy section and you’ll be a
master in no time.

And don’t forget to use the chart provided as you’re learning. Once you get
used to it you can find the proper play in a second or two.