Basic strategy, every hand

The full basic strategy chart

Read across from your hand and down from the dealer's upcard. "D" means double if the table allows it, otherwise hit; "Ds" means double if allowed, otherwise stand.

How to read it, in four rules

1. Look at the dealer first. A 2 to 6 is a weak upcard: the dealer busts often. A 7 to ace is strong.
2. Stand on stiff hands against weak cards. Hard 13 to 16 against 2 to 6: let the dealer bust.
3. Hit stiff hands against strong cards. Hard 12 to 16 against 7 to ace: the dealer will usually make a hand.
4. Double and split when the dealer is weakest. Most doubles and splits sit in the columns for 4, 5 and 6.

The hands players most often get wrong

When the dealer hits soft 17

Some tables have the dealer hit soft 17 (H17). A few cells change:

• Double 11 against an ace.
• Double soft 19 (A,8) against a 6.
• Double soft 18 (A,7) against a 2.
• With surrender: also give up hard 15 and hard 17 against an ace, and 8,8 against an ace.

The H17 rule itself costs about 0.2 points; playing the S17 chart at an H17 table costs a little more on top.

When surrender is offered

Late surrender lets you give up half your stake after the dealer checks for blackjack. With the dealer standing on soft 17, surrender:

• Hard 16 against 9, 10 and ace.
• Hard 15 against 10.

Everything else stays as in the chart. Surrender is worth about 0.08 points to you when used only on these hands.

Tables without a hole card

European-style tables deal the dealer's second card after the players act, so a dealer blackjack takes your doubles and splits too. Two changes:

• Do not double 11 against a 10 or an ace; hit.
• Do not split 8s or aces against an ace or a 10 at the strictest tables; read whether the table returns extra bets on a dealer blackjack.

Free-bet and push-22 tables

If a table pays for your doubles and splits but pushes on a dealer 22, the chart above does not apply. You double and split far more often, because the extra bet is not yours. Use the studio's own strategy for that game or skip it.

What basic strategy is worth

The gap is the cheapest money in a casino to save. Memorise the chart a section at a time: hard totals first, then pairs, then soft totals.

What basic strategy cannot do

It cannot change the rules. A perfect player at a 6:5 table still faces about four times the edge of a perfect player at a 3:2 table. Choose the table first; our house edge page prices every rule, and 3:2 vs 6:5 explains the biggest one.

Where to play it is on our list of crypto blackjack casinos, ranked on their written payout rules.

Questions and answers