Basic Strategy: The First Step toward Winning at Blackjack

Basic Blackjack Strategy Card
Blackjack 2 Deck Strategy
6 Deck Blackjack Strategy Chart

In this article, we will talk about the basic strategy of blackjack, which you can use when playing online blackjack for money. For convenience, we show you the strategy in the tables. The table suggests the best move in a certain scenario. The first table is for playing with one deck of cards, the second one is for playing with several decks. Single Deck Blackjack Strategy. With a single deck, early surrender and all of these other rules allowed, the player would actually enjoy about a 1% advantage over the house when playing with perfect strategy. Of course, casinos never offer tables that favor the player or tell them how to win with blackjack strategy cards. With an advanced blackjack strategy on your side the odds may turn in your favour more often. Whether you need a single deck blackjack strategy or you’re playing multi deck blackjack, keep reading. Our first tip to you: use the basic strategy chart every time. All you need to improve your plays is set out below.

By Arnold Snyder
© 1983, 2005 Arnold Snyder

Go straight to All-Purpose Chart
Go straight to Comprehensive Chart for Any Game, Any Rules
Go to Blackjack Basic Strategy Lite Card (a quick-learn version to learn on the plane on your way to Las Vegas)
Go toCorrect Blackjack Basic Strategy with an Internet Casino Bonus

The first step in learning how to play winning blackjack, whether your plan is to make card counting a hobby, or to become a full-time professional blackjack shuffle-tracker or hole card player, is to learn blackjack basic strategy.

If you make your decisions by playing your hunches, you will lose in the long run. There is only one correct play decision in blackjack for any given hand, and that decision is based strictly on mathematics.

Whether or not you should hit or stand, double down or split a pair, depends on what the laws of probability show to be your long-term overall win and loss results for each of these possibilities. Mathematicians, using high speed computers, have analyzed every possible blackjack hand you might hold vs. every possible dealer up card.

Definition of 'Basic Strategy': Blackjack basic strategy is the mathematically optimum way to play your blackjack hands if you are not counting cards. Depending on the rules and the number of decks in use, blackjack basic strategy will usually cut the house edge to no more than about ½ percent over the player. This makes blackjack the least disadvantageous game in the casino, even if you are not a card counter or another type of blackjack pro.

To explain why the various blackjack basic strategy decisions are best would require extensive mathematical proof. Unless you understand the math, and have a computer to work it out, you’ll have to accept basic strategy on faith.

There is an underlying logic to basic strategy, however, which can be understood by anyone who understands the rules of blackjack.

Why Blackjack Basic Strategy Works

In a 52-card deck there are 16 ten-valued cards: four tens, four jacks, four queens, and four kings. (For purposes of simplification, when I refer to a card as a 'ten' or 'X,' it is understood to mean any 10, Jack, Queen or King.)

Every other denomination has only four cards, one of each suit. You are four times more likely to pull a ten out of the deck than, say, a deuce. Because of this, when the blackjack dealer’s upcard is 'high' —7,8,9,X, or A—he has a greater likelihood of finishing with a strong total than when his upcard is 'low' - 2,3,4,5, or 6.

Thus, if the dealer’s upcard is a 7, 8, 9, X, or A, and you are holding a 'stiff'--any blackjack hand totaling 12 through 16--you want to hit. That's because, when the dealer’s hand indicates strength, you do not want to stand with a weak hand. Even though, when you hit a stiff, you are more likely to bust than to make a pat hand, you must give your hand a better chance of beating the dealer’s by taking a hit.

Weak player hands tend to lose more often than they win, and there is nothing you can do about that. But you will lose more money in the long run if you stand on these weak hands when the dealer shows strength.

On the other hand, if the dealer’s up card is 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6, and you are holding a stiff hand, you should stand. Since the dealer must hit his stiff hands, and since stiffs bust more often, hitting your weak hand is not advantageous.

Similarly, if the dealer’s up card indicates he may be stiff, it is more advantageous to double down or to split pairs, thereby getting more money onto the table when the dealer has a higher chance of busting. You double down and split pairs less often when the dealer shows a strong upcard.

This is the basic logic of blackjack basic strategy. There are exceptions to these simplified guidelines, as the actual basic strategy decision for any given hand is determined by working out all of the mathematical probabilities.

The Generic Blackjack Basic Strategy provided below will get you almost all of the value available to players from Basic Strategy in most games. If you only want to learn one chart, this is the one you should learn.

At the end of this article you will find a Comprehensive Blackjack Basic Strategy, which shows every basic strategy variation for all traditional blackjack games—single deck, multi-deck, games with special rules, etc.

Most of the differences in these charts have very little dollar value to players, and a number of high stakes pros simply ignore them. But if you enjoy memorizing charts, or if you've found a great single deck game in Moldavia, for example, you may want to learn the specific basic strategy for that game and gain those few extra hundredths of a percent.

The main value of the Comprehensive Blackjack Basic Strategy card comes from any unusual rule, such as Early Surrender, with a high value to the player in and of itself.

If you’re leaving on a trip to Las Vegas tomorrow and just need some easy-to-learn advice on how to play your blackjack hands during your vacation, see our simplified basic strategy, also at the end of this article.

ALL PURPOSE, GENERIC BLACKJACK BASIC STRATEGYFOR ANY NUMBER OF DECKS

Basic Blackjack Strategy Card

STAND

Stand	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	X	A
17	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S
16	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
15	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
14	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
13	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
12	H	H	S

Stand	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	X	A
17	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S
16	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
15	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
14	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
13	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
12	H	H	S

Stand	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	X	A
17	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S
16	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
15	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
14	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
13	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
12	H	H	S

Stand	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	X	A
17	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S
16	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
15	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
14	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
13	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
12	H	H	S

Basic Blackjack Strategy Chart Single Deck