Compiled by Vincent  Feb. 25, 2003

from   http://www.thewizardofodds.com/game/bj.html     (ACT provided this link)

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Basic Strategy Chart for: http://www.blackjackheaven.com/basicstrategy.shtml

Atlantic City with 6 decks

Rules: Dealer stands on all 17s. Double allowed on any 2 cards. Double allowed after split. No surrender.

Hit or Stand on hard hands?

 

HARD	Dealer shows:
Your Cards	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	T	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	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
11	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	H
10	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	H	H
9	H	D	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
8	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H
Key:	H	Hit
	S	Stand
	D	Double if allowed; If not, hit.

(WST's note: I usually stand on all 16)

Hit or Stand on soft hands?
(WST's note: These are more complicated scenarios)

 

SOFT	Dealer shows:
Your Cards	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	T	A
(A,9)	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S
(A,8)	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S
(A,7)	S	Ds	Ds	Ds	Ds	S	S	H	H	H
(A,6)	H	D	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
(A,5)	H	H	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
(A,4)	H	H	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
(A,3)	H	H	H	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
(A,2)	H	H	H	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
Key:	H	Hit
	S	Stand
	D	Double if allowed; If not, hit.
	Ds	Double if allowed; If not, stand.

Should I split?

 

PAIRS	Dealer shows:
Your Cards	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	T	A
(A,A)	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
(T,T)	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N
(9,9)	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	N	N
(8,8)	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
(7,7)	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N	N
(6,6)	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N	N	N
(5,5)	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N
(4,4)	N	N	N	Y	Y	N	N	N	N	N
(3,3)	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N	N
(2,2)	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N	N
Key:	Y	Yes, split !
	N	No, don't split !

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Doubling Down Strategy
Doubling down allows you to put more money on the table when the odds of winning are good, and you should always bet the maximum amount allowed in these situations. Doubling down should only be done when the player has a better chance of winning than the dealer, or when you stand to earn more profit by doubling down than by hitting the hand.

Casinos have different rules for doubling down; usually you can only double down after you receive your initial two cards and before you draw a third card, but some casinos only allow the option on certain hand values (usually 9, 10 or 11).

Hard Hand Rules for Doubling Down
Double down when:

• Player has hard 11 and the dealer is showing 2 through 10.
• Player has hard 10 and the dealer is showing 2 through 9.
• Player has hard 9 and the dealer is showing 3 through 6.

Soft Hand Rules for Doubling Down
Double down when:

• Player has (A, 6) or (A, 7) and the dealer is showing 3 through 6.
• Player has (A, 4) or (A, 5) and the dealer is showing 4 through 6.
• Player has (A, 2) or (A, 3) and the dealer is showing 5 or 6.

Splitting Pairs Strategy
Some players split all pairs regardless of the pair value - this is not a smart strategy. You should never split a pair of tens or a pair of fives. With two tens you have a total of 20 which is more than likely to be a winning hand, while a pair of fives total 10 and you have a better chance of drawing a 10 than any other value for a win. You should always split Aces and eights. Again you have a better chance of drawing a card worth 10 than any other and then you have either 21 (for Aces) or 18 (for eights) - both are hard for the dealer to beat.

All other splitting decisions are made depending on the dealer's face-up card in general split when the dealer is showing a low value face-up card. Split when:

• Player has a pair of 2's, 3's or 7,s and the dealer is showing 2 through 7.
• Player has a pair of 4's and the dealer is showing 5 or 6.
• Player has a pair of 6's and the dealer is showing 2 through 6.
• Player has a pair of 9's and the dealer is showing 2 through 6, 8 or 9. - If the dealer is showing a 7 and you assume he/she has a hole card worth 10 then your 18 will beat it so you don't split.

Surrendering
This is not a popular blackjack option, and is not offered in many casinos. You surrender when you have a hand that has a very poor chance of winning. Upon surrendering you stop playing and lose one-half of your bet (thus keeping one-half of the bet rather than losing it all).

When playing multiple deck blackjack games you should only surrender when:

• The player has a hard 15 and the dealer is showing a 10
• The player has a hard 16 and the dealer is showing a 9, 10 or Ace.

When playing two deck Blackjack games you should only surrender when:

• The player has a hard 15 and the dealer is showing a 10
• The player has a hard 16 and the dealer is showing a 10
• The player has a pair of 7's and the dealer is showing a 10

Insurance
As a general rule you should not take insurance, it is a bad bet. We all get our gut feelings sometimes, but the odds are never in your favor.

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Blackjack - BASIC STRATEGY:

The purpose of this page is to build upon the Beginner strategy with some more in depth strategies.

We're not at card counting yet at this stage but given probabilities of available cards coming up many different studies have come up with the same basic matrix detailing the best move given the cards at hand. The matrix shows you what to do in a given situation depending on what cards you and the dealer have showing. These strategy tables can be taken to Vegas the pit bosses don't mind. They get upset with counters not people who follow this basic blackjack strategy.

The player who applies the blackjack strategy found in the tables below reduces the house advantage to between 1 and 2 percent.

Here are the options you have in various situations during a hand of Blackjack:

• Hitting
• Standing
• Splitting
• Doubling down
• Taking Insurance
• Surrendering

Hitting or Standing

First rule is to always consider the dealers card showing not just your own cards when making a decision. In other words don't always take a card if you have a low hand the dealer may have a very weak hand that may lead to the dealer busting. Here are the basics for hitting or standing on a hard hand.

S=Stand, H=Hit

Doubling down

To optimize your probabilities of winning you have to take advantage when you have a strong hand. It's the primary means of offsetting the house advantage. Casino rules vary on what type of hands you can double down on but the following chart shows when to take advantage in all situations given a Hard-hand.:

D=Double Down, X=Don't Double

Soft-hand strategy

A soft hand (an Ace in your cards) affects your decision to take a hit. It is called "soft" because the Ace can be changed from a n 11 to a one if necessary. Taking hits with a soft hand is less risky than a Hard-hand. The following chart outlines what you should do with an Ace in your hand:

S=Stand, H=Hit

Soft-hand doubling strategy

Considerations here are a little different from the hard-hand doubling strategy. For example you don't want to double if you have soft 19 or 20 (which would be A,8 and A,9) even though these hands could be counted as 9 and 10. The following chart optimizes probabilities of winning given the Soft-hand:

D=Double Down, X=Don't Double

Splitting-pairs strategy

This is also very important in order to maximize your odds of coming away a winner. You have to split. Most casinos allow you to split all pairs although some casinos will limit the splitting on Aces to once and online casinos usually limit splitting in some fashion..

As I said in the beginners strategy never split 10's or 5's for obvious reasons and always split Aces and 8's. Along with these hard and fast rules here are the rest of the combinations and what to do to maximize your chances of coming out ahead.

S=Split, X=Don't Split

Keep in mind that if you can resplit follow the same chart.

Surrendering and Insurance

I usually don't enter into either of these options but if you must you can Surrender with 16, when the dealer has 9, 10, A. Or Surrender with 15 when the dealer has a 10. Never take insurance.

MASTER CHART

This chart summarizes all the above charts and maximizes your odds at winning at the casinos.

H=Hit, S=Stand, SPL=Split, Y=Surrender, D=Double Down

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Card Counting:

Personally I like the idea of Card Counting but in Vegas I rarely can concentrate long enough to do a good job at it. But if you can actually focus long enough to do it, and not be detected by the Pit Boss, then go for it. Pit Bosses frown on card counting and may toss you out.

The basic premise of card counting is that probabilities of winning change as the number of cards remaining decrease. The cards remaining will increase your probabilities of winning if there are a lot of high cards remaining or decrease your probabilities of winning if there are a lot of low cards remaining in the deck.

The most common system is to assign a value of +1 to the 2,3,4,5,6 as they are played. A value of -1 to the 10, J, Q, K, A. The rest are given a value of 0. As cards are dealt from a fresh shoe you keep a running total of the +'s and -'s. For example if after the first hand from the shoe a 10, J, K, A, Q, J are dealt the count would be -6.

To be effective though you also have to factor in how many cards remain. This is more of an estimation on the part of the player but the less cards that remain the more accurate the count. This is often called the True count.

The true count is determined by dividing the running count by the number of half decks remaining to be dealt. Given that there are many decks involved this is an estimation. For example if we had 2 decks left and the running count is +8 the true count would be +2 (8 divided by 4 half decks)

To win you have to use the count when betting. You can use the true count to determine how much to raise or lower your bet. Obviously you want to be betting more when the count is higher to take advantage of your increase probability of winnning. Use the following table as a a guideline for betting based on the true count. Multiply the unit number by the amount of the minimum bet.

Remember while you probably don't want to bet when there is a big negative number you still have to keep up appearances that you are not counting so you should continue betting a small amount.

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http://www.blackjackcenter.com/blackjack3.html (basics)

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Soft Totals
SOFT TOTALS	Dealer's Upcard
Your Cards	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	T	A
(A,9)	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S
(A,8)	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S
(A,7)	S	Ds	Ds	Ds	Ds	S	S	H	H	H
(A,6)	H	D	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
(A,5)	H	H	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
(A,4)	H	H	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
(A,3)	H	H	H	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
(A,2)	H	H	H	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
Key:	H	Hit
	S	Stand
	D	Double if allowed; If not, hit.
	Ds	Double if allowed; If not, stand.

 

Hard Totals
HARD TOTALS	Dealer's Upcard
Your Cards	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	T	A
17	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S
16	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	R	R	R
15	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	R	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	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
11	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	H
10	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	H	H
9	H	D	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
8	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H
Key:	H	Hit
	S	Stand
	D	Double if allowed; If not, hit.
	Ds	Double if allowed; If not, stand.
	R	Surrender if allowed; If not, hit.

To use this chart you compare the dealers up-card (which corresponds to each column) with what you have in your hand (which corresponds to each row). Where a column meets a row there is a decision, either hit (H), stand (S), double (D), or decisions to either split or not split. Say your hand was a hard 15 and the dealers up-card was a six. You find the table for hard totals, search across the top row for the column corresponding to a dealers up-card of 6, and then follow that column down from the top until you hit the row that lines up with your total of 15. You'll find a (S) in the box, indicating that you should stand (which is a logical choice, since the dealer most likely has 16 and will have to hit, so therefore has a good chance of busting).

Our charts, like most you will find, highlight the decision structures for soft totals, hard totals, and splitting. The table above represents a six-deck game where the dealer must stand on soft 17s, where you can double down on any initial total, doubling after splitting is allowed, and there is no surrender offered. Different charts can be created for rule variations.

Different rules can have a defined effect on the house edge (relatively of course, since the edge is defined by a number of variables, not the least of which is playing strategy). To see how common rule changes affect your chances of winning, look at the house edge numbers in the chart below.

Rule	Effect on Player Expectation
Two decks	-0.32%
Four decks	-0.48%
Six decks	-0.54%
Eight decks	-0.58%
Dealer hits soft 17	-0.20%
Double down only on 11 (no soft, no 10, no 9, no 8)	-0.78%
Double down only on 10 or 11 (no soft, no 9, no 8)	-0.26%
Double down only on 9, 10, 11 (no soft, no 8)	-0.14%
No re-splitting of any pairs	-0.03%
Dealer wins ties	-9.00%
Natural pays 1 to 1	-2.32%
Natural pays 2 to 1	+2.32%
Double down on any number of cards	+0.24%
Double down after splitting pairs	+0.14%
Late surrender	+0.06%
Early surrender	+0.62%
Six-card winner	+0.15%
Players 21 pushes dealer's 10-up Blackjack	+0.16%
Re-splitting of aces	+0.06%
Draw to split aces	+0.14%

Most blackjack strategy pages will follow one of two veins. Either they will tell you to adhere strictly to basic strategy, or they will tell you to run on your gut. I wouldn't say my opinion falls into either of those two camps, perhaps a combination. I'm not a card counter, there isn't much point anymore in 99.9% of the casinos in existence. So discounting the benefits of keeping track of cards, basic strategy truly is your best guide to decision making strategy in blackjack, I can't argue with that. But anyone who's ever spent some serious time in a casino knows there is more going on than meets the eye. You can't ignore the fact that a hot craps table is a hot craps table anymore than you can ignore the cut off point on the cocktail waitresses miniskirts. In blackjack it's much the same. When you're winning and feeling good, surprisingly enough, you tend to keep winning. I wouldn't normally say this, but I find I win the most when I'm playing and things are going good, and I keep playing. I win a lot more from streaks than I do from sitting down to small sessions. Maybe its simply the fact that if you play for longer eventually you will hit a sort-of streak, and that streak will probably even you up for the session, and so if you're smart you'll walk away then and there. That would leave you with the impression that it's all about the streak, when in actual fact it was more so the fact that statistics have caught up with themselves.

This site is more about the no-bull approach than anything else, so in that spirit I should really stick with the advice that pure basic strategy play is the only way to go. Misplayed hands are the biggest mistake new players make. It may be logical to think that standing on a 12 when the dealer has a 7 to an Ace showing could cost you (as much as 25% of the hands you play), it's not often considered that hitting a 15 against a dealers 5 or 6 up-card will cost you just as much money.

The cause of this is often players simply forgetting the point of the game. As I mentioned earlier on this site, the goal of blackjack is to beat the dealer, not simply to get as close to 21 as you can without busting. Since we know the dealer must hit up to a certain total an cannot hit beyond that, we must take advantage of that fact. When a dealer has an up-card of 6, we must hope their hole-card is a 10, and that they are going to have to hit. We must further hope that when they hit they will be hit with something more than 5, and will therefore bust. Because of this it's actually a good idea for us to stand and take no more cards even if our total is as low as 12.

Splitting your initial cards is another area where novices often fail to follow basic strategy. The golden rule for splitting is, always on aces and eights. Meaning, if you are dealt two 8's as your initial cards, split them. Same goes if you get two aces off the bat. You are always further ahead splitting those hands. The logical counterpart to that rule is, never split fours, fives, or tens (you already have a good hand or a good chance at one!). If the dealer is showing busting cards (the up-card is 3 through 6) it's advantageous of you to split a pair of sixes or sevens, since even two sixteens will be strong hands against busting cards.

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Because the dealer must play using the house rules he/she/it must always hit with a hand of 16 or less and stand with a hand of 17 or more (some casinos allow the dealer to hit on a soft 17). One of the dealer's cards is face-up for all to see, and the following predictions for the dealer going bust apply in a single deck scenario.

It can now be seen that the dealer has a better chance of busting when his face-up card is a six or smaller value card, and less if the face-up card has a value of seven or more. Using this information the following blackjack strategy was developed:

Hard Hand Rules (When an Ace must be counted as one - uncommon)

• A player who is dealt a hand totaling 12 to 16 when the dealer is showing a low value card (2 to 6) should stand. There is a high probability that the dealer will bust and the player will then win.
• A player who is dealt a hand totaling 12 to 16 when the dealer is showing a high value card (7 to Ace) should take a card. There is a low probability that the dealer will bust and the player should try to improve his hand in order to win with a higher total.
• If the player is dealt a hand totaling 17 to 21 he/she should stand, the probability of busting on a hit is high.

Soft Hand Rules (Ace counted as a one OR an eleven - typical)
Most casinos allow an ace to be played as either a 1 or 11, whichever value is most beneficial to the holder. When a player has an ace that is being used as an 11, it's referred to as a "soft hand". These hands are played differently as the player cannot draw to a soft hand and bust (the player just revalues the Ace to count as 1 instead of 11).

The basic strategy for playing soft hands is to double down when the dealer has a high probability of busting (low value face-up cards).

In the event that you are dealt a card that changes your hand from a soft hand (Ace = 11) to a hard hand (Ace = 1) then change strategies to the hard hand rules discussed previously.

Casinos have different rules for doubling down; usually you can only double down after you receive your initial two cards and before you draw a third card, but some casinos will also only allow the option on certain hand values (usually 9, 10 or 11, sometimes 11 or less).

Hard Hand Rules for Doubling Down
Double down when:

• Player has hard 11 and the dealer is showing 2 through 10.
• Player has hard 10 and the dealer is showing 2 through 9.
• Player has hard 9 and the dealer is showing 3 through 6.

Soft Hand Rules for Doubling Down
Double down when:

• Player has (A, 6) or (A, 7) and the dealer is showing 3 through 6.
• Player has (A, 4) or (A, 5) and the dealer is showing 4 through 6.
• Player has (A, 2) or (A, 3) and the dealer is showing 5 or 6.

All other splitting decisions are made depending on the dealer's face-up card - in general split when the dealer is showing a low value face-up card. Split when:

• Player has a pair of 2's, 3's or 7,s and the dealer is showing 2 through 7.
• Player has a pair of 4's and the dealer is showing 5 or 6.
• Player has a pair of 6's and the dealer is showing 2 through 6.
• Player has a pair of 9's and the dealer is showing 2 through 6, 8 or 9. - If the dealer is showing a 7 and you assume he/she has a hole card worth 10 then your 18 will beat it so you don't split.

When playing multiple deck blackjack games you should only surrender when:

• The player has a hard 15 and the dealer is showing a 10
• The player has a hard 16 and the dealer is showing a 9, 10 or Ace.

When playing two deck Blackjack games you should only surrender when:

• The player has a hard 15 and the dealer is showing a 10
• The player has a hard 16 and the dealer is showing a 10
• The player has a pair of 7's and the dealer is showing a 10