Blackjack Strategy

Basic blackjack strategy is comprised of a basic set of rules that tell the player how to correctly play his/her hand. Basic strategy indicates when a player should Hit (H), Stand (S) or Double (D) based on two things: his/her cards and the dealers face-up card. With the application of basic blackjack strategy a player should win more and lose less.

Useful terms for basic blackjack strategy:

Hard Hands - All hands that do not contain an Ace.
Soft Hands - Hands that contain an Ace paired with a 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9.
Split Hands - All Hands that contain a pair of cards with the same value.

	PLAYER'S HAND	DEALER'S UP CARD
		2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	A
	5-6-7-8	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H
	9	H	D	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
	10	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	H	H
	11	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	H
	12	H	H	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
	13-14	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
	15-16	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
	17-18-19-20-21	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S
	A-2(13), A-3(14)	H	H	H	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
	A-4(15), A-5(16)	H	H	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
	A-6(17)	H	D	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
	A-7(18)	S	D	D	D	D	S	S	H	H	H
	A-8(19), A-9(20)	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S
	A & A	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP
	2 & 2 - 3 & 3	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	H	H	H	H
	4 & 4	H	H	H	SP	SP	H	H	H	H	H
	5 & 5	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	H	H
	6 & 6	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	H	H	H	H	H
	7 & 7	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	H	H	H	H
	8 & 8	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP
	9 & 9	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	S	S
	10 & 10	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S

Many people play blackjack, but not necessarily well. The only thing worse than playing blackjack poorly is, playing with strategies that you think are helping you when, in fact, they’re doing just the opposite. There are 3 very common and very bad blackjack strategies that players often bring to the table: playing exactly as the dealer does, playing to never bust, and assuming that the dealer always holds a ten card. Let’s examine these examples in more depth individually.

Playing as the Dealer Does

Many players assume that if the dealer has an advantage over the player (the house edge), then playing exactly the same as the dealer will eliminate the house edge. This is untrue in that if a player chooses to take this route, then he/she wont double or split, and they must always stand on 17. Regardless of the choice to copy the dealer, a player will always lose to a natural blackjack, even with cards worth 21.

Never Bust Strategy

Knowing how often the average blackjack player busts often scares players into avoiding a bust at all costs. Playing in such a manner, where one would never hit a hard twelve or more, actually raises the house edge almost 4%.

Assuming a 10 Value Hole-card

Although it’s tempting to think that the dealer always has a hole-card of ten, it’s an incorrect assumption. Though there are more cards with a value of ten than any other, the percentage of 10-value cards is still lower than 50%.

Knowing which blackjack strategies are bad for you is just as import as knowing those which are good.