Most people recognize that unlike many casino games, blackjack is a game of strategy. It’s immediately obvious when you sit down to play a little blackjack; players have to make a large number of decisions on almost every hand, and the choices you make often make the difference between winning and losing.
Blackjack strategy can be broken down into two major components: basic strategy and card counting. Basic strategy comprises all of the playing decisions a player should make in order to keep the house edge as low as possible. In other words, a basic strategy chart would tell you the mathematically best play in every possible situation you might encounter during the course of play.
Aug 01, 2019 The most vital rule which usually differs and has a huge effect on the basic blackjack strategy we are discussing here is whether you’ll have the ability to surrender and if the dealer is required to hit on hard/soft 17. Therefore, our basic strategy article won’t pay attention to these situations as they are considered to be part of a. Aug 21, 2019 Hit on soft 17. One of the options for playing the soft 17 hands is to hit. In blackjack, this means that you will receive another card, which should get you closer to 21. By taking the third card, you will boost your odds of winning. If you decide to stand on soft 17, it. Download Blackjack Basic Strategy Chart. In other games, the dealer must hit on any Soft 17. This is called a “Hit 17” game. Also, in Europe and commonly in Canada, dealers do not have a hole card. This is called “European” or “European No-Hole” blackjack. We provide these charts to.
Every good blackjack strategy starts with a full understanding of basic strategy. Without that foundation, other, more advanced strategies – namely, card counting strategies – will fail, as players will simply make too many basic mistakes to overcome. On the other hand, learning just basic strategy will allow you to go into any good blackjack game getting excellent odds, sometimes good enough that you’ll show a profit with the help of comps and other rewards programs. With that in mind, it’s always better to focus on learning basic strategy first, until you feel completely comfortable with it.
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Blackjack Basic Strategy
A full basic strategy is quite complex since there are countless situations you could face during a blackjack hand that must be accounted for. There are several factors the player must take into account on each hand:
- The rules of the blackjack game they are playing;
- The score of their hand;
- The dealer’s up card;
- Whether they have the option to split and/or double.
Blackjack Basic Strategy Practice
The rules are particularly important because even small changes in the rules being used can noticeably change proper basic strategy. For instance, the right plays against a dealer that must stand on all 17s are not the right plays against a dealer who hits on soft 17. The number of decks, the ability to surrender (as well as when surrendering is offered) and other factors can also affect basic strategy.
With this in mind, it is very hard to suggest a single basic strategy that will work in any situation, especially in the scope of this article. Not only is basic strategy rather complex, but there are also countless versions of the rules which affect what basic strategy you should choose. Full basic strategy charts are available at my casinos (which don’t mind you playing basic strategy, since the casino will still hold a small edge), as well as in many great blackjack books and on some gambling websites.
Simplified Blackjack Strategy
On the other hand, it is fairly easy to suggest a simplified strategy that can help you get started in just about any typical blackjack game. This easy to memorize strategy won’t get you exactly the same odds as a full basic strategy chart, but you won’t be giving much up; the difference in the house edge until typical rules should be .2% or less when compared to perfect, optimal play. To give credit where it is due, this strategy is heavily based on one suggested at wizardofodds.com, an excellent gambling information site. Simply follow the few rules below, and you’ll avoid ever making any major blackjack mistakes!
- Double down if you have a 10 or 11 and the dealer has an up card that is worth less than your hand. Also double down with 9 if the dealer up card is a 3, 4, 5 or 6. In all cases, if you cannot double down, hit instead.
- With all other hands of 11 or less, hit.
- With hard hands of 17-21, always stand.
- With hard hands of 12-16, stand if the dealer is showing a six or lower, except hit hard 12 against the dealer’s 2 or 3. Hit if the dealer is showing a 7 or higher.
- With soft hands of 15 or lower, always hit.
- With soft hands of 19 or higher, always stand.
- With soft hands of 16-18, hit against a seven or higher, and double down if the dealer is showing a six or lower. If you cannot double down, hit instead.
- Always split eights or aces.
- Never split fours, fives, or tens.
- With all other pairs, split if the dealer is showing a six or lower, otherwise, play the hand according to the rules above, depending on your hand’s value.
- Never take insurance or “even money” on blackjacks – it is a sucker bet for the basic strategy player.
There you go! Eleven simple rules that will have you playing blackjack like a pro – or at least, close to it. This is a perfect strategy for anyone looking to quickly learn how to play blackjack very well, without taking the time to memorize an entire basic strategy. In addition, the simplicity of this system means you’re not likely to make mistakes at the table because you forget the correct play.
Card Counting
Many players aren’t content with simply minimizing the house edge. Instead, they want to have the edge for themselves! In blackjack, this is actually possible thanks to card counting.
Card counting works by tracking which cards have come out of the shoe. Because there are a limited number of cards available, it is often the case that the remaining cards in the shoe don’t actually resemble a random assortment. There may, for instance, be a case where very few tens come out on the first few hands of a new shoe. This tells us that the remaining shoe is very rich in tens, which is great for the player.
In general, tens and aces are the best cards for the player to have remaining in the deck, while low cards are the worst for the player. Card counters take advantage of this fact by wagering more money when they know that the deck is rich in cards that are good for the player. They also make other adjustments, such as taking insurance (normally a sucker bet) when the deck is very rich in tens, and occasionally changing their basic strategy plays based on the cards that have been seen so far. However, it is critical to have a complete understanding of basic strategy before moving on to card counting, since counting relies on your ability to make the right plays along with keeping track of the cards that have been dealt. For more information, check out our full article on card counting!
Bad Blackjack Strategy
One final word of warning: it’s often the case that you’ll get bad “advice” from other players at the blackjack table, which contradicts what you’ve read here or seen on a basic strategy chart. Most of the time, the other players will be well-intentioned, but simply don’t have a deep knowledge of blackjack. Often, these players use strategies like always assuming the dealer has a ten in the hole, which – while often pointing the player in the right direction – causes the player to lose more money than with basic strategy.
Luckily, if you use basic strategy, you won’t be making any outlandish plays, which should keep anyone at the table from getting too angry at you or commenting on your play too often. Blackjack players are often a superstitious lot, and while nobody has any idea which card is coming next, many players will still get mad at a player who takes a card that would have busted the dealer, causing the dealer to win the hand instead. If that ever happens to you, don’t let it bother you; be confident that you’ve been playing proper blackjack strategy, and that your results will prove that in the long run.
Related News
The “soft 17 rule” is a rule that requires the dealer to hit on soft 17. For many blackjack players, this rather innocuous rule doesn’t seem like a big deal, but the fact of the matterHenry Tamburin is the editor and publisher of the Blackjack Insider Newsletter and author of the best-selling Blackjack: Take the Money & Run. He is also the lead Instructor for the Golden Touch Blackjack course, a feature writer for Casino Player magazine (and 6 other publications); an owner of a casino gambling publishing company (www.rsucasinobooks.com) and the host of www.smartgaming.com. For a free three month subscription to the Henry's Blackjack Insider Newsletter with full membership privileges go to www.bjinsider.com/free. Henry's website is www.smartgaming.com it is.
First, a quick review of what we mean by a soft hand. Any blackjack hand that contains an ace counted as an 11 is a soft hand. An ace-6 hand is a soft 17 and so is an ace-3-3 hand. These hands are played much differently than their corresponding hard hands. For example, ace-6 is soft 17 whereas 10-7 and 7-9-ace hands are hard 17’s (notice that if your hand contains either no ace, or one or more aces that are each count as one, the hand is hard). The reason the distinction is made between soft and hard hands is that they are played quite differently. For example, a player who is dealt a 10-7 should always stand whereas a player who is dealt an ace-6 should never stand.
In the world of blackjack some casinos require dealers to stand when their hand is a soft 17 (designated as s17), whereas others require dealers to hit soft 17 (i.e. they have implemented the soft 17 rule or h17). You can always tell whether a casino has the soft 17 rule or not by reading the wording on the table layout. If it reads “Dealer Must Stand on all 17’s” it means the dealer will stand on soft 17. If instead it states “Dealer Hits Soft 17”, it means the dealer will hit soft 17.
What happens to the odds when the soft 17 rule is in effect? Usually the dealer will bust more often which is good for the player. However, when he doesn’t bust, what would have been a 17 often ends up to be a higher hand that more often then not will beat the player’s hand. Overall the player’s net expectation is reduced by 0.20% with the soft 17 rule which is another way of saying the casino’s edge over a blackjack player increases by that amount. The soft 17 rule, therefore, favors the casino not the player.
Fortunately, there aren’t too many adjustments that you need to make to the basic playing strategy if you are playing in a game with h17. When you are playing, in general you should:
double down on 11 against a dealer’s ace
double down on soft 19 against the dealer’s 6
double down on soft 18 against the dealer’s 2
A more accurate set of playing strategy modifications that takes into effect the number of decks of cards being used is summarized below. Notice the additional hands that you should surrender with h17. The reason is because the player’s chance of winning these hands decreases enough with h17 compared to s17, that surrender becomes the better option.
Hit soft 18 against ace
If double after pair splitting is allowed, split a pair of 9’s against an ace
If surrender is allowed, surrender hard 15 against an ace and hard 17 against an ace.
Double down on soft 14 against 4
Double down on soft 18 against 2
Double down on soft 19 against 6
If surrender is allowed, surrender hard 15 against dealer ace.
4, 6 or 8 Decks
Double down on 11 against an ace
Double down on soft 17 against 2
If surrender is allowed, surrender hard 15 against ace, hard 17 against ace, and a pair of 8’s against dealer ace.
Unfortunately, the number of casinos that are switching to the soft 17 rule is increasing. I can remember not too long ago when nearly 100% of the strip casinos in Las Vegas had the s17 rule on their shoe games. That’s not the case anymore. Based on the information of blackjack playing conditions reported in Stanford Wong’s “Current Blackjack News” only 17% of the Strip casinos offer “only s17 games”, 40% “only h17”, and 43% a mix of s17 and h17 games. Also, just about all the casinos that cater to local players offer only h17 games and ditto for the majority of casinos located in the downtown area.
However, you shouldn’t judge a blackjack game solely on the h17 rule. Why? Because even though the casino gains an extra 0.20% with the soft 17 rule, many casinos in Las Vegas and elsewhere also give some of that edge back to the player by offering single or double deck games in lieu of 6 or 8 deck games. Throw in a few more player favorable rules, such as double after pair splitting (das), resplit of aces (rsa), or late surrender (ls), and all of a sudden a h17 game isn’t such a bad game after all.
For example, summarized below is the casino’s edge for typical blackjack games you will find in Las Vegas (this of course excludes those dastardly 6-5 single games which you should not play). . Note that the casino edge over a basic strategy player for a single deck game with h17 is only 0.18%, a good blackjack game by anyone’s standard. Compare that with the rather high 0.79% for the comparable 6-deck game. In fact even a h17, 6 deck game with a bunch of added player favorable rules still only makes the game average for basic strategy players by Vegas standards.
# Decks Rules Casino Edge
Single deck h17 0.18%
Single deck h17, rsa 0.15%
Single deck h17, das 0.06%
Double deck h17 0.53%
Double deck h17, rsa 0.48%
Double deck h17, das, rsa 0.35%
Double deck h17, das, rsa, ls 0.28%
6 deck h17 0.76%
6 deck h17, rsa 0.69%
6 deck h17, ls 0.67%
6 deck h17,das 0.63%
6 deck h17, das, rsa 0.56%
6 deck h17, das, ls 0.54%
6 deck h17, das, ls, rsa 0.46%
In northern Nevada most casinos offer single deck games with h17 but they restrict doubling to only hard 10 and 11. The latter is a casino player favorable rule that results in this game having a casino edge of 0.44% (ie. it converts a good blackjack game to at best average).
The bottom line is that the soft 17 rule is tolerable in a single deck game (with no restrictions on doubling) and also in a double deck game if das, rsa, or ls is offered. For 6 (or 8) deck games, given a choice between h17 or s17 game, you are better off playing a s17 game.