Blackjack Basic Strategy

All blackjack professionals use Blackjack basic strategy on every hand. Blackjack basic strategy is a series of rules that you follow when deciding when to fold, hit, stand, double down or split pairs.

If you play Blackjack, I'm sure you've seen or heard about the basic strategy table. If you haven't, you should spend a little time getting familiar with it because it is a nicely formatted grid showing the possible player hands listed down the left hand side and the possible dealer face-up cards listed across the top. You find the rectangle directly across from your hand, and directly down from the dealer's hand, and a basic strategy table tells you whether to hit, stand, split, double down or surrender.

In a nutshell, all basic strategy tables contain some very simple rules such as always split Aces and Eights, never split Fives and Tens, and always stand on Nineteen or above. Depending on the Blackjack rules in effect, such as the number of decks used, wheather the dealer must hit or stand on soft 17, doubling allowed on splits, and doubling allowed on any two cards will dictate slight changes to the strategy chart used. For example, compare the Basic Strategy for a single deck and the basic strategy for multiple decks.

Large blocks of hands have the same correct play. If you start with a pair of Sevens, the block of rectangles showing dealer up cards of Two through Seven tell you to split the pair, while the block showing dealer's Eight or above tells you to hit. Sometimes the block of like plays comes in the middle of the line. With Ace-Four or Ace-Five, the grid tells you to double down in that block showing dealer's Four, Five or Six, but hit against anything else.

Basic strategy is orderly and logical. If you start with a pair of Nines and the dealer has a Seven, you have an edge. Your Eighteen will win whenever the dealer has a Ten (Ten, Jack, King or Queen) face down, and it will push whenever the dealer has an Ace face down. Four of the 13 denominations in the deck turn your Eighteen into an instant winner, and there are no cards that turn the dealer's Seven into an instant winner against you. If the dealer is going to win the hand, the dealer has to draw. Standing pat is your best offense in that situation, and the player has the advantage. If the dealer has a Ten (Ten, Jack, King or Queen) or an Ace, you have no edge. Your Eighteen will lose more often than it wins. Splitting the pair and starting each hand with a Nine doesn't help. It just leaves you with two hands that lose more often than they win, and splitting the pair means making a second wager and running the risk of losing more of your bankroll.

Basic strategy is easy to use. Just find your card combination on the left side of the chart and the dealer’s upcard at the top. Follow the column down until it intersects with the row for your card combination, and that’s how you should play the hand.

Most casinos will allow you to keep these cards with you for reference at the tables while playing, and can be extremely handy when you're first trying to learn and memorize basic strategy. Of course, if you are playing Blackjack online, you can have the strategy charts in an open browser window for reference as you play.

One mistake that I made when first starting to play Blackjack was not being aware that there are different strategies based on the number of decks used and the particular rules in effect at the Casino. For instance, if you're playing from a single deck, you want to use a single deck strategy. If you are playing from multiple decks, you want to use a multiple deck strategy (4 or more decks). Games with one or two decks, restricted doubling, or soft-17 hits by the dealer have slightly different strategies as well.