Easy Blackjack Strategy Chart

If you use your blackjack strategy charts correctly, you can easily lower the casino’s long-term advantage to less than 1%, which makes it one of the best games in the casino. Especially, compared to slot machines which have a casino edge of about 5% to 15%. The simple blackjack strategy chart is the a great tool for blackjack players and is mathematically proven to maximise the player’s chances of walking away a winner. Obviously it doesn’t eliminate the house edge completely, but it can cut it back to a manageable percentage.

Why Do You Need a Blackjack Strategy Chart?

If you have watched any of our how to play blackjack videos, then you will know that the game of blackjack has one of the lowest house edges in the casino.

However, this is only true if you are playing every blackjack hand correctly. You see, blackjack is a game of skill, as well as luck, meaning that if you know how to properly play your hands, you will achieve a better payback percentage (in the long run) than someone who sits there and guesses how to play their blackjack hands.

Actually, there is only one mathematically correct way to play your hand in any given situation and it is the blackjack strategy chart that will show you how to do that. The chart will tell you how to play your hand based on the total of the cards you are dealt and also, the dealer’s up card. Just find those two factors on the chart and it will show you how to play that hand. This means that there is no guesswork on your part and you have an easy way to play your hands in the mathematically correct manner!

Listed below is a link for blackjack strategy charts. You can print them out and take them with you to the casino so you know how to properly play your hand in any given situation. Good Luck!

Keep in mind that a casino’s mathematical advantage against you can change, depending on the number of decks they use and the rules of the game they offer. Playing a single-deck game would be best, while an eight-deck game would be worst. Plus, some rules are good for you (dealer stands on soft 17, doubling after splitting allowed), while some are bad (dealer hits soft 17, no doubling down allowed).

This also means that the correct strategy can change slightly based on the number of decks used and the rules enforced. Therefore, you will notice that there are six different FREE blackjack strategy charts that we offer you on our website. Be sure to check at the top of each chart to make sure you are using the proper chart for the game that you will be playing.

As a final word of caution, however, be sure that you only play blackjack games that pay you 3-to-2 if you are dealt a blackjack. Unfortunately, there are many casinos that now pay only 6-to-5, or even-money for dealt blackjacks, and they are usually found at the lower-limit tables.

If a casino only pays 6-to-5 for blackjacks, that raises the casino advantage by about 1.40%, more than doubling the casinos advantage! And, even worse, if they only pay even-money for blackjacks, that adds about an extra 2.30% to the casino’s edge over you, bringing it up to about 3.30%, making it more than triple the standard casino advantage of about 1%!

So, be sure to avoid any game that doesn’t pay you 3-to-2 for your blackjacks!

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Introduction

To use the basic strategy, look up your hand along the left vertical edge and the dealer's up card along the top. In both cases an A stands for ace. From top to bottom are the hard totals, soft totals, and splittable hands. There are two charts depending on whether the dealer hits or stands on soft 17.

Other basic strategy rules.

Never take insurance or 'even money.'
If there is no row for splitting (fives and tens), then look up your hand as a hard total (10 or 20).
If you can't split because of a limit on re-splitting, then look up your hand as a hard total, except aces. In the extremely unlikely event you have a pair of aces you can't re-split and drawing to split aces is allowed, then double against a 6, otherwise hit.

If you play a mixture of six-deck games, some where the dealer hits a soft 17, and some where he stands, and you only wish to memorize one strategy, I would recommend you memorize the one where the dealer stands on soft 17. The cost in errors due to playing the wrong strategy is 2.3 times higher playing a stand on soft 17 game, with the hit on 17 strategy, than vise versa.

Basic Strategy in Text

For the benefit of my blind readers, here is the above strategy in text form, when the dealer stands on soft 17 and surrender is allowed. To use the strategy, start at the top, and follow the first rule that applies.

Surrender

Surrender hard 16 (but not a pair of 8s) vs. dealer 9, 10, or A, and hard 15 vs. dealer 10.

Split

Always split aces and 8s.
Never split 5s and 10s.
Split 2s and 3s against a dealer 4-7, and against a 2 or 3 if DAS is allowed.
Split 4s only if DAS is allowed and the dealer shows a 5 or 6.
Split 6s against a dealer 3-6, and against a 2 if DAS is allowed.
Split 7s against a dealer 2-7.
Split 9s against a dealer 2-6 or 8-9.

Double

Double hard 9 vs. dealer 3-6.
Double hard 10 except against a dealer 10 or A.
Double hard 11 except against a dealer A.
Double soft 13 or 14 vs. dealer 5-6.
Double soft 15 or 16 vs. dealer 4-6.
Double soft 17 or 18 vs. dealer 3-6.

Hit or Stand

Always hit hard 11 or less.
Stand on hard 12 against a dealer 4-6, otherwise hit.
Stand on hard 13-16 against a dealer 2-6, otherwise hit.
Always stand on hard 17 or more.
Always hit soft 17 or less.
Stand on soft 18 except hit against a dealer 9, 10, or A.
Always stand on soft 19 or more.

As I've said many times, the above strategy will be fine under any set of rules. However, for you perfectionists out there, here are the modifications to make if the dealer hits a soft 17.