Blackjack Basic Strategy Guide – How to Play Blackjack

Our G118 Blackjack Strategy Chart teaches you exactly when to:

Surrender

Hit or Stand

Double Down

Split Pairs

Read This Before You Memorize Any Charts!

• Basic strategy is not enough!
  We get emails from people all the time talking about how they downloaded our blackjack charts, took them to a casino, and won some money. That’s great news for them, but it could have easily gone the other way. Basic strategy cannot overcome the house edge even if you get lucky with it from time to time. Think of it like a space shuttle. Basic strategy is just the rocket booster. It gets the shuttle high enough in the atmosphere for the shuttle to do the rest of the work. The rocket booster never makes it to space. You’ll need counting, deviations, true count conversions and betting strategy to actually beat the game of blackjack but that’s for later.
• Memorize it perfectly!
  This is where the rubber meets the road when it comes to beating blackjack. Vegas was built on guys who looked at the wallet-size basic strategy a couple times after they bought it in the gift shop on their last vacation. It takes intentional practice to commit this stuff to memory. If it was easy, we wouldn’t have a website dedicated to helping you learn it.
• The chart you start with is not the chart you end with!
  Once you learn this chart you will have to learn additional blackjack rules and deviations that relate to the specific rules of the games you will be playing. The better you learn basic strategy the easier it will be to transition to the other rules-specific charts.
• Perfect means perfect!
  In a game where you can only hope to gain a 1% edge over the house, a 99% game isn’t good enough. You need to know these strategy charts backwards and forwards, doing a handstand, in a hurricane, giving your drink order to a waitress, while listening to Count Von Count serenade you on Sesame Street.

Download Blackjack Basic Strategy Chart

S17 Basic Strategy

H17 Basic Strategy

Outside of the US? ENHC Basic Strategy

G118 Basic Strategy Has An Order Of Operations:

1. Can I/should I Surrender?If you’re playing at a casino that offers surrender (also known as late surrender or LS), you will only have the option to surrender on the first two cards you’re dealt. You won’t be able to surrender if you’ve already taken a hit card. This is why surrender is the first thing you have to think about when playing your hand. If the answer is NO you can’t or NO you shouldn’t surrender, you then ask yourself….
2. Can I/Should I Split?The second most important decision is whether or not to split. This will only be an option when your first two cards are a pair or if you have two ten-valued cards (like a jack and a king). If the answer is NO you can’t or you shouldn’t split, you ask yourself….
3. Can I/Should I Double?When basic strategy calls for doubling, it’s a really good thing! It means you’re likely to win the hand! Some casinos restrict doubling on certain hands so it may not always be possible, but you want to make sure you’ve ruled it out before you move on. If the answer is NO you can’t or you shouldn’t double, you ask yourself…
4. Should I hit or should I stand?The last thing you should think about when it comes to basic strategy is whether or not to take another card. If the other options above are not appropriate for your hand then you would choose to hit or stand.

Here Is All Of G118 Basic Strategy In 30 Simple Phrases:

In case you’re not a visual learner these simple phrases might help you commit these rules to memory. The goal with remembering phrases is to be able to look at your hand total and immediately recite the rule in your head, without having to see what the dealer has. That way when you’re at the table and you look up to see what the dealer has, you already know how it relates to your hand and you can make your decision in a split second. Memorizing these phrases will make you much faster and have fewer mistakes.

Surrenders:

• 16 surrenders against dealer 9 through Ace, otherwise don’t surrender (revert to hard totals).
• 15 surrenders against dealer 10, otherwise don’t surrender (revert to hard totals).

Splits:

• Always split aces.
• Never split tens.
• A pair of 9’s splits against dealer 2 through 9, except for 7, otherwise stand.
• Always split 8’s
• A pair of 7’s splits against dealer 2 through 7, otherwise hit.
• A pair of 6’s splits against dealer 2 through 6, otherwise hit.
• A pair of 5’s doubles against dealer 2 through 9, otherwise hit.
• A pair of 4’s splits against dealer 5 and 6, otherwise hit.
• A pair of 3’s splits against dealer 2 through 7, otherwise hit.
• A pair of 2’s splits against dealer 2 through 7, otherwise hit.

Soft totals: A soft total is any hand that has an Ace as one of the first two cards, the ace counts as 11 to start.

• Soft 20 (A,9) always stands.
• Soft 19 (A,8) doubles against dealer 6, otherwise stand.
• Soft 18 (A,7) doubles against dealer 2 through 6, and hits against 9 through Ace, otherwise stand.
• Soft 17 (A,6) doubles against dealer 3 through 6, otherwise hit.
• Soft 16 (A,5) doubles against dealer 4 through 6, otherwise hit.
• Soft 15 (A,4) doubles against dealer 4 through 6, otherwise hit.
• Soft 14 (A,3) doubles against dealer 5 through 6, otherwise hit.
• Soft 13 (A,2) doubles against dealer 5 through 6, otherwise hit.

Hard totals: A hard total is any hand that does not start with an ace in it, or it has been dealt an ace that can only be counted as 1 instead of 11.

8 always hits.

17 and up always stands.

16 stands against dealer 2 through 6, otherwise hit.

15 stands against dealer 2 through 6, otherwise hit.

14 stands against dealer 2 through 6, otherwise hit.

13 stands against dealer 2 through 6, otherwise hit.

12 stands against dealer 4 through 6, otherwise hit.

11 always doubles.

10 doubles against dealer 2 through 9 otherwise hit.

9 doubles against dealer 3 through 6 otherwise hit.