Blackjack Strategy

While simple at its core, Blackjack holds a surprising layer of strategic depth once you move beyond relying solely on luck. While a favorable card draw will occasionally lead to victory, consistent success lies in smart decision-making informed by a solid blackjack strategy. By understanding the best plays for each hand and adapting to the dealer’s showing card, you can drastically reduce the house advantage and tip the odds in your favor.

Blackjack’s basic strategy is the mathematically correct decision for every hand you can be dealt as a player of the game. Given that this strategy is based on statistics, players should play according to these fundamentals in order to increase their skill and chances of winning, every time. 

Here’s why:

• Minimizes Mistakes: Basic strategy eliminates guesswork, removing the potential for emotionally driven errors by leveraging statistics and reducing the odds of losing. 
• Reduces House Edge: Basic strategy play cuts the casino’s advantage to .5%; however, the casino still has an advantage. To reduce that advantage and win the game, master basic strategy first and then move on to more advanced strategy. 
• Earning Potential: Basic Strategy helps you make more money, pointing to the correct times to double down or split to increase your bet and earnings. 

Perfecting basic strategy is not enough to win the game. Players who are looking to master the game and win should perfect basic strategy and move on to more advanced techniques that will decrease the casino’s advantage.

During gameplay, a player will have a few options on their turn. Basic strategy tells us what action to take on each turn, determined by the player’s hand and the dealer’s upcard.  

This includes when a player should: 

• Hit or Stand: Draw another card or stand on your existing hand total.
• Double Down: Double your bet and receive one more card. It offers a significant advantage in certain scenarios.
• Split: Split a pair into two separate hands, potentially improving your odds.

Surrender: Forfeit half your bet immediately if your hand looks incredibly weak against the dealer’s upcard.

While you should memorize the entire basic strategy chart, there are a few key hand categories to start with that offer most of the value:

• Hard Hands (no ace): The simplest category, with the most consistent guidance across different game variations.
• Soft Hands (with an ace): Slightly more complex due to the ace’s flexibility as 1 or 11. Be sure to check the chart’s details for these situations.
• Pairs: Understanding when to split different pairs is crucial. Charts make splitting decisions easy.

If visual charts are not your learning style, you can memorize phrases instead. With practice, these will become more instinctual. Some examples include: 

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

For a comprehensive list of 30 phrases to remember to perfect basic strategy, visit Blackjack Apprenticeship’s website. 

Let’s illustrate how basic strategy works:

• Your hand: A hard 16 (a Ten and a Six)
• Dealer’s upcard: 7

According to basic strategy, you should always hit on a hard 16 against a dealer’s 7, regardless of other player’s actions or the specific details of the table rules.

While basic strategy is incredibly powerful, there are situations where minor adjustments are beneficial:

• Specific Rule Variations: House rules such as a ‘dealer stands on soft 17’ vs. ‘hits on soft 17’ impact certain strategy decisions. Adjust accordingly if you’re playing in a casino with different rules than your default chart is based on.
• True Count (Advanced): Legal card counting provides advanced players with even more strategic opportunities. A positive true count indicates a deck richer in high cards, subtly shifting your strategy.

A winning blackjack approach extends beyond just the basic strategy chart:

• Bankroll Management: Set win/loss limits and stick to them. Successful blackjack, like poker, requires long-term thinking.
• Table Selection: Look for tables with favorable rules (dealer stands on soft 17, doubling after splits allowed, etc.) to improve your odds.
• Emotional Control: Don’t let streaks of wins or losses cloud your judgment. Stick to the strategy even after a string of unfortunate hands.
• Bet Variation (Advanced): Combined with card counting, increasing your bets during favorable counts gives you an edge for maximizing profits.

The Game Farm does not encourage or promote gambling of any kind. We do not take responsibility for any damages or consequences as a result of gambling. 

If you choose to gamble, please do so responsibly.