Blackjack basic strategy

What blackjack basic strategy is, and what it is not

Every blackjack decision has a best answer. For each pair of your hand and the dealer’s up card, one action loses least or wins most over millions of deals. Write all of those answers in a grid and you have basic strategy. It is called “basic” because it uses only the cards you can see in this hand, with no tracking of earlier rounds.

The first sound version, “The Optimum Strategy in Blackjack”, was published in September 1956 by Baldwin, Cantey, Maisel and McDermott. Computer analysis has refined it since, and today’s charts, such as Wizard of Odds’ four-to-eight-deck strategy (opens in a new tab), are the standard reference.

What basic strategy is not: a way to beat the game. It leaves the casino with a small edge. On Wizard of Odds’ figures, a game with liberal rules carries a 0.28% house edge for a basic strategy player, Atlantic City rules 0.43% and a six-deck European game 0.62%. You are paying for entertainment, just at the cheapest rate the game offers. For the broader picture, see the blackjack hub.

Why the plays look the way they do

Two facts drive almost every line of the chart. First, 10-value cards are common: 16 of the 52 cards in each deck (four tens, jacks, queens and kings) count as 10, which is about 31%. Second, you act before the dealer, so a bust costs you the hand even if the dealer busts afterwards.

A dealer showing 4, 5 or 6 must usually take at least two more cards to reach 17, and has a good chance of going over along the way. Against those cards you stand on stiff hands and look for doubles, letting the dealer take the risk. A dealer showing 7 or higher often already has a made hand hidden behind it, so standing on 12 to 16 just waits to be beaten, and you have to hit. That one idea explains a big chunk of the chart.

To see the bust risk in numbers, count the cards that break each hand. Hard 12 busts on any 10-value card, 4 of the 13 ranks (about 31%). Hard 16 busts on any 6 or higher, 8 ranks of 13 (about 62%). Those odds, set against what the dealer is likely to make, are what the chart weighs. Our blackjack odds page lists the rest.

Basic strategy for hard totals

Hard hands have no ace, or an ace that must count as 1. These are the core plays from the four-to-eight-deck chart with the dealer standing on soft 17. Where a double is shown, it assumes the table allows it; if not, hit. For more examples see our page on hard hands.

Hard 10 is a doubling hand against most dealer cards, but the exact cut-off depends on the rule set, so read it from the full chart for your game. The when to double down page covers doubling in more depth.

Hard 12 is the hand people most often misplay. Against a dealer 2 or 3 the chart says hit, because only a 10-value card busts you and the dealer is less likely to bust from a 2 or 3 than from a 4, 5 or 6. See when to hit on 12.

Soft hands: why ace hands play differently

A soft hand counts an ace as 11 and cannot bust on the next card. That safety net makes hitting cheap, so the chart takes cards on soft totals you would stand on if they were hard.

• Soft 19 and above: stand.
• Soft 18 (ace-7): with four to eight decks and the dealer standing on soft 17, double against a dealer 3 to 6 (stand if doubling isn’t allowed), stand against 2, 7 or 8, and hit against a 9, 10 or ace. Our blackjack strategy chart shows it in full.
• Soft 17 and below: never stand on these; hit, or double where the chart shows it.

The soft 18 rule surprises many players because 18 feels strong. Against a 9, 10 or ace it is not: the dealer will often finish on 19 or 20, and a soft hand gives you a free draw at improving. Our soft hands page walks through each total.

Pair splitting in basic strategy

With a pair you can split into two hands, adding a second bet equal to the first. The chart is firm on four cases and depends on the dealer card for the rest. Details sit on our when to split page.

Splitting eights against a dealer 10 does not feel like a winning move, and often it is not one. It is a losing-less move: two hands starting from 8 lose less on average than one hard 16. The splitting aces and eights page shows why. Remember split aces get only one card each.

Surrender and insurance in the chart

Where late surrender is offered and the dealer stands on soft 17, the chart surrenders hard 16 against a dealer 9, 10 or ace (but split a pair of 8s instead) and hard 15 against a 10. You lose half the stake rather than an expected larger share of it. The surrender page has the details.

Insurance is simpler: never take it, and that includes “even money” on your own blackjack. It is a separate bet that pays 2 to 1 if the dealer has a 10-value card underneath an ace. From a full eight-deck shoe, 128 of the 415 unseen cards are 10-value, about 31%, and the bet needs 33.3% to break even. That gap gives it a house edge of about 7.5%. See blackjack insurance for the full sum.

How to use a blackjack basic strategy chart

You do not need to learn the chart by heart. Online, you can keep one open beside the game, and our interactive blackjack strategy chart lets you look up any hand. Follow these steps each time:

1. Check the table rules first: number of decks, whether the dealer stands or hits soft 17, whether there is a hole card or peek, and whether surrender and double after split are allowed.
2. Pick the chart that matches those rules.
3. Look for a pair first. If you hold one, use the pairs section.
4. If not, check whether your hand is soft (an ace counted as 11). Use the soft section if so.
5. Otherwise use the hard section, reading across from your total to the dealer’s up card.
6. If the chart says double or surrender and the table does not allow it, take the fallback shown (usually hit).

Our guide on how to read a strategy chart explains the colour codes and abbreviations.

Rule changes that alter the strategy

Basic strategy is not one chart. Change the rules and some plays change too, which is why Wizard of Odds publishes separate charts for different games.

Those edge figures come from Wizard of Odds’ rule-variation table (opens in a new tab), measured against an eight-deck game with the dealer standing on soft 17. For no-peek tables, use the separate European basic strategy chart (opens in a new tab); our European blackjack page explains the format.

When standard basic strategy goes badly wrong

Some branded games change the payouts so much that the usual chart is the wrong tool. Lightning Blackjack is the clearest example. Evolution charges a 100% Lightning fee on each starting bet and pays random multipliers on winning hands. Evolution claims a 0.44% house edge with optimal play, but its strategy is not published, and Wizard of Odds estimates (opens in a new tab) that a player using conventional basic strategy loses about 17.63% of the original bet per hand. On a £10 starting bet that is roughly £1.76 a hand instead of a few pence.

The lesson: when a game changes the payouts, the chart must change too. Read the help screen for any variant before assuming the standard plays apply.

What basic strategy saves you in pounds

The value of basic strategy is easiest to see as cost per hour. Take £10 hands at 60 hands an hour under six-deck European rules with a 0.62% edge: that averages about £3.72 an hour. Guesswork can multiply that several times over, and some single errors are expensive on their own. Taking insurance every time a dealer shows an ace means placing a side bet with an edge of about 7.5%.

• Sitting at a 6 to 5 table adds 1.39% to the edge, more than doubling the 0.62% example above in rough terms.
• Standing on all stiff hands against high dealer cards, or never doubling, gives back far more than the rule differences in the table above. Wizard of Odds puts a game with no doubling at all 1.48% worse, which shows how much the doubles in the chart are worth.
• Refusing to split 8s leaves you playing hard 16, the weakest total in the game.

None of this changes the long-run direction: the casino still keeps a slice of what you stake. For that point made in full, read can you win at blackjack in the long run.

Basic strategy myths

• “Strategy and counting are the same.” They are not. Card counting adjusts bets using earlier cards; basic strategy ignores them. Online RNG blackjack reshuffles every round, so there is nothing to track. See card counting.
• “Bad players at the table ruin your odds.” Another player’s choices are as likely to help you as hurt you over time.
• “You should never bust, so stand on 12.” Standing on 12 against a 7 or higher costs more than the risk of busting.
• “A system of bet sizes can turn basic strategy into a profit.” Changing stakes does not change the edge on each hand. Our blackjack myths page lists more.

Using basic strategy at our partner casinos

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18+. Every casino game has a built-in house edge, so over time you should expect to lose what you stake. Set a budget before you play and stop when it’s gone: safer gambling tools and support. Free, confidential help: National Gambling Helpline 0808 8020 133.