A Basic Strategy For Blackjack Chart

The blackjack strategy chart was invented decade after the card counting, the most famous and effective cheating method in the history of blackjack. Let's have a close look at the basic blackjack strategy chart: There are various blackjack charts specially designed for soft hand, hard hand and splitting pairs. 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. The Blackjack basic strategy chart is one of the best ways to win this game. It is not a guarantee that you will always win when you use the strategy chart but it is very possible for you to make a profit in the long run. But first, you have to memorise the chart and learn what count indexes you require in order to deviate from the strategy chart.

One of the most appealing aspects of blackjack is that there’s some element of skill involved. With many casino games, you are entirely reliant on luck, but with blackjack your actions affect the outcomes of hands.

Blackjack is still a game of chance; it’s just that luck isn’t the only factor that determines whether or not you win or lose.

What this means in practice is that you can actually improve your chances of winning. More accurately, in fact, it means that you can decrease your chances of losing.

Every decision you make, such as whether to hit or to stand, will have a direct impact on the result of a hand.

If you consistently make the correct decisions, you can reduce the house edge to a level where the casino’s advantage is almost obsolete.

On this page we explain how basic blackjack strategy can help you make correct decisions each and every time you play.

We explain how it works, how to use it, and we provide a sample strategy chart. We also look at a few blackjack strategies that don’t work.

How Blackjack Strategy Works

You have some information to work with every time you have a decision to make at the blackjack table. You know what cards you have, and you can see one of the dealer’s cards. Based on this information, it’s possible to work out the probabilities of what could happen next.

This is because there’s a fixed number of cards in the decks, and a fixed probability for each of those cards being dealt.

This is done by comparing the probabilities of all the possible combinations of cards that could be dealt, and determining how these combinations would impact the final outcome of the hand.

Once you know how the different actions you can take will affect your chances of winning, you can then choose the optimal one. There’s always a correct mathematical decision to make, and taking it enables you to keep the house edge to the absolute minimum.

That is essentially the whole point of blackjack strategy.

The problem with basic blackjack strategy is that it’s not always easy to establish the correct decision accurately. There are some complicated mathematical calculations required.

Unless you’re a genius, there’s a very small chance of you being able to make those calculations every time you play a hand. Thankfully, you don’t have to make any calculations.

These rules tell you exactly what action you should take in any given situation, based on the cards in your hand and the exposed dealer card.

By following them, you can apply basic blackjack strategy without using any math at all. All you have to do is learn the rules.

Given that there are hundreds of different situations you can find yourself in at the blackjack table, learning the rules for what to do in each one isn’t necessarily easy.

It might be pretty obvious that you should stand if you have 20 and the dealer is showing an eight, but situations such as having 12 when the dealer is showing a three are perhaps not so clear.

If you want to apply basic blackjack strategy perfectly, then you need to know what to do in every possible situation. This is where the use of strategy charts comes in handy.

A blackjack strategy chart is a matrix that shows all the possible combinations of your hand and the dealer’s exposed card. It shows the action you should take when facing each combination.

These charts are based on the correct rules for employing basic strategy, so if you do what the chart says, you’ll be making the right decision every time.

The following is an example of how a strategy chart looks. Along the top you have the dealer’s card, and down the side is your hand. Each individual cell shows what action you should take for the relevant combination.

The chart includes a key for the action each symbol in the cells represents.

You’ll notice that some of the actions are dependent on certain rules. For example, splitting is the right decision in some situations only if you are allowed to double after a split. This is because there are variants of blackjack where some of the rules are different.

The perfect strategy will vary depending on the exact rules of the blackjack variant you are playing. The chart shown above is the correct strategy for playing an eight deck game where the dealer stands on soft 17.

A few decisions would be slightly different if you were playing another game. These differences are, however, very marginal. If you follow the above chart for any variant, you will still play close to perfect hand.

Therefore, you stand a much better chance of winning more hands than you lose during a single session.

There are a few blackjack strategies that, for some reason, are popular among players even though they don’t work. These are as follows:

• Mimic the Dealer
• Never Bust
• Assume a Ten
• Progressive Betting

Mimic the dealer is a simple strategy where you simply act in the same way as a dealer would in any situation. You would never split, double, or surrender, because these options aren’t available to the dealer.

Basically, you would just hit on less than 17 and stand on 17 or higher, regardless of the dealer’s exposed card. This isn’t a good strategy at all, because splitting and doubling can be very advantageous to the player in the right situations.

Never bust is an equally simple strategy.

You just never hit if there’s a risk of going bust, so you always stand on 12 or higher. While this might seem like a safe approach, it actually increases the house edge.

A ten strategy works on the basis that you assume the next card will always be a ten, and that the dealer’s unexposed is a ten. Players often work on this assumption due to the fact that cards valued at ten make up around 30% of the deck (remember jacks, queens, and kings are all valued at ten).

However, 70% of the cards aren’t valued at ten, so you are still more likely not to get a ten. As such, this strategy doesn’t really work and increases the house edge.

Progressive betting is increasing or decreasing your bet size based on the result of your previous bet. This is a strategy that can be used in any form of betting, and there are several different progressive betting systems in existence.

They don’t have any effect on the house edge, because your chances of winning or losing a hand don’t change based on how much you bet.

They can also be very dangerous, particularly when aligned with systems such as the Martingale where you keep increasing your stake after a loss. One bad run can result in the loss of your entire bankroll.

If you’re going to playblackjack in a casino for the first time, you should learn how to use a basic blackjack strategy chart.
Since blackjack is a game of decisions that matter to the math behind your outcomes, you should learn how to make the decisions which are most likely to result in your winning.

Experts have put together basic strategy charts to help you do this, but how do you use such a chart?

This post explains it.

What Should Your Blackjack Strategy Be?

Any time you’re playing a casino game, blackjack or otherwise, your goal should be to minimize the casino’s statistical advantage—the house edge. In many casino games, like slot machines, there’s not much you can do to affect the house edge.

But blackjack is different.

If you hit when you should stand or stand when you should hit, you give percentage points back to the house.

If you’re playing badly, you might be facing a 4% edge at blackjack. You might as well playroulette and not have to worry about making decisions at all.

If you’re playing well, though, you might face a house edge of between 0.3% and 1%, which is as low as you’ll see in the casino.

Playing well is the catch, though.

What Is Basic Strategy in Blackjack?

In a gambling situation where you must make a decision, you can measure something called the “expected value” of that decision. Most of the time, the expected value of any bet in a casino is negative, which means that you’ll lose a certain amount of money on that bet on average over time.

In real moneyblackjack, you have various possible scenarios, and the expected value in each of those situations change based on the decisions you make.

Here’s an example:

Suppose you’re dealt a total of 20. If you decide to hit, only one card can improve your hand—an ace.

ANY other card will bust your hand.

The expected value of that decision is terrible when you contrast it with the decision of standing.

It doesn’t even matter what card the dealer has face-up.

But most decisions in blackjack aren’t that simple. That’s where basic strategy comes in.

By running thousands of computer simulations, mathematicians have determined the highest-expected value decision in every possible blackjack situation.

That’s what basic strategy is—the mathematically optimal decision in every blackjack situation.

What Is a Blackjack Strategy Chart and How Do You Use It?

A blackjack hand presents the following information to the player:

• The dealer’s face-up card
• The player’s total

With those two pieces of information, you can create a chart with the dealer’s face-up card across the top and your total along the left-hand side.

Cross-index the 2, and you find the appropriate decision for that situation.

I’m not going to include a complete basic strategy chart in this post, as I’d prefer to use the space for someone else. Instead, I’ll provide a single row of such a chart below. Along the top are the possible dealer up-cards. This is for someone with a hard total of 13:

This is a pretty easy hand to play, actually. You’ll stand if the dealer has a 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 showing. If the dealer has a 7 or higher showing, you’ll hit. (That’s what the “S” and the “H” stand for.)

This is, in fact, the correct playing strategy for a hard total of 14 or 15, too.

Soft totals have a different section from the hard listings, and you generally play those hands more aggressively, hitting and doubling down more often.

Here’s the basic strategy chart for a total of soft 13:

You’ll notice that if the dealer has a 5 or 6 showing, the correct move is to double down. You’ll also notice that under no circumstances will you stand on a soft 13. Since the ace can count as 1 or as 11, it’s impossible to bust this hand, no matter what card you get next.

You can print a basic strategy chart off the internet and consult it at the table, but you can’t use one from your phone. Casinos don’t allow the use of technology while you’re playing their table games.

You can buy a small strategy chart, a blackjack basic strategy card, in most casino gift shops. You’re welcome to use that at the table, too.

I only have one caveat about using a basic strategy chart in a casino at the table. Don’t hold up the game while using the chart. You’ll anger the other players and the dealer. No one wants to wait while you slow down the game agonizing over your decisions.

Your best bet is to memorize a basic strategy chart and play according to the strategy on the one in your mind every time you play.

Will Basic Strategy Make Me a Winner?

Using basic strategy when you playblackjack makes you a winner in my book, but that’s probably not what you meant.

Here’s the truth:

Even if you use perfect basic strategy, the house has a mathematical edge in blackjack. So, if you play long enough, you’ll eventually bet a net loser.

But using basic strategy increases the probability that you’ll have a winning session just by virtue of being the mathematically best way to get the most expected value from every hand.

Blackjack is still a random game, so anything can happen, even if it’s unlikely.

A Basic Strategy For Blackjack Chart Printable

The trick is to make a winning session as likely as possible.

And yes, basic strategy will help you do that.

Even card counters, who do have an edge over the casino, can and do experience long losing streaks that decimate their bankrolls.

The opposite can hold true, too.

Players who play badly can go on winning streaks, too. They’re just less likely to.

When to Hit in Blackjack and When to Stand

You should hit in blackjack when the chart tells you to. Sometimes, you’ll hit when you’re likely to bust just because it’s better than standing in the long. This is usually the case when you have a low total that might bust, but the dealer has a high-point card showing.

For example, if you have a total of 13, you only hit when the dealer has a 7 or higher showing. That’s because the dealer probably has a total of 14 or higher.

Even though you have a chance of busting, you’re still better off hitting and hoping not to bust.

You should stand in blackjack when the chart tells you to.
Generally, you’ll stand when you’re likely to go bust, but you’ll also often stand when the dealer has a good probability of going bust.

This means understanding, in a general sense, what a stiff hand is.
A stiff hand is one with a total of 16 or lower. These are the hands which are too low to win easily but also too high to hit confidently.

If you assume the dealer has a 10 in the hole, you have a good idea of how likely the dealer is to have a stiff hand.

And the dealer doesn’t get to choose whether or not to hit a hard 15 or 16. She must hit anything totaling 16 or less.

This means that sometimes, the best strategy is to hope for the dealer to bust.

How do you know when this is the case?

You follow the basic strategy chart.

Every hand. No exceptions.

Multi-Deck vs. Single Deck Blackjack Strategy

Basic strategy changes slightly based on how many decks are in play, but it only changes for a small percentage of totals and situations. Generally, if you memorize one common basic strategy chart, it’s fine to use it for any blackjack game you play regardless of the number of decks.

The reason the strategy changes is because the probability of getting a card of the same rank increases when you have more decks in play.

For example, in a single deck blackjack game, you’ll surrender or stand with a pair of 7s if the dealer has a 10 showing.

But if you’re playing in a game with multiple decks, you’ll hit because you have a higher probability of getting a 7 and having a total of 21.

Free Printable Blackjack Strategy Chart

Most of the changes are minor, though.

Conclusion

Learning how to use a blackjack basic strategy chart is easy to do. There’s really no excuse for not plugging any leaks in your blackjack game by using basic strategy.

You don’t even have to memorize the basic strategy. Just take a chart to the table with you and consult it when you’re not sure how to play your hand.

Pay no attention to anyone who makes fun of you or disagrees with the decisions on the chart. Most blackjack players don’t play well at all anyway.

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