Blackjack Strategy Chart: How to Play Every Hand the Right Way

How to play blackjack: rules for beginners

Cards 2 to 10 count at face value. Jacks, queens and kings count as 10. An ace counts as 1 or 11, whichever suits your hand better. A hand where an ace counts as 11 is called soft (A,6 is a soft 17) because one more card cannot bust it; every other hand is hard.

Each player and the dealer get two cards. One of the dealer’s cards is face up — and that card decides your best move. An ace plus a ten-value card as your first two cards is a blackjack and pays 3:2. Then you choose:

• Hit — take another card.
• Stand — stop with your current total.
• Double — double your bet and receive exactly one more card.
• Split — separate a pair into two hands, each with the original stake.

After every player has finished, the dealer reveals the hand and must draw until reaching at least 17. At most live tables the dealer stands on all 17s, soft 17 included. If your total goes over 21 you lose at once — even if the dealer busts afterwards. That rule is the main source of the house edge. Equal totals are a push and your stake is returned.

The blackjack basic strategy chart

The chart is worked out for the most common live rules: eight decks, dealer stands on all 17s, doubling allowed on any first two cards and after a split, no surrender. Find your hand in the left column, then the dealer’s face-up card along the top.

H = hit · S = stand · D = double (if not allowed, hit) · Ds = double (if not allowed, stand) · P = split

Hard hands

Soft hands

Pairs

If your table’s rules differ — the dealer hitting soft 17, for example — a few borderline decisions shift slightly. Following this chart is still far better than guessing.

The five most misunderstood decisions

1. Always split aces and eights. Two aces as one hand are only 2 or 12; split, each can become 21. A pair of eights is 16 — the weakest hand in the game — while two hands starting from 8 are far better.
2. Never split tens. A total of 20 already wins most rounds. Breaking it up swaps a strong hand for two uncertain ones.
3. Stand on 12 to 16 when the dealer shows 2 to 6 (except 12 against a 2 or 3). With those weak cards the dealer busts in roughly 35% to 43% of rounds, so let the dealer take the risk.
4. Hit 12 to 16 when the dealer shows 7 or higher. It feels dangerous, but a dealer showing 7 to 10 busts only about 21% to 26% of the time, and even less often with an ace; standing on 15 there nearly always loses.
5. Double 11 against everything except an ace. The chance of drawing a ten-value card is high, and this is the moment to put more money in while the odds lean your way.

Insurance, even money and side bets

When the dealer shows an ace you are offered insurance: a half-size bet paying 2:1 if the dealer has blackjack. With eight decks the dealer’s hidden card is a ten only about 31% of the time, so insurance loses around 7% on average every time you take it. "Even money", offered when you hold a blackjack yourself, is insurance under another name — decline it too.

Side bets such as 21+3 and Perfect Pairs pay big for rare combinations. Their house edge is many times higher than the main hand played with basic strategy. If you want to try them, keep the amount very small.

3:2 tables versus 6:5 tables

A natural blackjack arrives about once every 21 hands. A 3:2 table pays RM15 on a RM10 bet; a 6:5 table pays only RM12. That RM3 difference, multiplied by how often blackjacks come, adds about 1.4% to the house edge — nearly tripling the cost of the game. Check the blackjack payout printed on the table before you sit down.

Does card counting work in live blackjack?

Card counting depends on a shoe being played deep enough for the changing mix of cards to be exploited. Live tables usually deal from eight decks and change the shoe after about half has been played, and some variants reshuffle for every round. In those conditions the benefit of counting all but disappears. Basic strategy remains the most effective tool an ordinary player has.

Before your blackjack session

• Save the chart above or keep this page open on a second screen while you play.
• Choose a table paying 3:2 and check its rules in the help menu. The studios running live tables are listed in our guide to live studios and tables.
• Keep a fixed stake. Systems such as the Martingale do not help here, as our betting system test shows.
• Set a loss limit before you start and stick to it — see our guide to personal limits.