Blackjack Strategy

If you've read anything at all about blackjack, you've heard of something called "basic strategy".  All this term means is the optimal strategy for each hand you're dealt, and since there a limited number of possible hands versus a limited number of potential dealer upcards, basic strategy is something that can be memorized.

One hint - if you assume that the dealer's downcard is a ten, and think about what will happen if you get dealt a ten, you'll be able to "figure out" the correct basic strategy most of the time. This is because there are a disproportionate number of ten's in the deck compared to cards with other values. (16 out of 52 cards have a value of 10.)

So you'll find below a page for each possible hand you can be dealt. I hope it's useful for you.

Multiple DECK GAME Strategy

Dealer's Hand is on top. Player's Hand on left side.

Action: H = Hit S = Stand D = Double P = Split

Hard Totals

Hard hands include any hands without an ace and any hands with an ace where the ace must be counted as a 1 in order to avoid busting.

Soft totals

Soft hands are hands that include an ace. They're called "soft hands" because you're a lot less likely to go bust with a soft hand, since you can always decide that the ace counts as 1 instead of 11.

Pair Splitting (DAS)

Pairs are two cards with the same rank. The decision to make when you have a pair is whether or not to split the pair and play two hands, or play it as a hard hand.

SINGLE DECK GAME Strategy

Dealer's Hand is on top. Player's Hand on left side.

Hard Totals

Soft totals

Pair Splitting