Blackjack Basic Strategy: The Complete Guide and Chart

Blackjack is the rare casino game where your decisions genuinely change the maths. Every time you choose to hit, stand, double, split or surrender, you either play optimally or hand the casino extra edge. Basic strategy is the set of decisions that minimises that edge, worked out by computer simulation over billions of hands. Learn it and you play blackjack at close to break-even; ignore it and the same game can cost you four to eight times as much.

This guide gives you the complete chart for the most common online and casino format, explains the logic behind the decisions that feel wrong, and shows which table rules quietly destroy the value of perfect play.

What blackjack basic strategy is

Basic strategy answers one question: given my two (or more) cards and the dealer's single visible card, which action has the highest expected value? Because the dealer's play is fixed by the rules (they must hit until 17, and in this game they stand on soft 17), every situation can be calculated precisely. The result is a lookup table rather than a set of hunches.

Three ideas sit underneath almost every entry on the chart:

• The dealer busts most often when showing 4, 5 or 6. Against these weak upcards you stand on stiff hands and double aggressively, letting the dealer take the risk.
• A dealer 7 through ace is strong. Against these cards you must improve hands of 12 to 16, because standing loses too often.
• Doubling and splitting are where you make your money. These are the only plays that let you get more money on the table when you hold the advantage.

Basic strategy assumes you know nothing about which cards have already been dealt. That is what separates it from card counting, which adjusts bets and decisions according to the composition of the remaining shoe.

The complete basic strategy chart

These charts apply to a 4 to 8 deck game where the dealer stands on soft 17, doubling after splitting is allowed and late surrender is offered. That describes most online live dealer tables and many land-based shoe games. Find your hand in the left column, then read across to the dealer's upcard.

Legend: H = hit, S = stand, D = double if allowed (otherwise hit), Ds = double if allowed (otherwise stand), P = split, R = surrender if allowed (otherwise hit). Tap any cell to see why, or use "Quiz me" under a chart to practise.

Hard totals

A hard hand contains no ace, or an ace that must count as 1.

Soft totals

A soft hand contains an ace that can count as 11 without busting, so you cannot bust by taking one more card.

Pairs

If splitting is not wanted or allowed, play the pair as its hard total (or, for aces, as soft 12).

The decisions that feel wrong but are right

Most players get the obvious hands correct. Money is lost on the handful of situations where intuition points the other way.

Hitting 12 against a 2 or 3

Only four card ranks bust a 12, so the risk of hitting is smaller than it looks. A dealer showing 2 or 3 completes a pat hand often enough that standing on 12 loses slightly more than hitting. The difference is small, but it is real and it repeats every time the hand appears.

Standing on 16 is not automatic

Hard 16 against a dealer 7 feels like a hand to stand on because you will bust more than half the time if you hit. But a dealer 7 makes at least 17 roughly three times out of four, so standing usually loses anyway. Hitting loses less. Against a 9, 10 or ace, surrendering half your stake is better still, because 16 is the worst hand in blackjack.

Doubling soft hands

Doubling A,6 against a 3 can feel reckless when you already hold 17. But soft 17 is a weak total that rarely wins by standing, and the ace means you cannot bust on the double card. Against a dealer who is likely to bust, putting more money out is correct.

Splitting 9s but standing against a 7

A pair of 9s is 18, which is a decent hand, yet you split against 2 to 6 and against 8 and 9. You stand against a 7 because the dealer's most likely final total is 17, which your 18 already beats. Against a 10 or ace, 18 is not strong enough to split into two hands of 9 when the dealer is so strong, so you keep it.

Always split aces and eights

Two eights make 16, the worst total in the game. Split, and each eight becomes the start of a playable hand. Two aces make a soft 12; split, and each ace has a good chance of becoming 21. These splits are correct against every upcard in this game.

Never split tens or fives

Twenty wins most of the time, so breaking it into two hands of 10 gives away a strong position. A pair of fives is better treated as hard 10, which is a prime doubling hand.

Table rules that change the house edge

Perfect strategy cannot rescue a bad table. Before you sit down, check the rules printed on the felt or in the game's information panel. The figures below are approximate changes relative to a standard six-deck game.

If the dealer hits soft 17, a few chart entries change: double 11 against an ace, double A,8 against a 6, double A,7 against a 2, and surrender 15 and 17 against an ace, plus 8,8 against an ace where surrender is allowed. Everything else stays the same.

Insurance and side bets

Insurance is offered when the dealer shows an ace. It pays 2:1 if the dealer has blackjack, which sounds attractive until you count the cards: in a six-deck shoe, fewer than a third of the unseen cards are tens, while you need more than a third for insurance to break even. The result is a house edge of roughly 7%. "Even money" on your own blackjack is the same bet in disguise. Decline both.

Side bets such as Perfect Pairs, 21+3 and Lucky Ladies are separate games with house edges commonly between 3% and 12%. They can be entertaining, but each one you place raises the overall cost of your session well above the 0.5% that basic strategy earns you.

Basic strategy online and with bonuses

Online blackjack, whether random number generator (RNG) or live dealer, follows the same maths. RNG games usually reshuffle after every hand, which makes card counting useless but has no effect on basic strategy. You can keep a chart open beside the game at all times, which is the easiest way to play perfectly.

Be careful when using casino bonuses. Most operators count blackjack at only 0% to 20% towards wagering requirements, and some exclude it entirely or cap your stake while a bonus is active. Read the terms before you play, and compare offers on our casino bonuses page. Our wagering calculator shows how much play a bonus really requires once game weighting is applied.

What basic strategy will and will not do

Even at 0.5%, the edge is the casino's. Over 100 hands at $10 a hand you will wager $1,000, and your expected loss is around $5, with short-term swings of $100 or more in either direction being routine. Pair the chart with a sensible bankroll plan, set a loss limit before you start, and treat the game as entertainment rather than income. If gambling ever stops being fun, our responsible gambling page lists free, confidential support.