Did you know that every decision you make playing blackjack only has one correct play?
Not every play is profitable, but sometimes your job is making the decision that will cost you the least amount of real money at online casinos in the long run. The goal is to minimize the house edge.
Here’s an example. If you have a ten and a six, for a total of 16, against a dealer ten nothing you do will be profitable in the long run. The best play in this situation is hit because it loses less than standing. If the rules allow surrender, the correct play is surrender, but if you can’t surrender you should hit.
Hit stands for hit. We used green for go.
DBL stands for double. We used blue for double.
Stand stands for stand. We used red for stop.
Split stands for split. We used purple for split.
Your Hand |
Dealer’s Up Card |
|
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
Ace |
H 4 |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
H 5 |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
H 6 |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
H 7 |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
H 8 |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
H 9 |
Hit |
DBL |
DBL |
DBL |
DBL |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
H 10 |
Hit |
DBL |
DBL |
DBL |
DBL |
DBL |
DBL |
DBL |
Hit |
Hit |
H 11 |
DBL |
DBL |
DBL |
DBL |
DBL |
DBL |
DBL |
DBL |
DBL |
DBL |
H 12 |
Hit |
Hit |
Stand |
Stand |
Stand |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
H 13 |
Stand |
Stand |
Stand |
Stand |
Stand |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
H 14 |
Stand |
Stand |
Stand |
Stand |
Stand |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
H 15 |
Stand |
Stand |
Stand |
Stand |
Stand |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
H 16 |
Stand |
Stand |
Stand |
Stand |
Stand |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
H 17+ |
Stand |
Stand |
Stand |
Stand |
Stand |
Stand |
Stand |
Stand |
Stand |
Stand |
S 13 |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
DBL |
DBL |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
S 14 |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
DBL |
DBL |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
S15 |
Hit |
Hit |
DBL |
DBL |
DBL |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
S16 |
Hit |
Hit |
DBL |
DBL |
DBL |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
S 17 |
Hit |
DBL |
DBL |
DBL |
DBL |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
S 18 |
DBL |
DBL |
DBL |
DBL |
DBL |
Stand |
Stand |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
S 19 |
Stand |
Stand |
Stand |
Stand |
DBL |
Stand |
Stand |
Stand |
Stand |
Stand |
S 20+ |
Stand |
Stand |
Stand |
Stand |
Stand |
Stand |
Stand |
Stand |
Stand |
Stand |
2 – 2 |
Split |
Split |
Split |
Split |
Split |
Split |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
3 – 3 |
Split |
Split |
Split |
Split |
Split |
Split |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
6 – 6 |
Split |
Split |
Split |
Split |
Split |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
7 – 7 |
Split |
Split |
Split |
Split |
Split |
Split |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
8 – 8 |
Split |
Split |
Split |
Split |
Split |
Split |
Split |
Split |
Split |
Split |
9 – 9 |
Split |
Split |
Split |
Split |
Split |
Stand |
Split |
Split |
Stand |
Stand |
A – A |
Split |
Split |
Split |
Split |
Split |
Split |
Split |
Split |
Split |
Split |
Notice there isn’t a row for splitting fours, fives, and ten valued cards. Play these hands based on their hard totals of 8, 10, and 20.
Once you find the tables offering the best rules you need to learn and use basic strategy to get the best payouts possible.
While learning basic strategy, it’s smart to print off a copy of the chart and keep it nearby during a session.
It doesn’t take long to learn all of the normal plays. Even the toughest plays become second nature eventually. Once you reach that point, you won’t need the chart any more.
The difference in the house edge of even 1/10% is worth the extra few minutes it takes to find better rules.
Every 1% in edge is worth $100 per hour if you’re playing for $100 a hand at 100 hands per hour.
Every dollar less the house rakes because of their edge is the same as winning an extra dollar. Hopefully you’re starting to look at it the same way.