Blackjack Strategy Charts

Blackjack strategy charts are used to play basic strategy. The reason you should use these charts is because when you play using perfect strategy you reduce the house edge as much as possible.

Casual blackjack players should always use the best strategy because it’s easy to do and if you can reduce the house edge you can play longer on a set bankroll.

As you probably already know if you’ve played blackjack at more than one casino, you can find different rules at different blackjack tables. For example, some places make the dealer stand on a soft 17 and others make the dealer hit a soft 17.

The perfect strategy is slightly different depending on the house rules.

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Basic Strategy

Casual players can find a good strategy chart like our basic strategy chart and use it for every blackjack game they play. The difference between the expected return using that chart in a blackjack game with slightly different rules is so small that it probably won’t cost you $5 a year. What I’m saying is it isn’t worth the extra work and effort to memorize more than one chart.

The chart below is for when the dealer hits on a soft 17. Find your hand down the left hand side and match it with the dealer up card along the top to find the best play. For example, if you have a 7 and a 2 making a hard 9 and the dealer has a 6 up card the correct play is double.

Blackjack Strategy Chart Dealer Hits Soft 17

Hit stands for hit. I used green for go.

DBL stands for double. I used blue for double.

Stand stands for stand. I used red for stop.

Split stands for split. I 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.

Other Blackjack Strategy Charts

Blackjack Strategy Advanced Charts

The only reason you may need a different strategy chart than the one included on this page is if you’re an advantage player.

If you’re an advantage player, you need to be able to play perfect basic strategy and then memorize a group of plays (called indexes or index plays). Indexes are plays you make that don’t match basic strategy based on the card count.

Here’s an example:

You never take insurance when playing basic strategy. However, if the count gets very high (meaning the remaining cards have a high percentage of tens and aces) taking insurance can be the best play. Unless you count cards (and know what you’re doing) you should never take insurance. If you play the same place every time you can find a basic strategy chart that fits your game if one of our charts doesn’t fit.

Blackjack Strategy Chart Tips

Memorize It

The best way to memorize a basic strategy chart is print it and use it while playing.

Use it Often

Use it for every hand until you make every play perfectly. Take it with you to your local casino if you have to!

Play for Free

Test and train your strategy by playing for free at an online casino first.

Find the Best Games

Find the best rules to reduce the house edge as much as possible when using basic strategy.

Conclusion

Don’t stress too much about finding the perfect basic strategy chart. Use the one on this page and you’ll be well ahead of the majority of blackjack players.

If you advance to the point where you need more than one strategy chart or one for a specific set of rules, you’ve moved beyond the scope of this page. For the other 98% + of us, print the chart above and start playing perfect blackjack strategy today.

Joseph Ellison

Joseph is a dedicated journalist and horse racing fanatic who has been writing about sports and casinos for over a decade. He has worked with some of the UK's top bookmakers and provides Premier League soccer tips on a regular basis. You'll likely find him watching horse racing or rugby when he isn't writing about sport.

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