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Basic Blackjack Strategy

Four Situations: Hit, Stand, Split, & Double

There are four different types of situations or possibilities that can occur in a blackjack hand. The strategies and reasoning behind each comes from more than 40 years of research done by mathematicians, probability experts, and professional gamblers.

Julian Braun, Dr. Edward Thorp, Lawrence Revere, Stanford Wong, Arnold Snyder, Peter Griffin, and Don Schlesinger, are the major theorists and innovators of the blackjack world over the last half-century, and their legacy has contributed to the strategies and explanations listed here.

The blackjack universe, in a simplified sense, can be looked at, in terms of understanding and complexity, as those who want to play the game, but don't want to put any effort into learning it, so they guess or go by hunches or "feelings." This player can only rely on, ultimately, on the luck of the draw and chance to win.

The next level of player is interested in the game enough so that he or she is willing to learn what we call a "basic strategy." By learning basic strategy, the player elevates the level of play and greatly enhances the possibility of winning,

The third level of player assigns numerical values to each card in an attempt to separate the cards that have been played already to determine the cards that remain, and the mathematical odds of winning the remaining hands. This procedure is called card counting and is a whole world unto itself.

For our purposes, we will consider how to elevate from the first group: the "guessers," into the second: those who have a basic understanding of how to win.

All of the strategies listed are considering two factors: your two cards compared to the dealer's upcard, the one that is showing. How you proceed is directly related to both factors. One note: the basic strategies discussed and noted here are for multiple decks, rather that single or double.

Basic Hitting and Standing Strategies: The Hard Hands

In blackjack we talk of hard hands and soft hands. This has nothing to do with the type of work one does for a living. A hard hand or total is one that does not involve an Ace, while a soft hand means that one of your cards is an Ace. This requires special consideration.

The important number to remember here is 17. It is the cutoff point for deciding whether to ask the dealer for more cards or not. Each numerical card is counted as its printed value, i.e. a 2 of clubs is counted as a 2. A 7 of hearts is counted as a 7. Suits are not considered of any importance. It is the numerical value that counts.

All face cards count as 10s, with no exceptions. It doesn't matter whether the card is a Jack of hearts, a Queen of spades or a King of clubs. The problem child here is the Ace, which can be counted as either a 1 or 11. This card can lead to a great deal of confusion (see "soft hands").

Dealer has a 7-10 showing

Suffice to say that a 17 remains your cutoff. Requesting a card or a hit on 17 or above will do two things: it will mark you as a rank amateur and will send all of the other players at your table fleeing in abject terror.

If 17 is your cutoff, you need to remember that 6 is the cutoff for the dealer's upcard in determining how you play it, with the deuce or 2 being the exception to the rule (see The Terror of the Twos). Remember: everything is relative to the card that the dealer is showing.

If the dealer has a 3-6, you have a better chance of winning than if the dealer is showing a 2, 9, 10 (or face card) or Ace. Seven and eight fall in the middle.

General blackjack theory says that 18.3 is the calculated average hand needed to win. In other words, anything less than a 19 (since you can't possibly get fractions in blackjack), is a potentially losing hand. So here it is in a nutshell: if the dealer is showing a 7, 8,9, or 10-value card, you will need to take a card if you have less than a 17.

With a 17, you are between a rock and a hard place. The math of the game says you can't take a card, but now, all you can do is sit tight and hope that the dealer has a 10 if the dealer is showing a 7. In this case you tie, or "push." You don't win, but you don't lose. From this hand, you escape.

If the dealer has an 8, 9, or 10-value card, you have to hope that there is a 4, 5,6, or 7 in the hole. That will make the dealer need to take a third card and this might put his/her hand over the total of 21, with a busted hand.

When you receive a hard 17, 18, 19, or 20, there is nothing to do except sit back and hope that the dealer's hand isn't as good. You merely indicate to the dealer that you don't want a card and want to stand. Obviously, with a 21 or blackjack, you're sitting on top of the world.

Intermediate Blackjack Strategy

Dealer has a 3-6 showing

This situation is more favorable of the player as the dealer has a better chance of going over the total of 21, or busting. As stated above, if you have a hard-hand total of 17 or above, there is nothing to do but stand and wait.

But now, you need to remember that if you have a hard hand of 12-16, that is not a pair, you also stand. So if the dealer has a 3-6, and you have a 12-20 that is not a pair, it is easy: you stand pat.

If you do have a pair please see the section on pairs. With a hand of 3-11, you have options. Most of these involve choices between hitting and doubling. Please keep in mind that this is not a matter hunches. The responses here come from decades of computer analysis and development.

The Terror of the Twos

You're sitting on a King and a 9, feeling smug because the dealer is showing a measly deuce. You rightfully wave away his request for a hit, feeling confident. The dealer's turn comes and he nonchalantly pulls an 8 out from the hole, then draws a Jack.

Your confident smile is quickly transformed into a mad glare. You've been taken, swindled, robbedSwell, not really. You've just come up against the single toughest card: the terrible two. You might think the Ace is tough because the dealer might have a blackjack. It might startle you to understand that the dealer will beat you more times with that slick 2 than not.

If you think of it this way, a 2 is like the perfect food or beverage: it will go with anything (kind of like the girls on Fremont at nightS). I'll put it this way: With a 2 up, a 6, 7, 8, or 9 in the hole becomes a real problem for the bettor, because if a 10 follows, the dealer is sitting on a winning hand.

If an Ace, 2, 3, 4, or 5 appears and there's a run of small cards, you're still in trouble. The best of all worlds is if the dealer pulls a 10-value card from the hole and draws another 10. You're made in the shade and can relax.

The direct opposite end of this problematic hand is when it is your own. Basic strategy says that when you have a 12 versus the dealer's 2, you hunker down in your seat, gird your loins and take the hit.

For some reason, your player's12 seems to be a magnet for any face card within a five-casino range, but, because of the fore-mentioned strength of that 2, you are probably sitting with a losing hand with a 12 anyway, so you might as well try to improve your position.

A 13 through 20 against a 2 makes life easy: You stand pat.

When you have a 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,or 8 versus the dealer's 2, you hit it until you get past 12.

When you have a 9,10 or 11, you double down.

See the chart on right for reference.

The Soft Hands

In this section lies the problem children of the blackjack table. These are the hands that cause the greatest bewilderment, the most consternation and fluttering intestinal butterflies.

One funny story: A woman who was playing blackjack very tentatively. She received an Ace and a 5 with the dealer showing a 7. When it was her turn, she examined her cards questioningly, shook her head a couple of times before declining to hit. The dealer looked at her and asked if she was sure. She answered, "positively."

As the hand played out and the dealer pulled an Ace out of the hole to finish with 20, he looked at the woman and asked her why she had stayed on a 6 or soft 16, to a dealer's 9. She answered that she had already counted the Ace as an 11 in her mind, and she was afraid of getting a face card.

The point of this story is that you can count the Ace as either a 1 or 11 at any point you chose. There is no signed warrant you must follow. The soft hands provide a great deal of trouble partly because how you treat them really varies with the situation, i.e. the dealer's up card.

The important thing to remember is not to get flustered when faced with a soft hand. Think of it as an opportunity, rather than a problem.

See the chart on right for reference.

Doubling

There is an old adage in blackjack that states: lay low and make your doubles and leave a winner. The phrase carries a great deal of validity:

Doubling or double downs will make or break you. You are putting up twice as much money in an attempt to double it.

These are the bets that count. Keep in mind that in most locales you will receive only one card when you double and you are not allowed to double after you've already received a third or fourth card.

There are certain doubles that are automatic: always double 11. The hope here is that you'll get the 10-value card and walk home a winner. Even if you don't, it is possible to draw a card that will help your hand beat the dealer or the dealer will bust.

Try to avoid doubling off a hunch or a feeling. You want to use these opportunities in the best fashion. One note: if after you double, with the dealer showing a 10-value card, and an Ace is overturned, giving the dealer a blackjack, most casinos give you the second part of your bet back, instead of taking all of it.

Advance Blackjack Strategy

Splitting : Like the doubling situation above, these are the hands that will make or break you. There is one rule here hard and fast: don't split 5s, and don't split 10s for opposite reasons.

With the 5s you are turning a hand that should be counted as a 10 and either doubled or hit into two hands of five each, that turn into potential problems when decorated with 7,8,9,or 10. With the two 10-value cards, you are asking for trouble taking a nice pat 20, doubling your original bet size, and getting stuck with a 2-7 twice. If you don't think this happens, ask any practitioner.

What you want to do is maximize your opportunities. Aces are the cards that you do want to split, and this is a special situation. With the Ace, in most casinos, you are allowed only one card after you split them. Obviously, you are hoping for a 10 on each.

The thought here is that if you don't split your Aces, you have a cumulative value of 2. The danger here is that if you draw 2 10-value cards in a row, not at all unusual, you will bust. You are also trying to maximize your opportunities by turning a single bet into twice that amount.

Insurance

The dealer will turn to you and ask if you would like insurance if he or she is showing an Ace. Time-worn advice suggests that because the odds of the dealer having a blackjack are about 1 in 3, you answer no.

Insurance means that you are allowed to wager up to one-half your bet that there is a blackjack or a 10-value card in the hole. You lose the bet if the dealer does not have blackjack, but get paid what you bet for insurance if there is one.

However, there is some flexibility here. Suppose you have played about a quarter of a shoe and you have noticed that there have been very few 10-value cards seen (Note: it is always a good habit to keep track of the cards that have been played, if you can.).

In this situation, you might elect to take insurance based on your observation and the fact that the deck is rich in 10s.

But generally speaking, it is wise to decline insurance. Just wave it off.

Luck, Steaks, Charms, Incantations and the Doo factor

The old casino saying goes something like: "I'd rather be lucky than good." I can personally attest to one incident after another of players who made horrendous decisions winning hand after hand, while sitting at the same table with a player who has been around a while, but can't seem to win on 20.

It happens all the time. Naturally, the problem here is a momentary turn of events that one wouldn't want to count on repeatedly. Anyone can get lucky, but it takes some knowledge to be able to play and win on a regular basis.

Some people seem to be naturally lucky, while others appear the opposite. Most of us fall somewhere in the middle. We have our lucky streaks and times when we can't locate our own toes.

If you are losing steadily at a table, don't stay. Take a break to clear your head, go for a walk, change tables, alter the situation. One response to this situation that heard time-after-time is: "I'm due." That due factor has as much to do with reality as George Foreman winning the Boston Marathon.

If you're on a losing steak, don't try to force it. Live again to play another day.

Money Management

Much is said concerning this topic, but little understood, and less practiced. There are a cookbook full of recipes for disaster known as betting systems, almost all of which will lead to a precarious chance of risking more and more money in the misguided hope of recovering some money already lost.

One of the more popular betting systems says to double your bet until you win. Only two problems here: you might not win until you hit the table maximum, or you might just run out of money first.

Here's the scenario: you buy in for $100 at a $10 table and lose the first hand. This system calls for you to put $20 down, and you lose again. The third hand now calls for you to be $40, and you again lose. In order to follow this betting pattern, you need to buy in for more money because you've exhausted almost _ of your original buy-in.

So you purchase another $100 worth of chips and bet $80, only to lose for the fourth hand in a row, not all that uncommon. You are down $150, in just four bets. You buy $150 worth of chips, bet $160 to double your previous bet of $80, and lo-and-behold, you lose the fifth. (actually you feel like drinking one at this point.).

Buying in once more and betting $320, you lose that as well. You are now out $630, and the thought of betting $640 to make your original profit of $10 seems a little far-fetched and illogical, but you so desperately want to leave the table on a winning note, that you do it. And lose for eight losses in a row! If you think it can't happen to you, think again. (see the section on streaks.).

From your original $10 bet, you are now out $1270! Ouch! And the table limit is $1000. Now what? You could slink away with your tail between your legs, or go to a table with higher limits and hope for the better there. With the way your luck is running, you don't want to try crossing the street in traffic. You may not make it to the other side.

The best money management system is time-honored and very simple: Bet less when you are losing and more when you are winning. Easy to say, hard to do. The casinos know that if they get you in a place where you are losing steadily, the chances are that you might start to "chase" your losses with even larger amounts of money in an attempt to get out of the hole you've dug. Advice: go slowly and don't try to hit home runs.

If you find that you are winning on a steady basis, whatever the reason, try betting a little bit more. There is a saying around the casino: "I've won and I'm playing with their money." It isn't their money. If you won the money, then it is yours to keep, and any you lose will be coming from the same pocket. Do you think the casino managers talk in those same terms, saying to each other, "Ah hah! We won this much today. Now we're playing with their money?!"

Follow this advice: Leave when you have won. If you bought in for $100 and you have doubled your money, take it and run! The odds are with the casino that the longer you stay and play, the better chance you have of losing it. BACK TO TOP