A basic strategy chart compares the EV (expected value - the average win or loss per hand) of each action for every pair of your hand and the dealer’s upcard. Only some cells depend on the rules, so check your table’s rules before you sit down and learn the chart for those rules.
Following the chart does not remove the house edge (the share of your bets the casino keeps on average). It removes the extra losses that come from wrong decisions.
Reading the chart
There are three charts. Rows are your hand, columns the dealer’s upcard.
| Chart | Your hand |
|---|---|
| Hard | A hand without an ace, or one where the ace can only count as 1 |
| Soft | A hand where an ace can count as 11 (A-7 is soft 18) |
| Pairs | Two cards of the same rank (whether to split) |
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| S | Stand |
| H | Hit (take a card) |
| D | Double (double your bet and take exactly one card). If you can’t double, hit |
| Ds | Double. If you can’t double, stand |
| P | Split (play the pair as two hands) |
| Rh / Rs / Rp | Surrender (give up and get half your bet back). If you can’t surrender, hit / stand / split |
Example. The cell for hard 11 against a 6 is D: double your bet and take one card. A three-card 11 (4-3-4, for example) can’t double, so you hit.
The backbone of the chart is the strength of the dealer’s upcard. With a hard hand, against a weak card (2 to 6) you stand on 12 or more and wait for the dealer to bust (only 12 against a 2 or 3 hits), and against a strong card (7 to A) you draw to 17 or more.
Example. You have hard 16. The dealer will always draw to 17 or more, so a 16 that stands wins only when the dealer busts.
- Dealer 6: the dealer busts about 42% of the time. If you hit, you bust about 62% of the time. So stand
- Dealer 10: the dealer busts only about 23% of the time. Standing loses about 77% of the time, so hit
The chart compares EVs, and some cells are close
Every cell picks the action with the highest EV. Below is an example from a 6-deck table where the dealer stands on soft 17 (S17), checks the hole card first, and you can double on any two cards. The numbers are EVs with the original bet counted as 1.
| Hand | Hit | Stand | Double | Split | Best |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hard 11 against a 6 | about +0.34 | about +0.68 | Double | ||
| Hard 9 against a 7 | about +0.18 | about +0.12 | Hit | ||
| 16 against a 10 | about −0.535 | about −0.541 | Hit | ||
| 8-8 against a 10 | about −0.54 | about −0.54 | about −0.48 | Split |
For 16 against a 10, hit and stand differ by only 0.006. Hit is best, but standing costs little. Hard 11 against a 6 is the opposite: double beats hit by 0.34, so hitting costs a lot.
With 8-8 against a 10, every choice loses more often than it wins. Split, because it loses the least.
S17 and H17 (the dealer’s soft 17)
S17 means the dealer stands on soft 17; H17 means the dealer hits it.
Example. Hard 11 against an ace (6 decks, doubling on hard 9 to 11 only).
| Hit | Double | Best | |
|---|---|---|---|
| S17 | about +0.147 | about +0.120 | Hit |
| H17 | about +0.107 | about +0.115 | Double |
How many cells change: where you can double on any two cards, 3 cells (11 against an ace, A-7 against a 2, A-8 against a 6). Where you can double only on hard 9 to 11, 1 cell (11 against an ace).
H17 raises the house edge by about 0.22%.
Which hands can double
Whether you can double on “any two cards” or “hard 9 to 11 only” changes cells in the chart. Where any two cards can double, the soft chart has more double cells.
A table that does not allow doubling after a split raises the house edge by about 0.14%.
Surrender cells, where you give up
Surrender where playing the hand out loses more than half your bet on average (EV below −0.5).
Example. 16 against a 10 at a 6-deck S17 table where the dealer checks the hole card first (late surrender).
- Hit: about −0.535
- Stand: about −0.541
- Surrender: −0.500
Every choice loses, but surrendering loses the least.
| Table | Hands to surrender |
|---|---|
| Late, S17 | 16 against a 9, 10 or ace; 15 against a 10 |
| Late, H17 | The above, plus 15 against an ace, 17 against an ace, and 8-8 against an ace (split if you can’t surrender) |
16 against a 7 hits for an EV of about −0.409, which beats surrendering. You can’t surrender a hand of three or more cards or a hand after a split.
| Surrender | House edge change (S17) | (H17) |
|---|---|---|
| Late | −0.072% | −0.088% |
| Early except against an ace | −0.240% | −0.240% |
| Early (before the dealer checks for blackjack) | −0.624% | −0.712% |
The numbers are this app’s calculation (from a 6-deck table where the dealer checks the hole card first, DAS, doubling on any two cards, 3:2).
What does not change the chart
- A table that pays 6:5 for blackjack raises the house edge by about 1.4%, but the chart does not change
- Where the cut card goes (how deep the dealer deals) does not change the chart
House edge by rule
Differences from a 6-deck table with S17, the dealer checking the hole card first, doubling after a split (DAS), doubling on any two cards and 3:2 (0.41%).
| Difference | Effect |
|---|---|
| Blackjack pays 6:5 | about +1.4% |
| Dealer hits soft 17 (H17) | about +0.22% |
| No doubling after a split | about +0.14% |
| 1 deck | about −0.53% |
| Early surrender | about −0.62% |
| Late surrender | about −0.07% |
| Resplitting aces allowed | about −0.07% |
What to check before you sit down
- Does the dealer hit soft 17 (H17) or stand (S17)?
- Which hands can double (any two cards, or 9 to 11 only)? Can you double after a split?
- Is there surrender (late or early)?
- Does blackjack pay 3:2 or 6:5?
- How many decks?
Practice in the app
In Casino Edge’s blackjack, set “Table rules” in the Reference to your table’s rules, and the chart, drill and table use the right answers for those rules and show their house edge. “Strategy for this table” lists only what those rules change (hands to double, hands to split, totals to stand on and more). Tap a cell in the chart to see the EV of each action.