Strategy guide

Blackjack basic strategy, explained

Basic strategy is the best decision for every combination of your hand and the dealer's upcard, worked out by computer over millions of hands. It doesn't guarantee wins. It makes you lose as little as the rules allow: roughly half a percent of what you bet at a table like this one.

How to read the chart

Find your hand down the left side and the dealer's upcard across the top. The cell where they meet is the play.

Use the pairs chart when your first two cards match.
Use the soft totals chart when you hold an ace counted as 11.
Use the hard totals chart for everything else.

HHitSStand DDouble, otherwise hitDsDouble, otherwise stand PSplit

These charts are for six decks, dealer stands on soft 17, double after split, no surrender. Other rules change a handful of cells.

Hard totals

Hard totals
	Dealer's upcard
Your hand	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	A
8 or less	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H
9	H	D	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
10	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	H	H
11	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	H
12	H	H	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
13	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
14	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
15	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
16	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
17+	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S

Soft totals

Soft totals
	Dealer's upcard
Your hand	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	A
A,2	H	H	H	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
A,3	H	H	H	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
A,4	H	H	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
A,5	H	H	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
A,6	H	D	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
A,7	S	Ds	Ds	Ds	Ds	S	S	H	H	H
A,8	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S
A,9	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S

Pairs

Pairs
	Dealer's upcard
Your hand	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	A
2,2	P	P	P	P	P	P	H	H	H	H
3,3	P	P	P	P	P	P	H	H	H	H
4,4	H	H	H	P	P	H	H	H	H	H
5,5	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	H	H
6,6	P	P	P	P	P	H	H	H	H	H
7,7	P	P	P	P	P	P	H	H	H	H
8,8	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P
9,9	P	P	P	P	P	S	P	P	S	S
10,10	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S
A,A	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P

The rules worth memorizing first

Always split aces and 8s. Two aces make a weak 12; 8s make 16, the worst total in the game.
Never split 10s or 5s. 20 is too good to break up, and a pair of 5s is a 10 you should double.
Double 11 against anything but an ace, and double 10 against 2 through 9.
Stand on 12 against 4, 5 or 6; hit it against 2 or 3. The dealer's weak cards do the busting for you.
Stand on 13 to 16 against 2 through 6; hit against 7 or higher. It feels wrong to hit 16, but standing loses more.
Always stand on hard 17 or more.
Soft 18 is the tricky one: double against 3 to 6, stand against 2, 7 or 8, hit against 9, 10 or an ace.
Never take insurance or even money.

Why insurance is a bad bet

Insurance pays 2 to 1, so it only breaks even if the dealer has blackjack more than one time in three. With six decks and an ace showing, 96 of the 311 unseen cards are 10-value cards: about a 31% chance. Over time that loses about 7 cents for every dollar you put on insurance. Even money with your own blackjack is the same bet in disguise.

Common questions

Does basic strategy beat the casino?: No. It cuts the house edge to a fraction of a percent, but the edge never reaches zero on its own. That's why this site uses play money.
Why does the chart say to hit when I might bust?: Because standing on a weak total against a strong dealer card loses even more often. The chart compares both risks.
What does "Ds" mean?: Double if you're allowed to. If not, because you already have three cards, stand.

Practice with the live chart