Blackjack basic strategy chart: what to do with every hand

Blackjack basic strategy chart

The chart is built for a table with 4 to 8 decks where the dealer stands on all 17s, checks for blackjack, and you may double on any two cards, including after a split.

It matches the Wizard of Odds basic strategy for these rules. There are five actions: hit, stand, double, double if allowed (otherwise stand), and split. A soft hand is a hand in which an ace counts as 11 (an ace and a 6 is soft 17); a hard hand has no such ace. The number after "against" is the dealer's up card.

Hard hands

• 5 to 8: always hit.
• 9: double against 3 to 6, otherwise hit.
• 10: double against 2 to 9, hit against 10 and ace.
• 11: double against 2 to 10, hit against an ace (*).
• 12: stand against 4 to 6, otherwise hit.
• 13 to 16: stand against 2 to 6, hit against 7 to ace.
• 17 and up: always stand.

Soft hands

• A,2 and A,3: double against 5 and 6, otherwise hit.
• A,4 and A,5: double against 4 to 6, otherwise hit.
• A,6: double against 3 to 6, otherwise hit.
• A,7: stand against 2 (*); double if allowed against 3 to 6, otherwise stand; stand against 7 and 8; hit against 9, 10 and ace.
• A,8: always stand (*).
• A,9: always stand.

Pairs

• A,A: always split.
• 10,10: never split, stand.
• 9,9: split against 2 to 6, 8 and 9; stand against 7, 10 and ace.
• 8,8: always split.
• 7,7: split against 2 to 7, otherwise hit.
• 6,6: split against 2 to 6, otherwise hit (split against 2 only if you may double after splitting).
• 5,5: do not split; play it as 10: double against 2 to 9, hit against 10 and ace.
• 4,4: split against 5 and 6 if you may double after splitting, otherwise hit.
• 3,3 and 2,2: split against 2 to 7, otherwise hit (split against 2 and 3 only if you may double after splitting).

(*) If the dealer hits soft 17: double 11 against an ace, and double if allowed (otherwise stand) with A,7 against 2 and A,8 against 6.

How to read the chart

Check for a pair first, then whether the hand is soft, and only then go to the hard hands.

• Do you hold two cards of the same rank? Start with the pairs. If they say "do not split", play the hand as its total.
• Do you have an ace counting as 11? Use the soft hands.
• Everything else goes by the hard hands.

If the chart says "double" but you can no longer double (you already hold three cards, for example), hit. If it says "double if allowed, otherwise stand", stand. When you split aces, each ace gets one card only.

When the dealer busts most often

With an up card from 2 to 6 the dealer busts about 35% to 42% of the time, with 7 to ace only 17% to 26%, and that drives most of the chart.

The chance that the dealer busts, by up card:

The calculation is for an infinite deck with the dealer standing on all 17s; for a 10 and an ace it shows the situation after the dealer has checked for blackjack, which is when you decide. If the dealer hits soft 17, the chance rises to 44.0% with a 6 and to 20.1% with an ace.

A hand of 12 to 16 is awkward: hit it and it easily busts, stand on it and it wins only when the dealer busts. Against 2 to 6 the dealer busts more than a third of the time, so with 13 to 16 you stand and let the dealer take the risk. Against 7 to ace the dealer usually makes 17 or more, so the same hand would lose too often without another card. The exception is 12 against 2 and 3: here you hit, because only a ten-value card busts a 12, and the dealer busts less often with a 2 or 3 than with 4 to 6.

When to double and when to split

Double 11 against everything except an ace, always split aces and eights, and never split tens or fives.

With 11 you hold the best starting hand for doubling, because any ten-value card makes 21. Double 10 against 2 to 9. Always split aces: two aces together are only 2 or 12, but each one alone is a strong start. Always split eights, because 16 is the weakest two-card hand there is, while 8 is a reasonable start. Do not split tens, because 20 is already one of the best hands. Do not split fives, because 10 is a good hand to double, while each five alone is a weak start.

With 9,9 against 7, stand: you have 18, and the dealer's most likely result with a 7 is 17. Stand with 9,9 against 10 and ace too, because splitting against a strong card would only add to the loss.

What the chart does not change

The chart reduces your expected loss but does not remove the house edge: even with no mistakes, you lose on average about 0.43% of every initial bet over the long run.

We ran the chart through a computer simulation: 100 million rounds per rule set, eight decks shuffled before every round. At a table where the dealer stands on 17 and blackjack pays 3:2, the house edge came out at 0.43%. Out of every 100 rounds, about 43 were won, 48 lost and 9 ended in a push.

So even with the chart you lose more hands than you win. The chart pays its way through 3:2 blackjacks and doubled bets, not through winning more often. A 0.43% house edge is the same thing as a 99.57% RTP (payout percentage).

In blackjack your decisions change the edge; in roulette no decision does, which is why no roulette system beats it. Whatever strategy you use, set a budget and a stopping point before you start.

Rules to check before you play

Some table rules cost more than most playing mistakes, and the most expensive is blackjack paying 6:5 instead of 3:2.

How many percentage points each rule adds to the house edge, compared with the table the chart is built for (Wizard of Odds):

• Blackjack pays 6:5 instead of 3:2: plus 1.39 points. In our simulation 0.43% became 1.80%.
• Dealer hits soft 17: plus 0.22 points. The simulation gave 0.64%.
• No doubling after a split: plus 0.14 points.
• European no-hole-card rules (the dealer takes the second card only after your decisions): plus 0.11 points.

Insurance is a separate bet with its own house edge. When the dealer shows an ace, eight decks leave 128 ten-value cards among the 415 unseen. The bet pays 2:1, so on average it returns (2 x 128 - 287) / 415 = -7.47%, a house edge of about 7.5%. The chart never takes insurance.

A table's rules are usually in its information or help panel; take a look before your first bet. If you play with a bonus, note that blackjack often counts only partly towards the wagering requirements, or not at all.

Where to play blackjack in Canada

Most casinos that accept Canadians outside Ontario and Alberta run both computer (RNG) blackjack and live dealer tables. Tonybet, for example, lists more than 900 live games. Whatever the casino, open the table rules before you play and make sure blackjack pays 3:2. All the casinos we cover are on the all casinos page.

The chart online and at live tables

The chart works the same at computer (RNG) tables and live tables, because the maths is the same at both.

Card counting does not work at RNG tables, because the decks are shuffled before every round. Side bets such as 21+3 and Perfect Pairs are outside the chart and carry their own house edge.

Blackjack is gambling, and you can lose money at it. The chart lowers the expected loss; it is not a way to win. Set a budget before you start and stop when it is spent. Our responsible gambling page lists deposit-limit tools and free help lines for every province and territory we serve. You must be 19 or older to gamble online (18 in Quebec and Manitoba).