Blackjack Strategy

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Basic Blackjack Strategy

The term gambling gets easily related to the term 'luck' or more precisely 'chance'. But if we deal with gambling in detail, we in fact, can land up with some definite winning strategies. And blackjack is one such game where a good strategy can reduce the house edge to a great extent, which in turn can help you win more in the long run! The most common blackjack strategy is known as the "basic blackjack strategy". This strategy recommends an action – Hit, Stand, Double, Split, or Surrender – for every possible hand.

Before You Begin Before you begin using the basic blackjack strategy, you should understand what a hard hand, soft hand, and pair is.


• Hard Hand : A hard hand is a hand that does not contain an Ace or in which the Ace is counted as 1 to avoid exceeding the total of 21.
• Soft Hand : A soft hand is a hand in which the Ace is counted as 11 or 1 without exceeding the total of 21.
• Pair : A set of identical cards, regardless of their suit, is called a pair.



How to Use the Basic Blackjack Strategy

Playing hard hands, soft hands, or pairs is pretty simple! Just match your hand total with the dealer's up card in the table below and follow the suggested action!



Your Hand Total	Dealer's Up Card
Hard Hands
	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	A
17-20	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S
16	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	SR	SR	SR
15	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	SR	H
13-14	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
12	H	H	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
11	DH	DH	DH	DH	DH	DH	DH	DH	DH	H
10	DH	DH	DH	DH	DH	DH	DH	DH	H	H
9	H	DH	DH	DH	DH	H	H	H	H	H
5-8	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H
Soft Hands
	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	A
A,8 A,9	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S
A,7	S	DS	DS	DS	DS	S	S	H	H	H
A,6	H	DH	DH	DH	DH	H	H	H	H	H
A,4 A,5	H	H	DH	DH	DH	H	H	H	H	H
A,2 A,3	H	H	H	DH	DH	H	H	H	H	H
Pairs
	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	A
A,A	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP
10,10	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S
9,9	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	S	SP	SP	S	S
8,8	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP
7,7	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	H	H	H	H
6,6	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	H	H	H	H	H
5,5	DH	DH	DH	DH	DH	DH	DH	DH	H	H
4,4	H	H	H	SP	SP	H	H	H	H	H
2,2 or 3,3	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	SP	H	H	H	H

Key to Suggested Actions

H	Hit
S	Stand
SP	Split
SR	Surrender, if not permitted, Hit
DH	Double, if not permitted, Hit
DS	Double, if not permitted, Split


Examples on How to Use the Basic Blackjack Strategy


• Example #1 (Playing a Hard Hand) Let's say your hand total is 12 and the Dealer's up card is a 10. In this situation, the basic blackjack strategy suggests to hit. (Denoted with H.)


• Example #2 (Playing a Soft Hand) If your hand contains an Ace and 8 and the Dealer is showing a 7, as per the basic strategy you should stand. (Indicated with S.)


• Example #3 (Playing a Pair) If you have a pair of 6 and the dealer's up card is 9, you should hit. (Denoted by H.)

Rules Affecting the Basic Blackjack Strategy

The blackjack strategy discussed on this page works best if blackjack is played under following rules:
• Multiple decks (3 or more) are used
• Dealer stands on soft 17
• Player can double on any two cards
• Player can double after splitting a pair
• Blackjack pays 3 to 2
As you can see, the basic blackjack strategy chart is pretty easy to follow and it looks quite promising too. However, before you put this to practice while risking your hard earned money, practice it on the free blackjack available at Cat's Eye Casino. See if it works for you or not. If it does, go ahead and try it out with real money. If it doesn't, don't lose heart. It may work some other time! And by the way, you luck will always do wonders for you! Wishing you a wonderful time on Cat's Eye Casino!