Blackjack Basic Strategy Chart

How to read the chart

Find your hand total in the left column. Find the dealer's upcard across the top. The cell where they intersect is the correct play. Always use the chart before relying on intuition. The math does not care how you feel about a hand.

D = Double if allowed, otherwise Hit. Ds = Double if allowed, otherwise Stand. R = Surrender if allowed, otherwise Hit.

Hard totals

A hard hand is any hand without an ace, or with an ace that can only count as 1 (because counting it as 11 would bust you). Hard totals are the most common situation you will face.

Soft totals

A soft hand contains an ace counted as 11. You cannot bust by drawing one card to a soft hand, which is why doubling is profitable in more situations than with hard hands. Many players miss out on value by treating soft hands like hard ones.

Pairs

When you are dealt two cards of the same rank, you have the option to split them into two separate hands, each starting with one of those cards. Splitting is only profitable in specific situations. This table assumes double after split (DAS) is allowed, which is standard in most games.

Surrender

Late surrender lets you fold your hand and recover half your bet after the dealer checks for blackjack. Most players never surrender because it feels like giving up, but against the right dealer upcards, surrendering is mathematically better than playing out the hand.

Note: 8,8 vs 10 looks like a surrender candidate but splitting is still correct because each 8 has a better expected value than folding. Always split 8s, even against a 10.

The 5 most expensive mistakes

These are the deviations from basic strategy that cost players the most money. Each one feels intuitively correct, which is exactly why they are so expensive.

1. 1.
   Standing on soft 18 (A,7) vs dealer 9, 10, or ace

   18 feels safe. It is not. The dealer makes 19 or better often enough against these upcards that hitting soft 18 is significantly better than standing.
2. 2.
   Not doubling 11 against a dealer 10

   Players fear the dealer's 10. But your 11 is statistically the best double in the game. You will make 20 or 21 on about 30% of draws, and any total beats a dealer bust.
3. 3.
   Splitting 10s

   A 20 wins roughly 93% of the time. Splitting it into two separate hands starting at 10 is giving up a near-certain win to gamble twice.
4. 4.
   Not splitting 8s against a dealer 10

   Hard 16 is the worst hand in blackjack. You lose more often than not regardless of how you play it. Splitting gives you two hands starting at 8, each with positive expected value.
5. 5.
   Taking insurance

   Insurance pays 2:1 if the dealer has blackjack, but the dealer only has a 10 in the hole about 30.8% of the time in a 6-deck shoe. You need 33.3% to break even. Insurance is a losing side bet unless the true count is +3 or higher.

Why basic strategy works

Basic strategy was developed in the 1950s by Roger Baldwin and colleagues using mechanical calculators. They computed the expected return of every possible play for every possible hand and dealer upcard. Modern computers have verified and extended this work. The strategy presented here is correct to multiple decimal places.

Without basic strategy, the average blackjack player gives up around 2–4% to the house through suboptimal decisions. With perfect basic strategy, the house edge drops to approximately 0.5%. That is the starting point. Card counting then pushes it further.

The chart above assumes: 6 decks, dealer stands on soft 17, double after split allowed, late surrender allowed. Rule variations change the edge slightly. Every rule in the trainer matches this chart exactly.