Blackjack Basic Strategy Chart, and Why Each Move Is the Right One

The chart covers 27 starting hands against 10 dealer cards, 270 decisions in all. It assumes that you play your hand without knowing which cards have already come out of the shoe, which is how almost everyone plays.

A double you cannot make turns into a hit. At most British tables that only matters after a split, because doubling is limited to hard 9, 10 and 11, and the chart already reflects that limit: soft hands never show a double here.

A hand changes table as it grows. Ace + 5 is soft 16 and you hit; if you draw a 10, the Ace drops to 1 and you now hold hard 16, so you look at the hard table instead. Pairs only apply to your first two cards.

Hands of 12 to 16 are stiff: one ten-value card busts them, and ten-value cards make up 4 of the 13 ranks. Standing on a stiff hand only wins if the dealer busts. So: is the dealer likely to bust? Against a 4, 5 or 6 the answer is about 40% of the time, and standing is cheaper. Against a 7 or higher it drops to between 12% and 26%, and you have to risk the hit.

Hard 12 is the exception. Only the 10s bust it, so the hit is safer than on 13 to 16, and against a dealer 2 or 3 (busting about 35% and 37% of the time) hitting edges ahead of standing. Against 4 to 6 the dealer’s bust chance is high enough that standing wins back the difference.

Doubling on 9, 10 and 11

A double puts a second stake down when the next card is most likely to help you and the dealer is most likely to struggle. With 10 or 11, any ten-value card gives you 20 or 21. Against dealer 2 to 9 you double; against a 10 or an Ace you hit, for the no-hole-card reason explained further down. Hard 9 is weaker, so you double only against the dealer’s worst cards, 3 to 6.

Hard 17 or more always stands. The chance of improving without busting is too small, even against a dealer 10 or Ace.

A soft hand cannot bust on the next card, because the Ace can drop from 11 to 1. That makes hitting cheap: the worst outcome is a hard total you then play from the other table. Soft 17 (Ace + 6) feels like a made hand, but 17 wins only if the dealer busts or finishes on 16 or less, so the chart hits it every time.

Soft 18 is the hand most players misplay. Against a dealer 2 to 8 it is a fair total, so you stand. Against a 9, 10 or Ace the dealer is likely to finish on 19 or more, and soft 18 turns into a loser; hitting gives you a chance to improve without the risk of busting.

On tables that allow doubling on any two cards, the chart doubles several soft hands against a dealer 3 to 6. British tables that restrict doubling to 9 to 11 take that option away, which is one reason the restriction costs about 0.09 points of house edge.^{1 (source)}

Splitting is worth it when two hands starting with one card each are better than the pair as one total. A pair of Aces is a soft 12 as one hand, but two hands that each start with an Ace are strong starts, even with only one card each. A pair of 8s is 16, the worst total in the game; two hands starting with 8 are much better.

A pair of 5s is 10, one of the best doubling hands, so you treat it as 10 and double against 2 to 9. A pair of 10s is already 20, and breaking it up costs money. A pair of 9s is 18: you split against 2 to 6, 8 and 9, but stand against a 7, because 18 already beats a dealer’s likely 17.

Small pairs, 2s and 3s, are split against 2 to 7 because doubling after a split is allowed at most British tables. Where it is not allowed, the chart splits them less often and the house edge rises by about 0.14 points.^{1 (source)}

In a hole-card game the dealer checks for blackjack before you act, so whenever you get to double or split, you already know the dealer does not have one. At a British table you do not know. If you double 11 against a ten and the dealer’s second card is an Ace, you lose two stakes instead of one.

An Ace under a dealer ten-value card turns up with 1 card in 13, and a ten-value card under a dealer Ace with 4 in 13. Those are large enough risks to turn the double and the split into the more expensive choice, so the chart switches to a hit. Overall the no-hole-card rule adds about 0.10 points to the house edge.^{1 (source)}

The figure comes from adding the published effect of each rule to a known base game.^{1 (source)2 (source)} It is a long-run average per hand: about 5p to 6p on a £10 stake. It does not mean you lose 5p each hand. Individual sessions swing by many stakes either way.

The most common mistakes are expensive. Copying the dealer’s rule, drawing to 16 and standing on 17, ignores the dealer’s up-card and gives the casino a far larger edge than basic strategy does. Standing on every stiff hand regardless of the dealer card is nearly as bad. Insurance, taken every time, adds its own 7.7% loss on the side bet.

None of this turns the game into one you can expect to beat. The chart makes each decision as cheap as possible. Our house edge guide shows how that half a percent compares with roulette, baccarat and slots.

Add two soft-hand rules, hit every soft total up to 17 and stand on soft 19 or 20, and, with the obvious hit on hard 8 or less and stand on hard 17 or more, those lines settle 188 of the 270 cells (we counted them against the chart above). That leaves the real edge cases: hard 12 against 2 and 3, hard 9, soft 18 and the small pairs. Practise them at home with a deck of cards, dealing a hand and a dealer card and saying the decision aloud before you check the chart.

At the table, take your time. Dealers in British casinos are used to new players, and a slow correct decision costs nothing. The blackjack rules page covers the signals and the order of play, and our casino etiquette guide covers what to do with chips and cards.

Practising online for real stakes? Our UK casino comparison lists the licensed UK sites. 18+