Basic strategy in blackjack

Remember, your aim is to beat the dealer. It is a common misconception that you should play differently according to where you are sitting at the table: this is NOT true! If people are telling you what to do in order to protect their hands then ignore them and play your own hand.

When discussing how to play there are two kinds of hand that must be considered: soft hands and hard hands. Soft hands are those containing an ace, so a soft 13 is an ace and a two and a soft 17 is an ace and a six. A hard hand is two cards containing no ace, so a hard 16 is a ten and a six. Hard and soft hands are different and so should be played differently.

First, some general rules for playing blackjack:

ALWAYS hit with eleven or less

ALWAYS stick with seventeen or more

With a hard hand:

Dealer holds a seven up to an ace – twist if you hold 12 to 16

Dealer holds two/three – twist if you hold 12 to 16

Dealer holds four to six – stick on 12 to 16

With a soft hand:

With a soft 12 – always twist

Stick with 18 unless the dealer holds a nine or ten (or picture card).

Stick with 19 or higher,

When to double down in blackjack:

With a hard hand:

Always double with eleven

Double with ten except if the dealer holds a ten or ace

Double with a nine if the dealer holds a two to six

With a soft hand:

With ace and two up to Ace and seven double against 4,5,6.

With ace and six double against two or three

With ace and seven double against three

When to split:

Always split A/A and 8/8

Never split 4/4, 5/5 or 10/10

Split other pairs when dealer’s up card is two, three, four, five or six