A Complete Guide To Learning The Blackjack Strategy Chart

If you're new to blackjack, then the gameplay must look very simple. But scratch the surface and you'll discover it's deceptively so. Blackjack at the casino is the one game where skills can bring the house edge down far enough into your favour that you can make steady and profitable sessions every time you play. But for this, you need a deep understanding of the card probabilities. For this, it's good to memorise a blackjack strategy chart. But you'll also need to know how to count cards.

Here at Blackjackchamp.com we frequently receive emails from people telling us how they used the blackjack strategy chart in a casino and made some serious cash. Although it’s fantastic news for them, things could have easily turned out differently. Even if you occasionally hit it lucky, the casino house edge cannot be defeated by basic strategy. Imagine it as a space shuttle. Just the rocket booster is the basic strategy. The spacecraft flies high enough up into the atmosphere to do the remaining tasks. However, if it never reaches orbit, then the rocket booster has been for nothing.

To properly win in blackjack, you’ll need lots of different skills. All work together for optimal results. The most common blackjack tricks include card counting, deviations, and true count conversions. On top of this, there’s a betting strategy, but that comes later. Then we come to learn the blackjack strategy chart. Yes, it does look like a lot of work. But no one said that beating the casino was going to be easy!

Memorising The Blackjack Chart Perfectly

When it comes to winning at blackjack, this is where it all starts. Las Vegas is full of gamblers who took a quick glance at the wallet-sized basic strategy chart after purchasing it in the souvenir store on their previous holiday. But to commit this information to memory, then some serious and deliberate practice is required.

In other words, you need to sit down and put in the effort of consigning all this information to memory. We wouldn’t have a web page devoted to assisting you in learning the blackjack strategy chart if it were that simple.

Understand Each Blackjack Strategy Chart Can Be Different

You’ll need to learn additional blackjack rules and variations once you’ve mastered this chart. These are all related to the particular rules and regulations of the types of games you’ll be playing. The shift to other rules-specific charts is a necessity. However, it will be simpler the better you are at having a good understanding of fundamental strategy in blackjack.

Playing Perfectly Means Playing Perfectly

An important point to consider is that a 99% game is insufficient in a game where the best you can hope for is a 1% advantage over the house. So you’ll need to be able to use the blackjack strategy chart like a pro whilst performing handstands in a hurricane, ordering drinks in Spanish from a non-Spanish speaking waitress, and having a mouthful of popsicles. Why not head over to King Billy Casino where you can take part in free blackjack practice using virtual money instead of your own real money bankroll?

There’s An Order to Operating Basic Blackjack Strategy

Choices With Surrendering

You can only surrender on the first two cards handed to you if you’re playing in a casino that allows it (also known as late surrender, or LS). If you have already accepted a hit card, you will not be able to surrender.

Because of this, when playing your hand, surrender is the first thing you need to consider. You then question yourself if the response is NO you cannot or NO you should not surrender.

How Should I Split?

The choice to split or not to separate is the second most crucial choice. This is only a choice if your first two cards are a pair or if you have two cards with values of ten or above. (like a jack and a king). You question yourself if you can or should divide if the response is NO.

Maybe I should Double?

It’s a pretty wonderful thing when the fundamental approach calls for doubling! It implies that you will probably win the hand! It might not always be possible because some casinos forbid doubling on specific cards, but you should make sure you’ve ruled it out before continuing. If the response is NO, do you think you should or can double? you contemplate…

Hitting or Standing – That Is The Question

When it comes to basic strategy, deciding whether or not to take another card should be your final concern. You would choose to hit or stand if the other options mentioned above were inappropriate for your hand.

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Using The Basic Blackjack Strategy Chart For Instant Decision Making

These short words may help you memorise the basic blackjack strategy chart if you struggle to learn visually. When learning these numbers and short phrases, the objective is to be able to quickly recall the rule in your brain when you see the total of your cards.

This needs to be done without first checking to see what the dealer has. In other words, it needs to be almost an unconscious process. This will enable you to make a quick judgement when you look up at the table to check what the dealer has. Especially as you now already know how it connects to your hand. You will be a lot faster and you’ll make fewer mistakes if you can recall these phrases instantly. So, with that in mind, here we go….

Surrenders

16 surrenders against dealer 9 through Ace, otherwise don’t surrender (revert to hard totals).
15 surrenders against dealer 10, otherwise don’t surrender (revert to hard totals).

Splits

Always split aces.
Never split tens.
A pair of 9’s splits against dealers 2 through 9, except for 7, otherwise stand.
Always split 8’s
A pair of 7’s splits against dealer 2 through 7, otherwise hit.

A pair of 6’s splits against dealer 2 through 6, otherwise hit.
A pair of 5’s doubles against dealer 2 through 9, otherwise hit.
A pair of 4’s splits against dealers 5 and 6, otherwise hit.
A pair of 3’s splits against dealer 2 through 7, otherwise hit.
A pair of 2’s splits against dealer 2 through 7, otherwise hit.

Soft totals

A soft total is any hand that has an Ace as one of the first two cards, the ace counts as 11 to start.

Soft 20 (A,9) always stands.
Soft 19 (A,8) doubles against dealer 6, otherwise stand.
Soft 18 (A,7) doubles against dealers 2 through 6, and hits against 9 through Ace, otherwise stand.
Soft 17 (A,6) doubles against dealer 3 through 6, otherwise hit.
Soft 16 (A,5) doubles against dealer 4 through 6, otherwise hit.
Soft 15 (A,4) doubles against dealer 4 through 6, otherwise hit.
Soft 14 (A,3) doubles against dealer 5 through 6, otherwise hit.
Soft 13 (A,2) doubles against dealer 5 through 6, otherwise hit.

Hard Totals

A hard total is any hand that does not start with an ace in it, or it has been dealt an ace that can only be counted as 1 instead of 11.

17 and up always stands.
16 stands against dealers 2 through 6, otherwise hit.
15 stands against dealers 2 through 6, otherwise hit.
14 stands against dealers 2 through 6, otherwise hit.
13 stands against dealers 2 through 6, otherwise hit.
12 stands against dealers 4 through 6, otherwise hit.
11 always doubles.
10 doubles against dealer 2 through 9 otherwise hit.
9 doubles against dealer 3 through 6 otherwise hit.
8 always hits.

Why Should We Trust The Basic Blackjack Strategy Chart?

Keep in mind that a computer simulation was used to develop the fundamental strategy. A computer was instructed to learn how to play blackjack before being given instructions to play hundreds of millions of hands and record the results. The computer learned which choices, given every possible combination of starting player hands and dealer up card, are optimal for the player. It did this through trial and error. In this example, the “best decisions” for the player are those that result in a cumulative loss of the least amount of money to the casino.

Remember that the casino’s house edge cannot be defeated using basic strategy alone. To do that you’ll also need ahead for card counting. Take note that this cannot really work if you’re playing blackjack games online at a casino like King Billy Casino.

There’s A Different Blackjack Strategy Chart On Each Website

In short, our basic blackjack chart is based on the more common “H17 game.” If you make the effort to memorize our chart, then you’ll also need to learn some card-counting techniques. This is why you can see charts for the other games look so different from the game you will most commonly be playing. A longer and more detailed response is as follows. Much depends on whether the dealer hits a soft 17 (referred to as a “H17 game”) or stands on a soft 17 (referred to as a “S17 game”). We suggest that you understand this basic blackjack chart first. Then understand card counting. Finally, get to grips with the specific blackjack variations for the game you’ll be playing. (H17 vs S17).

When playing a blackjack game with six decks as opposed to one with one deck, there are also minor differences in the strategy you should think about playing. Here at Blackjackchamp.com, we chose to run our simulation against the games that people will encounter most frequently. We try to teach one basic strategy that is adequately effective against all numbers of decks. This is as opposed to teaching you nine distinct versions of the basic blackjack strategy chart for every blackjack variant you’ll ever see.

Too Much Information Isn’t Helpful

It’s all about the ratio of work needed against the possibility of getting good results. When it comes to learning card counting, we operate under the motto “Keep it Simple, Stupid.” This implies that, compared to a website that has adopted a different counting ideology, our blackjack strategy chart may change slightly. We suggest Professional Blackjack by Stanford Wong if you’re the anal-retentive kind and want to study extremely specific methods. We’ve done the math, and learning the hyper-specific information really doesn’t do much for your bankroll other than make you feel smarter. Having said that, we advise sticking with ONLY those resources, regardless of the method you decide to learn.

Getting sidetracked by information from many sources is more likely to confuse than to inform you. With the use of the blackjack strategy chart you see here, we have stolen huge sums from casinos. Blackjackchamp.com has also trained an army of card counters who have stolen even more. So rest assured that we’ve sorted through the nonsense and static noise. We know all the crucial factors for winning this strategic game, whether playing in a land-based casino or online at King Billy Casino.

Now Let’s Try To Memorise The Blackjack Strategy Chart

You’ve arrived exactly where you need to! If you read through our website, you’ll find that we offer a lot of advice on how to approach the blackjack strategy chart. More importantly, how to make them easier to understand and memorise. A good idea is to head over to YouTube. There you’ll discover many complimentary courses with detailed advice on how to approach your training seriously. Additionally, many websites offer blank strategy sheets that you can download. Then put them to use as daily practice tests. Nothing beats a good basic blackjack strategy workout. However you achieve it, you’ll need to have it pounded into your head. Remember that practice makes perfect.

Don’t Think You’re Ready When You’re Not

If you believe that occasionally missing one round out of a hundred is “perfect,” then you are still a long way from being prepared. How many people enjoy listening to musicians who mistime their notes by the hundredth? You’ll never perform better in a game than you did in practice, according to Michael Jordan. We want to be like Mike, so we preach that for every mistake you make in the distraction-free, stress-free comfort of your home, you probably make two or three under pressure in the casino. Only perfectly flawless should be considered as being perfect. But don’t give in.

Yes, we know it’s hard work. It’s a good idea to put fundamental strategy aside for a bit. Then revisit it if you keep making the same mistakes with it. Keep in mind that you won’t become an expert at blackjack overnight. But if you persevere, you will ultimately know the blackjack strategy chart like the back of your hand. Only then, take your bankroll into your hands and make your way to the casino. It can be a brick-and-mortar one or an online casino like King Billy Casino.

The Next Steps In Your Blackjack Playing

You must learn at what point you should depart from the basic online blackjack strategy chart once you have mastered the basic strategy chart by heart. Deviations change depending on the type of game’s regulations and rules. For instance, the dealer must stand in various games if they have a Soft 17, which is an Ace plus any combination of cards totalling 6. This game is referred to as “Stand 17.” The dealer must hit on any Soft 17 in other games. This game is known as “Hit 17.” Dealers do not typically have a hole card in Canada or Europe. This type of blackjack is known as “European” or “European No-Hole.” So understanding the rules allows you to see where you can also break them.

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