Blackjack basic strategy, hand by hand.
Basic strategy is the mathematically best play for every hand you can hold against every card the dealer can show. Follow it and the house edge drops to its minimum, without changing a single rule of the game.
How to read the chart
Find your hand down the left side and the dealer's upcard across the top. Where they meet is the play. Check pairs first, then soft hands (any hand with an ace counted as 11), then hard totals.
The house rules this chart assumes
Basic strategy shifts with the number of decks and the table rules. This chart matches the rules unBlackjack plays by.
Placeholder strategy. The rules and chart below are stand-in data until the app's strategy export is added. Do not publish while this notice shows.
Hard totals
The chart needs JavaScript to display.
Soft hands
Pairs
The plays people get wrong
- Standing on 12 against a 2 or 3. It feels safe. The chart says hit.
- Standing on soft 18 against a 9, 10 or ace. A soft 18 is weaker than it looks against a strong dealer card, and it can't bust on one more card.
- Not splitting 8s. Sixteen is the worst hand in the game. Two hands starting with 8 are better than one 16.
- Splitting 10s. Twenty already wins most of the time. Keep it.
- Hitting soft 17 instead of doubling against a weak dealer card. A soft hand can't bust on the next card, which makes it a good double.
- Treating a pair of 5s as a pair. Play it as a hard 10 and double.
The bets to skip
Insurance. When the dealer shows an ace, you are offered a side bet that pays 2 to 1 if the dealer has blackjack. With a full shoe, fewer than one in three hole cards is a ten, so the bet loses money over time. That holds even when you have blackjack yourself. "Even money" is the same bet with a different name. Basic strategy declines it every time.
Practice it without paying for it
unBlackjack shows the correct play from this chart whenever you ask, at a real table with a real shoe. No real money changes hands.
