Blackjack basic strategy chart

How do you read a basic strategy chart?

Find your hand down the left side and the dealer's face-up card along the top. The square where they meet is the play. Use the table that matches your hand:

• Hard totals have no ace, or an ace that has to count as 1 to keep you under 22.
• Soft totals have an ace that can still count as 11. Ace and 6 is soft 17.
• Pairs are your first two cards when they match. The pair table says whether to split them; if it says hit, stand or double, play the pair as its total.

Doubling and surrendering are only allowed on your first two cards. Once you've taken a third card, a D means hit, a Ds means stand, and an R means the play after "else". At this table you can double after a split, so a D still means double on a split hand.

Which table does the chart open on?

The typical Strip shoe game, and the main table in Ridotto:

• Six decks, dealt from a shoe.
• The dealer hits soft 17. The sign or the felt will say so.
• Blackjack pays 3 to 2.
• You can double after a split, and split up to four hands. Split aces get one card each.
• Late surrender: give up the hand for half your bet, after the dealer checks for blackjack.
• The dealer peeks for blackjack with an ace or a ten showing.

Read the sign before you sit down. It shows the minimum, the maximum and the rules, and the payout is printed on the felt too. If your table is different, set the sign above the chart to match. Surrender is rarely posted, so ask the dealer when you sit.

What changes at other tables?

Each rule set was solved on its own. Here's how much of the book moves when one rule changes and everything else stays the same.

• Eight decks. Not a single square changes. House edge with the book: 0.55% at 3:2.
• Dealer stands on soft 17. Six squares change: three doubles and three surrenders. House edge with the book: 0.33% at 3:2.
• No surrender. Seven squares change, all of them surrenders. House edge with the book: 0.62% at 3:2.
• No doubling after a split. Seven squares change, all of them splits. House edge with the book: 0.67% at 3:2.
• Double deck. Six squares change: two doubles, two splits and two surrenders. House edge with the book: 0.33% at 3:2.
• Single deck. Seventeen squares change: seven doubles, five splits and five surrenders. House edge with the book: 0.01% at 3:2. Most single-deck games pay 6:5, and then it's 1.41%.

A 6:5 payout doesn't change a single square. The chart only covers hands that aren't a blackjack. What 6:5 changes is the price, below.

How much does the house keep with basic strategy?

Played by the book at this table, the house keeps about 0.53% of everything you bet over the long run, or 53 cents for every $100. At $15 a hand and about 80 hands an hour, that comes to $6.36 an hour on average. A short session swings much further than that, either way.

The same game paying 6:5 for a blackjack keeps 1.89%, or $22.67 an hour at the same pace. Look for "Blackjack pays 3 to 2" printed on the felt.

No chart beats the house. The book is the cheapest way to play, not a way to win. Playing hunches costs several times as much.

How often does the dealer go over 21?

Most of the chart leans on one table: how often the dealer's hand ends over 21 from each card showing. A dealer showing a 6 goes over 43.9% of the time. Showing a 7, only 26.2%. That's why the book stands on 13 through 16 against a 2 to 6, and hits them against a 7 or higher.

Common questions

Should I ever take insurance?

No. Insurance is a side bet that the dealer has blackjack under the ace. It pays 2 to 1, the dealer has it less than one time in three, and the house keeps about 7% of every insurance bet. The book turns it down every time, and turns down even money on your own blackjack too.

Why does the chart hit 12 against a 2 or a 3?

Only a ten-value card breaks a 12, and a dealer showing a 2 or a 3 goes over 21 less often (35.7% and 37.7%) than one showing a 4, 5 or 6. Against a 4 (39.8%), the book stands.

Can I use a strategy card at the table?

In Las Vegas, yes. Keep it on the rail and check it before it's your turn, so you don't hold up the game. Most dealers will also tell you what the book says if you ask.

Is basic strategy card counting?

No. Basic strategy uses only your cards and the dealer's card showing. It doesn't track what has been played, and casinos happily deal to players who use it. Ridotto doesn't teach counting.

Do other players' decisions hurt my odds?

No. Another player's hits and stands don't change your odds over time, whatever the table says about the player at third base. Play your own hand by the book.

How we made this chart

Ridotto solves its own charts. The solver works out every play from the exact cards left in the shoe, not an imaginary infinite deck, for each of 32 rule sets. Before anything ships, its charts and house edges are checked against published figures from the Wizard of Odds strategy engine and house-edge calculator, and against an independent combinatorial analyzer. This page is built straight from the solver's files, the same ones the app's table reads, so the page and the app can't disagree.

This is the chart by totals: one play per total. A handful of plays change with the exact cards in your hand, like a three-card 16 against a 10. Playing every one of those would save about 1.4 cents per $1,000 bet. Not worth the memorizing.

Sources: Ridotto's solver and its checks (tools/verify in the app's repository); Wizard of Odds, blackjack strategy calculator; Wizard of Odds, house edge calculator; Wizard of Odds, rule variations. Table procedure from Ridotto's casino research, cross-checked against Las Vegas Advisor and dealer-training sources.