Blackjack Basic Strategy Chart and How to Learn It

By CardCount Academy · Reviewed October 5, 2026 · 11 min read

Basic strategy is the mathematically best way to play every blackjack hand when the only things you know are your own cards and the dealer's upcard. It is not a hunch or a style: for each of the roughly 340 possible situations, one action loses the least or wins the most on average, and the chart simply lists it.

Card counting is built on top of it. A counter who plays basic strategy badly gives back far more than the count can ever earn, so this is the first thing to learn and the last thing to stop practicing.

Which rules this chart is for

Basic strategy changes slightly with the rules of the table. The charts below are for the most common shoe game, the same one our simulator deals:

• Four to eight decks (the simulator uses six).
• The dealer stands on soft 17 (often printed on the felt as "S17").
• You may double on any two cards, and double after splitting.
• Blackjack pays 3:2, and there is no surrender.

These tables are generated from the exact function the simulator uses to produce its hints, and an automated test compares them with the published chart, so what you read here and what the trainer tells you can never drift apart.

Key: H = hit · S = stand · D = double if allowed, otherwise hit · P = split. The top row is the dealer's upcard; 10 includes jacks, queens and kings.

Hard totals

A hard total is any hand without an ace, or where the ace has to count as 1.

The pattern is easier to remember than the grid suggests. Against a dealer 2 through 6 you stop early, because the dealer has to draw and busts often. Against a 7 or higher you keep hitting until you reach 17, because the dealer is likely to end up with a made hand. The only exception in the stiff hands is 12, which still hits against a 2 or 3.

Soft totals

A soft total contains an ace counted as 11. You cannot bust a soft hand with one card, which is why the right play is far more aggressive than most beginners expect.

Two notes on soft 18 (A,7). When the chart says double but you can't — for example, because you already hold three cards — you stand rather than hit. And against a 9, 10 or ace you hit: 18 feels like a good hand, but it is an underdog against those upcards and drawing improves it on average.

Pairs

• Always split aces and eights. Two aces are two chances at 21; a pair of eights is 16, the worst total in the game, and two hands starting from 8 do better.
• Never split tens or fives. Twenty is already a winner, and a pair of fives is a 10 — a hand you double, not break up.
• Nines split against everything except a 7 (your 18 already beats a likely 17), a 10 or an ace.

Why the dealer's upcard matters so much

The whole chart follows from how often the dealer busts with each upcard. These approximate figures are for a dealer who stands on soft 17:

With a 5 or 6 showing, the dealer busts more than four times in ten. That is why you stand on a miserable 13, and why you put more money on the table by doubling and splitting. With a 10 or an ace showing, the dealer busts so rarely that standing on 15 or 16 just means losing slowly — hitting is bad, standing is worse.

If the rules are different

The dealer hits soft 17 (H17)

Three plays change: double 11 against an ace, double soft 19 (A,8) against a 6, and double soft 18 (A,7) against a 2.

Late surrender is offered

Surrender lets you give up half your bet instead of playing the hand. In a shoe game where the dealer stands on soft 17, surrender hard 16 against a 9, 10 or ace, and hard 15 against a 10. A pair of eights is still split, not surrendered.

Insurance and even money

Basic strategy never takes insurance. It is a separate bet that the dealer's hole card is a ten, it pays 2:1, and fewer than one third of the cards are tens — so it loses money on average. "Even money" on your blackjack is the same bet in disguise. The only time insurance becomes correct is at a high count, which is covered in the guide to deviations.

The mistakes that cost the most

• Standing on 16 against a 7. A 7 is not a 10. The dealer makes 17 or better about three times in four.
• Not hitting 12 against a 2 or 3. Only four ranks in thirteen bust you.
• Standing on soft 17. A,6 can never be hurt by one card, and 17 only wins when the dealer busts.
• Refusing to double 11 against a 10. You are the favorite; the chart says press it.
• Not splitting eights against a 10. Both options lose money on average. Splitting loses less.
• Taking even money. Collecting 3:2 on the blackjacks that win is worth more than a guaranteed 1:1.

How to memorize it

1. Hard totals first. Learn "stand on 12–16 against 2–6, otherwise hit to 17", then the two 12 exceptions, then the doubles on 9, 10 and 11.
2. Pairs second. Aces and eights always, tens and fives never, then the rest in one sitting.
3. Soft hands last. They come up least often and are the least intuitive.
4. Test under play, not on paper. Use the simulator in training mode, decide before you look at the hint, and switch to exam mode once the hint never surprises you.

Aim for instant, boring accuracy. You are ready to add a count when you can play a full shoe without stopping to think.

What basic strategy does not do

Perfect basic strategy does not beat the game. Under the rules above it leaves the house with an edge of a little under half a percent — one of the smallest in any casino, but still an edge. It also does nothing to smooth out luck: long losing streaks are normal. What it does is bring the game close enough to even that the extra information from a count can tip it. How the rules move that starting number is the subject of the rules and house edge guide; how the count is kept is covered in the Hi-Lo guide.

Sources and further reading

• Wizard of Odds — 4-Deck to 8-Deck Blackjack Strategy
• Roger Baldwin, Wilbert Cantey, Herbert Maisel and James McDermott, "The Optimum Strategy in Blackjack", Journal of the American Statistical Association (1956).
• Edward O. Thorp, Beat the Dealer (1962; revised 1966).
• Wizard of Odds — Blackjack Rule Variations