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Blackjack strategy chart for your table's rules

Pick the rules of the table you play. The hard, soft and pair charts and the house edge are recomputed for exactly those rules – download the chart as an image or print it as a strategy card.

Table rules

Dealer on soft 17
Hole card
Double down on
Double after split
Late surrender
Blackjack pays
House edge with this chart0.62%of every first bet, on average, over many hands

6 decks · dealer hits soft 17 · double after split · double any two cards · no surrender · dealer peeks for blackjack · blackjack pays 3:2

Table 1.Hard totals

Hard totals: your total down the side, dealer up card across the top
Your hand2345678910A
8HHHHHHHHHH
9HDDDDHHHHH
10DDDDDDDDHH
11DDDDDDDDDD
12HHSSSHHHHH
13SSSSSHHHHH
14SSSSSHHHHH
15SSSSSHHHHH
16SSSSSHHHHH
17SSSSSSSSSS
18SSSSSSSSSS
19SSSSSSSSSS

Hard 8 or less: always hit. Hard 17 and more: always stand.

Table 2.Soft totals

Soft totals: hands with an ace counted as 11
Your hand2345678910A
A,2HHHDDHHHHH
A,3HHHDDHHHHH
A,4HHDDDHHHHH
A,5HHDDDHHHHH
A,6HDDDDHHHHH
A,7DsDsDsDsDsSSHHH
A,8SSSSDsSSSSS
A,9SSSSSSSSSS

Soft 21 (A,10 after a split, or three or more cards): stand.

Table 3.Pairs

Pairs: whether to split
Your hand2345678910A
2,2PPPPPPHHHH
3,3PPPPPPHHHH
4,4HHHPPHHHHH
5,5DDDDDDDDHH
6,6PPPPPHHHHH
7,7PPPPPPHHHH
8,8PPPPPPPPPP
9,9PPPPPSPPSS
10,10SSSSSSSSSS
A,APPPPPPPPPP

How to read a blackjack chart

Find your hand down the left side and the dealer's face-up card along the top. The cell where they meet is the play. Use the pairs chart first when your first two cards match, the soft chart when one of your cards is an ace counted as 11, and the hard chart for everything else.

"Double" and "surrender" are only possible on your first two cards. When you can't double any more, D means hit and Ds means stand; when surrender isn't offered, R means hit and Rs means stand.

Basic strategy lowers the house edge; it does not remove it. Even with every cell played right, these rules leave the house 0.62% of each first bet on average.

What each rule costs

Each row changes one rule from the default table (6 decks, dealer hits soft 17, double after split, no surrender, blackjack pays 3:2) and shows the house edge with the full chart for the new rules.

Rule changeChange in house edgeHouse edge
Dealer stands on soft 17 instead of hitting−0.21 pts0.40%
Late surrender allowed−0.09 pts0.53%
No double after split+0.14 pts0.76%
Double on 10 and 11 only+0.20 pts0.82%
8 decks instead of 6+0.03 pts0.65%
2 decks instead of 6−0.23 pts0.39%
1 deck instead of 6−0.58 pts0.04%
No hole card (European), dealer stands on soft 17−0.10 pts0.52%
Blackjack pays 6:5 instead of 3:2+1.36 pts1.98%

A 6:5 payout costs more than any other single rule in the list. That is the first thing to check on an online table: the payout is printed on the felt or in the game's help screen.

Why your chart may differ from another one

Charts are made for a rule set. Single-deck games, tables where the dealer stands on soft 17, and European no-hole-card games each change a handful of cells. When two charts disagree, compare the rules first.

In a European no-hole-card game the dealer takes the second card only after you act, and a dealer blackjack takes your doubles and splits too. That is why the European chart doesn't double 11 against a 10 or an ace.

How the charts are worked out

Every cell comes from an exact calculation over the cards left in the shoe for these rules: the dealer's final total for each up card, and the average result of hitting, standing, doubling, splitting and surrendering for every two-card hand. The chart picks the play with the best average for each total, the same way published charts are built. Split hands are worked out as independent hands, and re-splits (up to 4 hands; aces once) are approximated.

The house edge is the average result of playing every hand by this chart, as a share of the first bet. A separate simulator of our own, written without access to the calculator, reproduces these figures within its margin of error.

The default rule set is our assumption of a common table, not the rules of any particular casino. Check the rules printed on your table or in the game's help screen.