Blackjack Strategy
Playing blackjack is a game of skill and chance unlike, say, slots or roulette. If you play blackjack to a optimum strategy (ie when you hit, stand, split double down etc), you will improve your odds. The house will still have an edge over you, meaning that if you played for an infinite amount of time the house would be up. But it would be a smaller house edge.
And online blackjack is no different. In this article, we discuss simple ways of improving your house edge.
There are plenty of blackjack strategy cards out their available on the Internet, but frankly we find these quite confusing too (depends on the type of blackjack played, how many decks are used etc etc).
So below we have tried to summarise a few simple rules. Stick to these, and you will improve your odds. It´s as simple as that!
Before we start, we need to set out one important facet of the game. You must seperate in your mind hands that have Hard Totals, Soft Totals and Pairs.
Hard Totals: no ace
Soft Totals: contains an ace. Can be counted as 1 or 11.
Pairs. 2 cards of the same value.
The easiest way to remember the rules below, is to visualise them with an image. Your brain is better at remembering pictures than words and numbers! Here we make some suggestions, but it´s up to you to use visual references that you will remember.
I´m going to base my example on a spaghetti western: "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly"
Hard Totals
Think of the hard man: Clint Eastwood: Blondie, or "The Good" in a Mexican standoff. The number refer to the distance between Blondie and his opponent in the gun battle
8 and below, always hits his man.
9, double down if the dealer is 3 to 6 - else hit.
10, double down if the dealer has 2 to 9 - else hit.
11, double down is dealer has 2 to10 - else hit.
12, hit if dealer has 2 or 3, stand if he has 4 to 6 - otherwise hit.
13 to 16, stand if the dealer has 2 thru 6 - otherwise hit.
17 to 21, always stand.
Soft Hands
Think of Tuco, "The Ugly"
Ace-2 or Ace-3, double down if the dealer has 5 or 6 - else hit.
Ace-4 or Ace-5, double down if the dealer has 4 to 6 - else hit.
Ace-6, double down if the dealer has 3 to 6 - else hit.
Ace-7, double down if the dealer has 3 to 6, stand on 2,7, or 8 - else hit.
A-8 or A-9, stand.
Splitting Pairs
Think of Lee Van Cleef, "The Bad" or "Angel Eyes" Sentenza
8-8 or A-A, always split.
2-2 or 3-3, split if the dealer has 2 to 7 - else hit.
4-4, split if the dealer has 4 or 5 - else hit.
5-5, double down if the dealer has 2 to 9 - else hit.
6-6, split if the dealer has 2 to 6 - else hit.
7-7, split if the dealer has 2 to 7 - else hit.
9-9, split if the dealer has 2 to 6, 8, or 9. Stand on everything else.
10-10, stand.
Get memorising! There are not many rules in this basic strategy. Just visualise them with a picture and you are good to go- you´ll be able to play fast, instead of continually checking your strategy card.