Basic strategy is the best play for every hand against every dealer upcard under a given set of table rules; for a 6-deck game with double after split, paying 3:2, where the dealer stands on soft 17, Wizard of Odds calculates it leaves the casino about 0.43% of the total amount bet, on average over a very long run — lower, not gone.
- The chart below is Wizard of Odds’ chart for 4 to 8 decks with the dealer standing on soft 17 (page updated 3 August 2026, read 17 October 2026). Its conditional cells cover tables with and without double after split, and with and without surrender.
- With basic strategy, 6 decks, dealer stands on soft 17, double after split, blackjack paying 3:2: 0.43%. The same table paying 6:5: 1.79%. Dealer hitting soft 17 instead: 0.64% (Wizard of Odds calculator, 17 October 2026).
- Copying the dealer’s rules (mimic the dealer) gives the casino 5.48% under Atlantic City rules, where basic strategy gives 0.43%, according to Wizard of Odds.
- Basic strategy does not guarantee a win: in every 4–8-deck rule set in the table below, Wizard of Odds’ calculator leaves the casino an edge above zero (0.35% to 2.00%).
- What basic strategy is
- Basic strategy chart
- Cheat sheet
- Table rules and adjustments
- Edge left by rule set
- 12 v 2, 15 and 16 v 10
- What mistakes cost
- Online tables the chart does not fit
- Counting and betting systems
- Safer gambling
- FAQ
- Sources and method
What blackjack basic strategy is (and what it is not)
Basic strategy is a table of the best decision — hit, stand, double, split or surrender — for each pair of your hand and the dealer’s face-up card. The best decision is the play with the highest expected return, calculated for one specific set of table rules. Change the rules, and some cells change.
Perfect strategy, a term used in search results, means the same thing: basic strategy for the rules of that table. The chart on this page goes by your hand total, not by the exact cards in it.
Basic strategy does three things less than people hope. It does not remove the house edge. It does not tell you how much to bet. It says nothing about side bets, which are settled separately.
The first accurate version was published in September 1956: Baldwin, Cantey, Maisel and McDermott, “The Optimum Strategy in Blackjack”, Journal of the American Statistical Association, volume 51, issue 275, pages 429–439. The Las Vegas Sun reported in 2008 that the four worked it out on desk calculators while serving in the Army at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland.
Blackjack basic strategy chart
Find your hand in the left column and the dealer’s upcard along the top, then do what the cell says. There are three tables: hard totals, soft totals (a hand with an ace counted as 11) and pairs. The cells are printed as Wizard of Odds prints them.
| Hand | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | A |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4–8 | H | H | H | H | H | H | H | H | H | H |
| 9 | H | Dh | Dh | Dh | Dh | H | H | H | H | H |
| 10 | Dh | Dh | Dh | Dh | Dh | Dh | Dh | Dh | H | H |
| 11 | Dh | Dh | Dh | Dh | Dh | Dh | Dh | Dh | Dh | H |
| 12 | H | H | S | S | S | H | H | H | H | H |
| 13 | S | S | S | S | S | H | H | H | H | H |
| 14 | S | S | S | S | S | H | H | H | H | H |
| 15 | S | S | S | S | S | H | H | H | Rh | H |
| 16 | S | S | S | S | S | H | H | Rh | Rh | Rh |
| 17+ | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S |
| Hand | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | A |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 (A,2) | H | H | H | Dh | Dh | H | H | H | H | H |
| 14 (A,3) | H | H | H | Dh | Dh | H | H | H | H | H |
| 15 (A,4) | H | H | Dh | Dh | Dh | H | H | H | H | H |
| 16 (A,5) | H | H | Dh | Dh | Dh | H | H | H | H | H |
| 17 (A,6) | H | Dh | Dh | Dh | Dh | H | H | H | H | H |
| 18 (A,7) | S | Ds | Ds | Ds | Ds | S | S | H | H | H |
| 19+ | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S |
| Hand | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | A |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2,2 | Ph | Ph | P | P | P | P | H | H | H | H |
| 3,3 | Ph | Ph | P | P | P | P | H | H | H | H |
| 4,4 | H | H | H | Ph | Ph | H | H | H | H | H |
| 6,6 | Ph | P | P | P | P | H | H | H | H | H |
| 7,7 | P | P | P | P | P | P | H | H | H | H |
| 8,8 | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P |
| 9,9 | P | P | P | P | P | S | P | P | S | S |
| A,A | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P |
- HHit
- SStand
- DhDouble if allowed, otherwise hit
- DsDouble if allowed, otherwise stand
- PSplit
- PhSplit if double after split is allowed, otherwise hit
- RhSurrender if allowed, otherwise hit
There is no row for a pair of fives or a pair of tens. Wizard of Odds’ instruction: “If there is no row for splitting (fives and tens), then look up your hand as a hard total (10 or 20).” So 5,5 plays as hard 10 and 10,10 as hard 20.
Surrender means giving up the hand before playing it and getting half the bet back. Double after split (DAS) means you may double on a hand that came from a split. Both are table rules, which is why the chart marks those cells as conditional.
Blackjack cheat sheet: the chart in seven rules
Seven rules cover most of the chart. They follow the text version of the same Wizard of Odds chart.
- Stand on hard 17 or more. Hit hard 11 or less, unless the chart says double.
- Hard 12: stand against a 4, 5 or 6; hit against anything else.
- Hard 13 to 16: stand against 2 to 6; hit against 7 to ace.
- Double 11 against anything but an ace, 10 against 2 to 9, and 9 against 3 to 6.
- Soft 18: stand against 2, 7 or 8; double against 3 to 6 (stand if you cannot double); hit against 9, 10 or ace. Never stand on soft 17 or less.
- Always split aces and eights. Never split fives or tens.
- Never take insurance or even money.
Soft doubles with soft 13 to 17 are not in these seven rules: see the chart.
Which rules the chart assumes, and how to adjust it
The chart is built for 4 to 8 decks with the dealer standing on soft 17. Double after split and surrender are already handled by the Ph and Rh cells. Two other rules change cells: the dealer hitting soft 17, and a dealer who takes no hole card.
| Rule | In this chart | If your table differs |
|---|---|---|
| Number of decks | 4 to 8 | One or two decks change some cells; Wizard of Odds lists the single-deck and double-deck exceptions separately, and we do not reproduce them. |
| Soft 17 | Dealer stands (S17) | Dealer hits (H17): double 11 against an ace, double soft 18 against a 2, double soft 19 against a 6. Where surrender is offered, also surrender 15, a pair of 8s and 17 against an ace. |
| Double after split | Ph cells | Not allowed: every Ph cell becomes hit — 2,2 and 3,3 against 2 or 3, 4,4 against 5 or 6, 6,6 against 2. |
| Surrender | Rh cells | Not offered: every Rh cell becomes hit. Where it is offered, Wizard of Odds says to surrender “hard 16 (but not a pair of 8s) vs. dealer 9, 10, or A, and hard 15 vs. dealer 10.” |
| Hole card | Not printed on the chart; the no-hole-card game has its own chart | European no hole card: hit 11 against a 10; hit 8,8 against a 10 or an ace; hit A,A against an ace. Wizard of Odds’ European chart also assumes doubling only on hard 9 to 11, so it has no soft doubles. |
| Blackjack payout | 3:2 | 6:5: the edge rises — see the edge table. |
Wizard of Odds gives the H17 changes “for you perfectionists out there” and says “the above strategy will be fine under any set of rules.” If you play both kinds of six-deck game and want to learn one chart, it recommends the stand-on-soft-17 one. The cost in errors of playing the H17 strategy at an S17 table is 2.3 times higher than the other way round, it says.
What edge is left: basic strategy under different table rules
At 6 decks, dealer standing on soft 17, double after split and 3:2, the casino keeps about 0.43% of the total amount bet, on average over a very long run. That is about A$0.43 per A$100 bet — a long-run average, not a session result. A 6:5 payout lifts it more than four times, to 1.79%.
| Rules | House edge | Per A$100 bet, long-run average |
|---|---|---|
| 6 decks, S17, DAS, late surrender, 3:2 | 0.35% | A$0.35 |
| 4 decks, S17, DAS, 3:2 | 0.39% | A$0.39 |
| 6 decks, S17, DAS, 3:2 | 0.43% | A$0.43 |
| 8 decks, S17, DAS, 3:2 | 0.45% | A$0.45 |
| 6 decks, S17, DAS, no hole card, 3:2 | 0.54% | A$0.54 |
| 6 decks, S17, no DAS, 3:2 | 0.57% | A$0.57 |
| 6 decks, H17, DAS, 3:2 | 0.64% | A$0.64 |
| 8 decks, S17, no DAS, no hole card, 3:2 | 0.70% | A$0.70 |
| 6 decks, S17, DAS, 6:5 | 1.79% | A$1.79 |
| 6 decks, H17, DAS, 6:5 | 2.00% | A$2.00 |
The A$100 is the total of all bets placed, not a deposit. Re-betting the same A$10 ten times counts as A$100.
Wizard of Odds also prices three common shortcuts, under Atlantic City rules where basic strategy leaves 0.43%. Mimic the dealer — hit 16 or less, stand on 17, never double or split — gives the casino 5.48%. Never bust — never hit hard 12 or more — gives 3.91%. Always assuming the dealer has a ten in the hole gives 10.03%.
Our house edge table compares blackjack with other casino games, at 0.28% under liberal Vegas Strip rules with optimal play.
Hard hands people ask about: 12 v 2, 15 and 16 v 10
Hit 12 against a 2. Hit 15 and 16 against a 10, or surrender if the table offers it. Stand on 13 to 16 against 2 to 6.
- 12 against a 2. Standing costs 3.5% to 4.4% of the bet compared with hitting, depending on the two cards.
- 16 against a 10. Both plays lose about 53 to 54 cents per dollar bet. Hitting loses 0.6% of the bet less with 10,6 and 0.1% less with 9,7: close, but hit. Surrender, where offered, loses exactly half the bet, which is less than either (our arithmetic).
- 15 against a 10. Hitting is better by 3.5% to 3.6% of the bet, depending on the two cards.
- 13 to 16 against 2 to 6. Hitting 16 against a 6 costs about 27% of the bet; hitting 15 against a 6, about 21% to 22%. Hitting 13 against a 2 costs 1.1% to 2.3%, depending on the two cards.
- 16 against a 7. Here standing is the mistake: it costs 6.8% to 7.2% of the bet, depending on the two cards.
What common mistakes cost
Of the mistakes in this table, the most expensive is splitting tens against a 6, at about a quarter of the bet. The cheapest is standing on soft 18 against an ace. Each figure is the cost per hand where the mistake happens, not per hour or per session.
| Mistake | Correct play | Cost, % of the bet |
|---|---|---|
| Splitting 10,10 against a 6 | Stand | about 26% |
| Not splitting 8,8 against an ace (hitting instead) | Split | about 15% |
| Standing on soft 18 (A,7) against a 9 | Hit | 8.4% |
| Not splitting 8,8 against a 10 (hitting instead) | Split | about 6% |
| Not doubling 11 (6,5) against a 10 (hitting instead) | Double | 6% |
| Taking even money on a blackjack against an ace | Decline | about 3.9% |
| Standing on soft 18 (A,7) against a 10 | Hit | 3.7% |
| Standing on soft 18 (A,7) against an ace | Hit | 0.5% |
Insurance is a separate side bet, so its cost is measured differently. In a 6-deck shoe, Wizard of Odds calculates the player can expect to lose 7.4% of whatever is bet on insurance.
Online and live tables the chart does not fit
The studios we read do not publish full table rules on their websites. The rules sit in the game’s rules panel, and some tables change them enough that the chart above stops being exact. What the studios state themselves, read on 17 October 2026:
- Pragmatic Play says double after split is available “on all Pragmatic Play blackjack titles”. It states that with basic strategy this gives an RTP of up to 99.59% “in some variations”, without naming them; RTP is a long-run average. Its Blackjack X page lists eight decks. Privé Lounge Blackjack adds split after split, which Pragmatic Play says raises the RTP up to 99.51%.
- Free Bet Blackjack (Pragmatic Play) gives free doubles on 9, 10 and 11 and free splits on any pair except tens. Under its Push on 22 rule, active bets push if the dealer busts on 22, except for winning blackjack hands. These are different rules, and the chart above is not calculated for them.
- Six Card Charlie — six cards without busting win automatically — is a rule of ONE Blackjack (Pragmatic Play) and Infinite Blackjack (Evolution). The chart above is not calculated for this rule, and we have no adjustments for it.
- Lightning Blackjack (Evolution) adds a “100% Lightning Fee” to each initial bet. The edge figures on this page do not include the fee.
- VIP Surrender Blackjack (Ezugi, listed on Evolution’s site) lets you surrender for half the bet when the dealer’s first card is an ace. Its page does not say whether surrender is also offered against a 10.
Before you play, open the table’s rules panel and find four lines: number of decks, soft 17, double after split, and the blackjack payout. A 6:5 payout or a no-hole-card dealer changes the numbers — see the edge table and the adjustments. Which studios we saw in casino lobbies is on our blackjack hub.
Basic strategy, card counting and betting systems
Basic strategy is a fixed decision for each hand. Card counting changes decisions and bet sizes according to the cards already dealt; our hub explains why that has little practical use online. Betting systems change only the size and order of bets; the hub covers Martingale and the others.
Safer gambling
Basic strategy lowers the cost of playing; it does not make blackjack a way to make money. Set a spending and time limit before the first hand.
- Gambling Help Online: 1800 858 858, free and anonymous, 24/7, or gamblinghelponline.org.au.
- BetStop, the National Self-Exclusion Register, blocks you from all licensed Australian online and phone gambling providers: betstop.gov.au. It covers licensed Australian providers only, so offshore casino sites are outside it.
- ACMA says the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 makes it illegal for gambling providers to offer some online services to people in Australia, including online casinos. A 2011 federal review paper said the Act does not make it an offence for Australian customers to use those services.
- More contacts are on our support resources page. 18+ only.
Blackjack strategy FAQ
Should you hit on 15 or 16 in blackjack?
It depends on the dealer’s upcard. Against 2 to 6, stand. Against 7 to ace, hit, or surrender where the table offers it: Wizard of Odds’ chart surrenders hard 16 against 9, 10 or ace, except a pair of 8s, and hard 15 against a 10.
Should you hit a 12 against a 2?
Yes. The chart stands on hard 12 only against a 4, 5 or 6. Against a 2, Wizard of Odds’ 6-deck figures show standing costs 3.5% to 4.4% of the bet compared with hitting, depending on the two cards (our arithmetic).
What is the golden rule of blackjack?
No source we read names a single golden rule. The closest is to play the basic strategy chart for your table’s rules and never take insurance or even money. That lowers the house edge; it does not remove it.
Does basic strategy guarantee that I win?
No. Basic strategy lowers the house edge but leaves it with the casino: Wizard of Odds calculates about 0.43% of the total amount bet on a 6-deck game with double after split, paying 3:2, where the dealer stands on soft 17. Any session can end in a loss.
Should I take insurance or even money?
No. In a 6-deck shoe, Wizard of Odds calculates insurance loses 7.4% of the amount bet on it. Even money on your blackjack against an ace gives up about 3.9% of the bet: declining it returns 103.88% on average, against 100% (our arithmetic).
When should I split pairs?
Always split aces and eights, and never split fives or tens. Split 7s against 2 to 7, 9s against 2 to 6, 8 and 9, 2s and 3s against 4 to 7, and 6s against 3 to 6. With double after split, also split 2s and 3s against 2 or 3, 6s against 2, and 4s against 5 or 6.