Basic Blackjack Strategy

Unlike many other casino games, blackjack has an element of skill. It is a game that combines strategy and luck, and this has made it the game of choice for a lot of advantage players that utilize various techniques to improve their odds.

Blackjack strategy can be divided into to major components: card counting and decreasing the house edge. To prevent card counting, many casinos have replaced the traditional "shoe" (the box where the cards are kept) with shuffle machines that reshuffle the decks as soon as discarded cards are entered into the machine. Also, card counting is useless in online casinos where a random number generator is used to determine the next card. Techniques for decreasing the house edge can on the other hand can be used even in online casinos and in land casinos with shuffle machines. In this article, we will take a closer look at a simplified basic blackjack strategy.

Basic blackjack strategy is the foundation upon which all more advanced successful blackjack strategies are built, including techniques that involve card counting. In order to be optimal, however, basic blackjack strategy must be adjusted to fit the rules of each particular table. Even a small rule change that many players may find insignificant can have a major impact on proper basic blackjack strategy. A table where the dealer will hit on soft 17 is for instance quite different from a table where the dealer must stand on both hard and soft 17.

Until you feel up to learning full basic blackjack strategy with all its variations, you can utilize this simplified version. It is not as good as full basic blackjack strategy, but it is still far better than "playing by ear". The difference in edge between perfect play and the simplified version is typically around 2%. Full blackjack strategy will consider factors such as the number of decks and the ability to surrender, whereas our simplified basic blackjack strategy will not.

The simplified basic blackjack strategy is easy to memorize so you don’t have to consult a "cheating card" at the blackjack table and risk being thrown out of the casino.