Blackjack is one of the most popular games at land and online casinos. It is one of the few casino games in which the decisions taken by the player affects the outcome of the wager. Luck has a role to play, but skilled players can expect an average return of close to 100% in the long term.

How Blackjack Strategy Works

The most frequently made decision in blackjack is hit or stand. In normal language this means to ask for another card or to indicate that another card is not required. This decision is contingent on two important factors. The first factor is the player’s existing hand value. If the player is likely to bust by exceeding a value of 21 after taking a card then he must avoid doing so. The second factor is the value of the dealer’s face up card. Based on this card, if the dealer is likely to end up with a strong hand valued at 19 or 20, then the player would have to take additional risks.

The above is a simple qualitative explanation of how blackjack strategy works. The online blackjack player will need to know exactly what to do when he holds a particular hand value against a particular dealer face up card. And there is no way that he can logically deduce the answer using the probability of various cards being dealt.

Optimum blackjack strategy has been determined using computer simulation of millions of hands and checking to see which move, stand or hit, yielded best results more often in a given situation. This strategy can be represented in a tabular form, called the blackjack strategy card, which makes it easier to understand and follow the optimum blackjack strategy.

The Blackjack Strategy Card

In the blackjack strategy card the player’s hand values form the row headings and the values of the dealer’s face up cards form the column headings. The decision to be taken by the player for a given value of his hand and a given value of the dealer’s face up card is given at the intersecting cell of the corresponding row and column.

Two of the more common blackjack moves were discussed earlier. These were hit and stand. There are several one-time moves available to the blackjack player like split, double, insure and surrender. All these are indicated on the blackjack strategy card. The blackjack strategy card is double coded. Each move is represented by a different color code and by a different text code, which is the first one or two letters of the move. Players can follow the code they are comfortable with.

The columns for the dealer’s face card up are very simple. There is a column each for cards from values 2 to 9. There is a column for all the 10 value cards. There is a column for the Ace. The rows for the player’s hand value are given in three parts. The first part contains hard totals from 4 to 17+. The second part contains the soft totals from 13 to 19+. And the last part contains the pairs. This is required because the optimum strategy varies accordingly.

Land casinos do not allow players to carry strategy cards with them and therefore land casino blackjack players have to memorize the strategy card. But online blackjack players can and should keep the strategy card in front of them while wagering.