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Basic strategy

Each blackjack game has a "basic strategy", which is the way of playing a hand with any total value against any dealer upcard which will lose least money to the house in the long term with strictly average luck.

An example basic strategy is shown in the table below for a common ruleset:

• 4 to 8 decks
• Dealer stands on soft 17
• Double on any 2 cards
• Double after split allowed
• Only original bets lost on dealer blackjack
• Late surrender

Key:

S = Stand

H = Hit

Dh = Double (if not allowed, then hit)

Ds = Double (if not allowed, then stand)

SP = Split

SU = Surrender (if not allowed, then hit except stand on 16v10 if not first two cards.)

The bulk of basic strategy is common to all blackjack games, with most rule variations calling for changes in only a few situations. For example, if the above game used the hit soft 17 rule, common in Las Vegas Strip casinos, only 5 cells of the table would need to be changed: double on 11 vs. A, double on A/7 vs. 2, double on A/8 vs. 6 and surrender 15 or 17 vs. A.

Estimates of the house edge for blackjack games quoted by casinos and gaming regulators are generally based on the assumption that the players follow basic strategy and do not systematically change their bet size. Most blackjack games have a house edge of between 0.5% and 1%, making blackjack the cheapest casino table game. Casino promotions such as complimentary matchplay vouchers or 2:1 blackjack payouts allow the player to acquire an advantage without deviating from basic strategy.

Composition-dependent strategy

Basic strategy is based upon a player's point total and the dealer's visible card. Players may be able to improve on this decision by considering the precise composition of their hand, not just the point total. For example, players should ordinarily stand when holding 12 against a dealer 4. However, in a single deck game, players should hit if their 12 consists of a 10 and a 2. The presence of a 10 in the players' hand has two consequences:^[1]

• It makes the players' 12 a worse hand to stand on (since the only way to avoid losing is for the dealer to go bust, which is less likely if there are fewer 10's left in the shoe).
• It makes hitting safer, since the only way of going bust is to draw a 10, and this is less likely with a 10 already in the hand.

However, even when basic and composition-dependent strategy lead to different actions, the difference in expected reward is small. Additionally, as the number of decks used in a blackjack game rises, both the number of situations in which composition determines the correct strategy and the house edge improvement from using a composition-dependent strategy falls. Using a composition-dependent strategy rather than basic strategy in a single deck game reduces the house edge by 4 in 10,000, which falls to 3 in 100,000 for a six-deck game.^[2]

References

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