Blackjack Basic Strategy Guide: The Decisions That Save You Money

Basic strategy is not a ‘system’ that guarantees wins. It is simply the mathematically best play for each situation assuming no information about the deck beyond the visible cards. The reason it works is that blackjack outcomes are heavily driven by the probability of improving your hand versus the probability the dealer busts. Basic strategy chooses the option that maximizes your expected value (EV) over the long run.

It also protects you from common emotional traps: standing on 12 because you feel ‘due’, refusing to hit a 16 because you fear busting, or doubling random hands because you ‘feel strong.’ Those instincts are normal—but they’re not accurate. Basic strategy replaces instinct with a consistent decision rule.

A ‘hard’ total is a hand with no Ace counted as 11 (or no Ace at all). The patterns are easier than they look. In general, you stand on strong hands and hit on weak hands—except when the dealer is likely to bust (2–6). The key idea: when the dealer is weak, you can ‘let them bust’ by standing on some medium totals. When the dealer is strong (7–A), you must be more aggressive and hit more often.

Example pattern: 12 is a swing hand. Against 2–3 you usually hit more than you’d expect, against 4–6 you stand more than you’d expect, and against 7–A you’re usually forced to hit because standing bleeds EV. Patterns like that are why people who “play by feel” leak money.

A ‘soft’ hand contains an Ace that can be counted as 11 without busting (like A-6 = soft 17). Soft hands have ‘built-in safety’ because the Ace can drop to 1 if you take a card. That means you can hit more aggressively to improve your total without the same bust risk. Soft totals are also where smart doubles show up: if you have A-7 (soft 18) against a weak dealer upcard, doubling can be excellent because you have multiple strong outcomes with one card.

Soft-hand mistakes are extremely common: players stand too early, missing EV, or double at the wrong times. A good memorization approach is to learn soft totals as “improve hands” and focus on when a double is preferred.

When you split, you’re not doing it because you ‘like two chances.’ You’re doing it because certain pairs are either too weak as a combined hand (like 8-8 = 16) or too valuable when separated (like A-A). Splitting 8s turns a terrible 16 into two hands that can become 18–21. Splitting Aces gives you two shots at 19–21. Some pairs should almost never be split (like 10s) because you already have a very strong 20 and splitting it reduces EV.

Casinos have rules around resplitting and doubling after split (DAS). Those rules shift the value of splitting and are part of why table selection matters.

Memorization is easiest when you turn the chart into patterns. Work in layers: (1) lock in obvious plays (always split Aces and 8s, never split 10s and 5s), (2) memorize the hard total ladder (stand on 17+, hit on 11-, learn the 12–16 rules vs 2–6), (3) memorize core doubles (11 vs anything except Ace in many games; 10 vs weak upcards; 9 vs 3–6), then (4) fill in remaining soft totals. This layered approach gets you “table-ready” quickly.

If you want a faster path, the best move is reps. The practice tools are designed to turn chart knowledge into automatic reactions. That’s the difference between “I know it” and “I can do it.”