Blackjack Strategy Chart 2026: Basic Strategy for Every Hand, Explained and Drilled

Best Casinos for Basic Strategy Blackjack: Where the Chart Is Worth Its Full Value

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Showing 6 of 6 casinos

1

Rainbet 99.6% Originals Table, Shuffled Every Hand

Lowest House Edge★ 4.8/5

Welcome offerUp to 100% on 3 deposits + 60 free spins

• Lowest-edge tableOriginals, 99.6% return
• Dealer ruleStands on soft 17
• Double after splitYes

Play blackjack Details 18+ · T&Cs apply

2

RocketPlay Infinite Blackjack at 99.47% and 40 Live Studios

Widest Live Choice★ 4.7/5

Welcome offerUp to AU$2,000 + 100 free spins

• Lowest-edge tableInfinite Blackjack, 99.47%
• Dealer ruleStands on soft 17
• Double after splitYes

Play blackjack Details 18+ · T&Cs apply

3

Vegastars Branded S17 Tables in AUD With Bet Behind

Best AUD Table★ 4.6/5

Welcome offerUp to AU$6,000 + 125 free spins

• Lowest-edge tableBranded Pragmatic tables
• Dealer ruleStands on soft 17
• Double after splitYes

Play blackjack Details 18+ · T&Cs apply

4

WinSpirit Reshuffled RNG Tables for Drilling, Four Live Studios

Best for Practice★ 4.4/5

Welcome offerUp to AU$2,000 + 100 free spins

• Lowest-edge tableRNG tables, reshuffled each hand
• Dealer ruleStands on soft 17
• Double after splitYes

Play blackjack Details 18+ · T&Cs apply

5

Fair Go Six-Deck RTG Blackjack in Demo Mode

RNG Only★ 4.3/5

Welcome offer100% up to AU$200 on each of 5 deposits

• Lowest-edge tableRTG classic, 6 decks
• Dealer ruleStands on soft 17
• Double after splitYes

Play blackjack Details 18+ · T&Cs apply

6

Neospin Seven Live Studios, S17 Throughout

5% Table Contribution★ 4.2/5

Welcome offer300% up to AU$11,000 + 300 free spins

• Lowest-edge tablePragmatic and BETER Live tables
• Dealer ruleStands on soft 17
• Double after splitYes

Play blackjack Details 18+ · T&Cs apply

A strategy chart is only as good as the table it is used on. The ranking above sorts the casinos by how much the chart is worth at their blackjack tables: the return of the best table, whether the dealer stands on soft 17, whether a double is allowed after a split, how cheaply the chart can be practised, and whether a promotion asks the player to play a hand differently. Every table in the ranking pays 3:2 on a natural and stands on soft 17, so the chart on this page applies as printed at each of them.

Rainbet is first for a reshuffled table that returns 99.6% from US$0.10, RocketPlay for the widest choice of standard live tables and Evolution's 99.47% Infinite Blackjack, Vegastars for the same rules in Australian dollars with a seat always open. WinSpirit and Neospin follow with sound tables and no Evolution formats, and Fair Go closes with a six-deck RTG table that is marginally kinder to the chart than any 8-deck shoe but has no dealer behind it.

Blackjack Basic Strategy Chart: Every Decision for a 3:2, S17, Double-After-Split Table

Basic strategy is the mathematically correct action for every combination of player hand and dealer up card, worked out by computing the expected result of each option over every possible draw from the shoe. The chart below is for the rule set dealt at the standard live tables and RNG tables of the casinos ranked above: a 6- or 8-deck shoe, the dealer stands on soft 17, double after split is allowed, and late surrender is available where the table offers it. Pick a hand and a dealer card to see the decision, or read the chart straight down.

H = hit, S = stand, D = double (hit if not allowed), P = split, R = surrender (hit if not allowed). The chart lists hands in three blocks: hard totals, soft totals and pairs. A hand is read in that order too: if it is a pair, the pair row applies first; if it is not a pair and holds an ace counted as 11, the soft row applies; everything else is a hard total. The sections below explain the reasoning behind each block, because a chart understood is retained far longer than a chart memorised.

Reading the Chart in Three Steps

1. Find the row. Pairs first: two cards of the same value go to the pair block, whatever their total. Then soft hands: an ace that can still count as 11. Then the hard total.
2. Find the column. The dealer's up card, 2 to 10 or ace. Face cards are 10.
3. Apply the letter, with the fallback. D means double, and hit if the table does not allow a double on that hand. R means surrender, and hit if the table has no surrender. After a split, each new hand is read from the top again.

What Changes When the Dealer Hits Soft 17

Some RNG tables and most American land-based shoes let the dealer hit a soft 17, which adds about 0.2% to the house edge and changes five cells. The tables in the ranking above stand on soft 17, so the adjustments are listed for a player who meets an H17 table elsewhere.

Hard 11 against an ace is the one that matters in practice: with the dealer hitting soft 17, the ace is weaker and the double becomes correct. Everything else in the chart stays the same at an H17 table.

Hard Hands: Why the Chart Stands on 12 Against a 6 and Hits 16 Against a 7

A hard hand has no ace, or an ace that can only count as 1. The whole hard-hand block follows from one table: how often the dealer busts from each up card. Against a dealer 4, 5 or 6 the dealer busts more than two hands in five, so a stiff player total of 12 to 16 stands and lets the dealer break. Against a 7 or higher the dealer makes 17 or more about three hands in four, so a stiff hand has to risk the bust and hit. The figures are for an 8-deck shoe with the dealer standing on soft 17.

The Three Hard Hands Players Get Wrong

• Hard 12 against a 2 or 3. The dealer busts only about 35% of the time from those cards, and a 12 can take any card but a ten without busting. Hitting loses less than standing. Against 4, 5 and 6 the dealer's bust rate climbs past 40% and standing takes over.
• Hard 16 against a 10. Every option loses on average. Standing loses about 54 cents in the dollar, hitting about 53.5, surrender exactly 50. Where surrender is offered, take it. Where it is not, hit, even though the bust rate is high, because standing is worse by a fraction.
• Hard 10 or 11 against a 10. Hard 11 doubles against a 10: a ten-value draw is the most likely card and makes 21. Hard 10 against a 10 only hits, because the dealer's 10 makes 20 too often to justify twice the money.

The Doubles

Doubling puts a second bet on a hand that one card is likely to finish well. Hard 11 doubles against everything at an S17 table except the ace. Hard 10 doubles against 2 through 9. Hard 9 doubles only against 3 through 6, the cards from which the dealer busts most. Hard 8 never doubles in a multi-deck game. A table that forbids doubling on 9 adds about 0.1% to the edge, and one that allows it on 10 and 11 only adds about 0.2%, so the double rule is printed in every card above.

Soft Hands: The Ace That Cannot Bust and the Doubles It Pays For

A soft hand holds an ace counted as 11, so one more card cannot bust it: an ace-six that draws a nine simply becomes a hard 16. That safety is why the soft block doubles far more often than the hard block. Against a dealer 4, 5 or 6, a soft 13 to 18 doubles, because the worst outcome of the extra card is a hard total that still has a second chance, and the dealer is likely to bust anyway. Against a 7 or higher the soft hand hits until it reaches a total that stands.

Soft 18 Is the Hand Most Often Misplayed

Players stand on soft 18 against a 9, 10 or ace because 18 looks like a good hand. It is not against those cards: the dealer makes 19 or better from a 9 or 10 roughly half the time, and an 18 that stands wins less often than it loses. Hitting cannot bust the hand, and the draw either improves it or turns it into a hard total that is played by the hard rules. Against a 2 the hand stands; against 3 through 6 it doubles, which is the most profitable soft double on the chart after soft 17 against a 6.

Pairs: When Two Hands Beat One, and the Four Pairs That Never Split

A split turns one hand into two, each with its own bet, so it is correct only when two hands starting from the single card are worth more than one hand starting from the pair's total. Aces and eights split against everything: a pair of aces is a soft 12 but two hands starting at 11 are the strongest start in the game, and a pair of eights is a hard 16 while two hands starting at 8 are ordinary. Tens never split, because 20 wins on its own. Fives never split, because hard 10 is a doubling hand and two hands starting at 5 are not. Fours split only against 5 and 6, and only where a double after the split is allowed.

Double after split is the rule that moves most of the pair block. Where it is allowed, as at every table in the ranking above, a split hand that draws into a 9, 10 or 11 doubles as if it were a fresh hand. Where it is not, the chart tightens: 2,2 and 3,3 split against 4 through 7 only, 4,4 never splits and 6,6 splits against 3 through 6. The rules page lists which tables allow it and what each rule is worth.

Surrender, Insurance and Side Bets: The Decisions Outside the Grid

Three decisions sit outside the main grid. Surrender is part of basic strategy where it is offered. Insurance is a side bet that basic strategy always declines. The other side bets are not decisions about the hand at all and belong in a separate budget.

Late Surrender

Surrender gives up half the bet after the dealer checks for a natural. It is correct when the hand's expected loss is more than half the bet: hard 16 against a 9, 10 or ace, and hard 15 against a 10, the four cells marked R in the chart. Those four cells are worth about 0.08% of the house edge over a session, which is small but free. Surrender is uncommon at live tables; the standard Evolution, Pragmatic Play Live and Playtech tables in the ranking above do not offer it, so the chart's fallback applies: hit those hands instead.

Insurance and Even Money

When the dealer shows an ace, the table offers insurance: a side bet of up to half the main bet that pays 2:1 if the dealer's hole card is a ten-value card. In an 8-deck shoe about 31% of the cards are ten-value, so the bet wins less than one time in three and is paid as if it won exactly one in three. The house edge on insurance is about 7.5%, which is fifteen times the edge on the hand itself. Even money, offered to a player holding a natural against an ace, is insurance under another name: it trades a 3:2 payout that wins 69% of the time for a 1:1 payout that wins every time, and loses value in the exchange. Basic strategy declines both, every time.

21+3, Perfect Pairs and the Others

Side bets pay on the cards dealt rather than on how the hand is played, so no strategy improves them. Evolution publishes a return of 96.30% on 21+3 and 95.90% on Perfect Pairs at its live tables, against 99.29% on the main hand. A player who enjoys them should size them as entertainment: AU$1 on the side bet beside AU$10 on the hand costs about as much per hour as the main game itself.

What Basic Strategy Is Worth: House Edge by Playing Style and the Cost of Each Mistake

The chart does not beat the game. What it does is bring the house edge to the floor the rules allow, which on a 3:2, S17, double-after-split shoe is about 0.5%. Every departure from it raises the edge, and the table shows by how much for the ways people actually play.

The Price of Individual Mistakes

Each cell in the chart has an expected value, and the gap between the best play and the next best is the cost of getting it wrong. The figures below are approximate expected results per dollar bet on an 8-deck S17 shoe, and they explain why some mistakes matter and others barely register.

Two things follow. The expensive mistakes are the missed doubles and splits, not the hit-or-stand coin flips: a player who doubles 11, splits aces and eights, and leaves 20 alone has most of the chart's value with a dozen cells. And the hard 16 against a 10 that players agonise over is close to a wash between hitting and standing, so the chart's answer there is surrender where it exists.

Basic Strategy Drill: Learn the Chart in a Few Hundred Hands

The chart is learnt by decision, not by reading. The drill deals a hand and a dealer card, takes a decision and checks it against the chart above, keeping a score and a streak. The blackjack simulator deals full hands with the same coach behind every decision and prices each mistake. Choose a block to drill its rows alone, or all three for a mixed session. A player who reaches 50 correct in a row across all three blocks has the chart in memory for the tables in the ranking.

How to Memorise It in a Week

1. Day one: the dozen that matter. Always split aces and eights, never split tens or fives, double hard 11 against everything but an ace, double hard 10 against 2 to 9, stand on hard 17 and above, stand on soft 19 and above, never take insurance. That is most of the chart's value.
2. Day two: the stiff hands. Hard 13 to 16 stands against 2 to 6 and hits against 7 to ace; hard 12 stands only against 4, 5 and 6.
3. Day three: the soft doubles. Double soft 13 to 18 against 5 and 6, add 4 for soft 15 to 18, add 3 for soft 17 and 18. Soft 18 stands against 2, 7 and 8 and hits against 9, 10, ace.
4. Day four: the remaining pairs. 2s, 3s and 7s split against 2 to 7; 6s against 2 to 6; 9s against everything but 7, 10 and ace; 4s against 5 and 6 only.
5. Days five to seven: the drill. Two hundred mixed hands a day until the streak passes 50. Then a session at a reshuffled RNG table from AU$1, at WinSpirit or Vegastars, before the first live shoe.

Beyond Basic Strategy: Betting Systems, Card Counting and Table Choice

Basic strategy fixes the decisions on the hand. Three other things are sold as strategy, and only one of them changes the edge.

Betting Systems Change the Variance, Not the Edge

Martingale, Paroli, 1-3-2-6 and the rest change the size of the bet after a win or a loss. The house edge is a percentage of each bet, so every bet in a progression carries the same 0.5% and the total loss over time is 0.5% of the total staked, whatever the sequence. What a progression changes is the shape of a session: Martingale produces many small wins and an occasional large loss, Paroli the reverse. A run of seven losses at AU$10 asks a Martingale player for a AU$1,280 bet and meets most table maximums. The simulator on the roulette page runs any of them over thousands of sessions and shows the result.

Card Counting Changes the Edge, Where the Shoe Allows It

Counting tracks the ratio of high cards to low cards left in the shoe and raises the bet when the shoe favours the player. It works on a dealt shoe with deep penetration and fails on anything that reshuffles: every RNG table, every continuous-shuffle machine, and live tables that cut the shoe at half. A true count of +2 on an 8-deck shoe moves the edge to the player by roughly 0.5%, so counters need a bankroll that absorbs long neutral stretches. It is legal in Australia and online casinos can decline a counter's business. The card counting section covers Hi-Lo, true count and where it can and cannot be applied.

Table Choice Is the Second-Biggest Decision

After the chart, the rules of the table decide the edge. A 6:5 natural costs 1.4%, three times the whole edge of a good table. A dealer who hits soft 17 costs 0.2%, no double after split 0.14%, a single-deck game returns 0.5% to the player. The rules page has a calculator that prices any rule set, and the ranking above was built from the same arithmetic: every table in it pays 3:2, stands on soft 17 and allows a double after a split.

Blackjack Strategy: Frequently Asked Questions