BLACKJACK TIPS

There is a very good reason why Blackjack is one of the most popular games at the casino. Quite simply, if you follow blackjack strategy to the letter, the house edge will be practically non-existent.  The best strategy to follow? Your own. The more blackjack you play, your sense of timing will improve accordingly as well your feel for the game and its pace. There are some standard guidelines that are widely accepted, and should be adhered to when at all possible.

• If you use basic strategy, you  reduce the house edge to less than 1%.
• Regardless of what the dealer's up card is, always split Aces and 8's.
• Increase the amount of your bet only when you are winning.
• You hold a 52% advantage over the house if you are dealt an Ace as your first card.
• Multiply your normal bet by 40 in order to determine an appropriate bankroll.
• Your expected loss will be 10 times worse if you mimic the dealer, that is hitting all 16's, standing on 17's and never splitting or doubling, than if you play from the strategy chart.

Presuming that the game always hit a hard total of 7 or less; always stand on a hard total of 17 or more; always stand on a soft total of 19 or more, you can use the following tables as guidelines to use during play.

Table A. Drawing rules for hard totals

	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Ace
8	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H
9	H	D	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
10	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	H	H
11	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	H
12	H	H	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
13	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
14	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
15	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	SU	H
16	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	SU	SU	SU
17	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S

Table B. Drawing rules for soft totals.

	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Ace
A,2	H	H	H	D/H	D/H	H	H	H	H	H
A,3	H	H	H	D/H	D/H	H	H	H	H	H
A,4	H	H	D/H	D/H	D/H	H	H	H	H	H
A,5	H	H	D/H	D/H	D/H	H	H	H	H	H
A,6	H	D/H	D/H	D/H	D/H	H	H	H	H	H
A,7	S	D/S	D/S	D/S	D/S	S	S	H	H	H
A,8	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S

Table C. Drawing rules for pairs.

	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Ace
2,2	P/H	P/H	P	P	P	P	H	H	H	H
3,3	P/H	P/H	P	P	P	P	H	H	H	H
4,4	H	H	H	P/H	P/H	H	H	H	H	H
5,5	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	H	H
6,6	P/H	P	P	P	P	H	H	H	H	H
7,7	P	P	P	P	P	P	H	H	H	H
8,8	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P
9,9	P	P	P	P	P	S	P	P	S	S
T,T	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S
A,A	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P

Table D. Drawing rule descriptions.

H	Hit - take a card.
S	Stand - do not take a card.
P	Split the pair.
D	Double down.
SU	Surrender if available otherwise HIT.
D/P	Double if available otherwise HIT.
D/S	Double if available otherwise STAND.
P/H	Split if double after split is available otherwise HIT.