Blackjack Drillmaster

Blackjack Info

Basic Strategy

Basic strategy is the term applied to a system of play providing the highest betting yield without keeping track of the cards already played. It tells you the mathematically correct playing decisions that you should make to improve your chances of winning. Basic Strategy consist of the best percentage moves of drawing a card (hitting), standing, splitting or doubling down,  after you receive 2 cards and the dealer reveals his upcard. Strategy decisions are made by evaluating the player's first 2 cards versus the dealer's upcard. Cards held by other players on the table have no bearing on the Basic Strategy decision to be made.

Basic Strategy is the first key to reducing the casino's edge and increasing your chance at winning in blackjack. When you use Basic Strategy in your games, you have reduced the casino's odds to almost even. Basic Strategy is also a key component of any effective card-counting system by which you could gain an advantage over the house.

Reading a book will give you a good base of knowledge, but you need to commit to your memory the Basic Strategy plays to be able to make good use of it in actual battle with the casino. Every casino, or even every table in the same casino will need a slightly different optimal blackjack strategy table. Minor adjustments are made to basic strategy depending on certain rule variations that the casinos can chose to use. For example some casinos will allow you to double down after splitting (DOS) and some do not allow it. There are also some changes made to basic strategy for single and multiple deck games. However, it's not practical for the average player to try to memorize each and every strategy table. In practice, it is best to memorize one Generic Basic Strategy table.

Most players start learning by referring to a basic strategy chart. The strategy chart shows you how to play your first two cards based on the dealers up card. To use the chart, locate your 2-card hand in the leftmost column and locate the dealer's upcard in the topmost row, the cell where they intersect shows the proper play for that situation.

Chart 1 - Level 1 Generic Basic Strategy Table