Blackjack 2 Deck Strategy
- Appendices
- Miscellaneous
- External Links
Many casinos today pay blackjacks at less than 3:2 at some tables; for instance, single-deck blackjack tables often pay 6:5 for a blackjack instead of 3:2. Blackjack games almost always provide a side bet called insurance, which may be played when dealer's upcard is an ace. Additional side bets, such as 'Dealer Match' which pays when the player. Common blackjack variations that are extremely popular among players don’t have much of an impact on the basic blackjack strategy and therefore you can play confidently knowing that the basic blackjack chart provided above will be good enough to cover popular variations where the dealer hits on soft 17 and when you double down after a split.
On This Page
Introduction
Common questions for novice players: What is single deck blackjack? Is it better to play single deck blackjack versus multi-deck variations? To use the basic strategy, look up your hand along the left vertical edge and the dealer's up card along the top. In both cases, an A stands for ace. From top to bottom are the hard totals, soft totals, and splittable hands. For specific tips, we present two charts depending on whether the dealer hits or stands on soft 17.
Other basic strategy rules:- Never take insurance or 'even money.' The house edge on insurance is 5.9%, based on one deck.
- If there is no row for splitting (fives and tens), then look up your hand as a hard total (10 or 20).
- If you can't split because of a limit on re-splitting, then look up your hand as a hard total, except aces. In the extremely unlikely event you have a pair of aces you can't re-split and drawing to split aces is allowed, then double against a 5 or 6, otherwise hit.
Internal Links
Blackjack main page.
Blackjack Appendix 3A lists exceptions to the single deck, dealer stands on soft 17, basic strategy based on the exact composition of the player's hand.
Blackjack Appendix 3C lists exceptions to the single deck, dealer hits on soft 17, basic strategy based on the exact composition of the player's hand.
Boss Media Appendix 1 has a composition dependent basic strategy for single-deck, dealer stands on soft 17, blackjack.
