If you are playing at a blackjack table where late surrender is allowed, you should take advantage of the late surrender rule by slightly changing the blackjack basic strategy rules for when to stand on hard hands. Late surrender allows you to surrender your hand and lose half your bet only after the dealer checks for blackjack. Ask the blackjack dealer at your table if late surrender is allowed. Here are the updated rules for when to surrender. ...
If you are playing at a blackjack table where the dealer hits soft 17, you need to slightly change the blackjack basic strategy rules for when to double down on hard and double down on soft hands. Here are the updated rules for when to double down. 3 blackjack basic strategy rules for doubling down on hard hands when dealer hits soft 17: Always DOUBLE on 11 DOUBLE 10 vs. dealer 2 thru 9 DOUBLE 9 vs. dealer 3 thru 6 ...
If double after split (DAS) is available, you should split pairs more often to take advantage of this rule. Here are updated rules for pair splitting when double after split is available. 7 blackjack basic strategy rules for pair splitting (DAS allowed): Always SPLIT A’s and 8’s NEVER split 5’s or T’s SPLIT 2’s and 3’s vs. dealer 2 thru 7 SPLIT 4’s vs. dealer 5 or 6 SPLIT 6’s vs dealer 6 or less SPLIT 7’s vs dealer 7 or less SPLIT 9’s vs dealer 9 or less, except STAND vs dealer 7 Here is the relevant update to the pair splitting section of the basic strategy card for when double after split (DAS) is available. ...
Learning how to play blackjack using a basic strategy card is relatively easy given the willingness to do so. Basic strategy is the optimal set of rules to follow for playing blackjack. Using simple basic strategy you will cut the house advantage for blackjack to about 0.50%. A simple blackjack strategy card is often used for memorization and as a reference at the tables when allowed by the casino. You should use a blackjack strategy card to make decisions on playing each hand in the following order: Insurance Pair Splitting Double Down (look for soft hands first) Standing (look for soft hands first) 2 rules for insurance: NEVER take Insurance NEVER take Even Money when you have a blackjack, it is the same as insurance 6 rules for pair splitting: Always SPLIT A’s and 8’s NEVER split 4’s, 5’s, or T’s SPLIT 2’s and 3’s vs. dealer 4 thru 7 SPLIT 9’s vs dealer 9 or less, except STAND vs dealer 7 SPLIT 7’s vs dealer 7 or less SPLIT 6’s vs dealer 6 or less, except HIT vs dealer 2 The table below each set of rules is the relevant section of the blackjack strategy card. You read these tables by looking at the column for the dealer upcard and the row for your hand total. ...