Basic Blackjack Strategy

Playing Blackjack is not difficult, it is very fun to play, and if you play it smartly, it can be profitable. If basic strategy is played, then an average player has a fighting chance.

Our goal in blackjack, whether played in person or at an online casino, is to win money. We always find winning more enjoyable than losing. If we are going to play blackjack then it is definitely important to learn basic strategy.

The house advantage in blackjack is about 5.5 percent, but that percentage comes from long-term percentages, but it doesn't include basic strategy. If you can play good basic strategy then the odds go down almost in half. We are still looking at the house having an advantage but at least it is not a huge hammer over our head. Let's look at basic strategy and see what we can do to improve our odds at blackjack.

Most of the time when talking strategy we are going under the assumption that the dealer's hole card has the value of 10. That means King, Queen, Jack, or 10. You can even throw the Ace in there as well. A lot of the time the hole card won't be a face card but we have to assume the worst. Our goal is to decide what the dealer's likely hand is. It is either a hand likely to beat us, or a hand likely to bust. We make our decisions based on these facts. If the dealer is showing a 2,3,4,5,or 6 then we add that to the 10 and assume he is probably going to bust. With these cards showing for the dealer we play it safe and don't hit much of anything in our hand. We will, however, double down with 5 and 6 because the likelihood of the dealer busting is highest with these two cards showing. On the other side of the equation, if the dealer is showing a 7, 8, 9, face card, or Ace, the dealer is likely to make a good hand and we have to be more aggressive. Here are some basic rules to remember based on these facts. If your hand is less than 11 you always hit. That one is pretty basic. If your hand is 17 or more you always stay. Another one that is very simple. If you have 12, 13, 14, 15, or 16 then we stand if the dealer is holding one of those probable busting hands where he shows 2 through 6. If you have 12, 13, 14, 15, or 16 and the dealer has a 7 or more showing we have to hit. That is as basic as it gets. We will look at more advanced strategies for playing each situation but these are a good start.

Those are the basic rules for blackjack. They can be referred to as the keep it simple stupid rules. It basically comes down to standing when the dealer is weak, and doubling down on the weakest holdings of 5 and 6, and playing aggressive when he is strong, since we need to improve our hand to win.

Many people around the world love to play Blackjack. Very few people, however, actually play it correctly. The sad part about that fact is that it is not difficult to play smart when playing Blackjack. Playing Blackjack is not difficult, it is very fun to play, and if you play it smartly, it can be profitable. If basic strategy is played, then an average player has a fighting chance.

Our goal in blackjack, whether played in person or at an online casino, is to win money. We always find winning more enjoyable than losing. If we are going to play blackjack then it is definitely important to learn basic strategy.

The house advantage in blackjack is about 5.5 percent, but that percentage comes from long-term percentages, but it doesn't include basic strategy. If you can play good basic strategy then the odds go down almost in half. We are still looking at the house having an advantage but at least it is not a huge hammer over our head. Let's look at basic strategy and see what we can do to improve our odds at blackjack.

Most of the time when talking strategy we are going under the assumption that the dealer's hole card has the value of 10. That means King, Queen, Jack, or 10. You can even throw the Ace in there as well. A lot of the time the hole card won't be a face card but we have to assume the worst. Our goal is to decide what the dealer's likely hand is. It is either a hand likely to beat us, or a hand likely to bust. We make our decisions based on these facts. If the dealer is showing a 2,3,4,5,or 6 then we add that to the 10 and assume he is probably going to bust. With these cards showing for the dealer we play it safe and don't hit much of anything in our hand. We will, however, double down with 5 and 6 because the likelihood of the dealer busting is highest with these two cards showing. On the other side of the equation, if the dealer is showing a 7, 8, 9, face card, or Ace, the dealer is likely to make a good hand and we have to be more aggressive. Here are some basic rules to remember based on these facts. If your hand is less than 11 you always hit. That one is pretty basic. If your hand is 17 or more you always stay. Another one that is very simple. If you have 12, 13, 14, 15, or 16 then we stand if the dealer is holding one of those probable busting hands where he shows 2 through 6. If you have 12, 13, 14, 15, or 16 and the dealer has a 7 or more showing we have to hit. That is as basic as it gets. We will look at more advanced strategies for playing each situation but these are a good start.

Those are the basic rules for blackjack. They can be referred to as the keep it simple stupid rules. It basically comes down to standing when the dealer is weak, and doubling down on the weakest holdings of 5 and 6, and playing aggressive when he is strong, since we need to improve our hand to win.