The Basic Strategy

The basic strategy is the most important thing when playing blackjack games. Without the basic strategy, you will be handing over your bankroll to the casino. Most players make the mistake of playing blackjack for real money without taking into account what will happen next. The truth is that any decision made while playing blackjack will affect the overall outcome of the game.

Unlike other casino games such as slots, roulette or keno, blackjack offers players the opportunity to enjoy positive outcomes. For instance, you can reduce the house edge to as low as 0.4% if you apply the perfect basic strategy.

Blackjack’s basic strategy involves applying simple rules which can easily be mastered. This is because they make sense and most of them require some mathematics. By following each and every step offered by the strategy chart, you will increase your odds of winning on each hand. It’s important to know that using the basic strategy doesn’t guarantee an automatic win. You might lose once after consecutive wins.

Here, at Aura Game, you will find the basic strategy chart. There are also strategies which can be used when playing multi-deck blackjack games. Newbies are always advised to start off with the basic strategy before looking into other strategies. Without much ado, let’s look into two tactics which will totally improve your odds of winning when playing blackjack online.

Basic Strategy

To begin with, the basic strategy wasn’t invented by humans. It was created by a computer program which simulated millions of blackjack hands and their possible outcomes. The first simulation was done by Julian Braun of IBM. These simulations showed probabilities of improving a blackjack hand or beating the dealer by following a certain action – to split, double down, surrender and more.

In the long run, all basic strategy rules are indisputable. Any decision made during the game will be dictated by dealer’s cards and player’s cards. By using the basic strategy perfectly, you will terminate the 5% edge the casino has over an unskilled player. This is why blackjack is among the most profitable games at online and land based casinos.

A standard blackjack deck contains 52 cards excluding the jokers. Sixteen cards from each deck have a hand value of 10 making it 30% of the deck. If you include the 9s, this increases to 38% and later to 46% if you include the 8s.

With this information, take a look at the dealer’s down card. There is a high probability that it’s an 8, 9 or 10. What about the six up card? There is a 50-50 chance that then hand is a 14, 15 or 16. Have you seen how easily you can increase your odds of winning? This is just a glimpse of how the basic strategy works. The Basic Strategy Below table below is optimized for both single and multi-hand blackjack.

Dealers Hand 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 A
Y
o
u
r

H
a
n
d

< 7 H H H H H H H H H H
8 H H H D D H H H H H
9 D 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 D
12 H H S S S H H H H H
13,14,15 S S S S S H H H H H
16 S S S S S H H H H H
17+ S S S S S S S S S S
A9 S S S S S S S S S S
A8 S S S S D S S S S S
A7 S D D D D S S H H S
A6 D D D D D H H H H H
A5, A4 H H D D D H H H H H
A3, A2 H H D D D H H H H H
A-A SP SP SP SP SP SP SP SP SP SP
10-10 S S S S S S S S S S
9-9 SP SP SP SP SP S SP SP S S
8-8 SP SP SP SP SP SP SP SP SP SP
7-7 SP SP SP SP SP SP H H S/SU H
6-6 SP SP SP SP SP H H H H H
5-5 D D D D D D D D H H
4-4 H H H D D H H H H H
3-3 H H SP SP SP SP H H H H
2-2 H SP SP SP SP SP H H H H
Dealers Hand 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 A

Key

  • H  = Hit

     S  = Stand

    D  = Double Down

    SP  = Split

    S/SU  = Surrender if able, otherwise Stand

Card Counting

This technique works perfectly when used together with the basic strategy. You must be familiar with the game to master card counting. Visit our card counting section for more information.