Blackjack is definitely one of the most common games in the West, if not the longest-standing game in either land-based or online casinos (Baccarat is probably older). Basically, if a casino has any table games, blackjack is almost certainly one of them. Sure, there are casinos that occasionally have only craps tables, roulette tables, or both, but even these are far outnumbered by smaller casinos that have blackjack as their only table game.
Perhaps the reason blackjack (in some form or another) has been so successful and popular among gamblers for hundreds of years is because of its simplicity. Granted, it’s not actually that easy to play with optimal strategy, but overall, blackjack at least looks pretty simple.
One of the main things that makes the best blackjack game nearly impossible to play is the rules of a particular game. For example, adding a third zero to roulette increases the house edge on nearly every bet at the table, but changes in the rules of blackjack affect the house edge in more subtle ways.
For example, did you know that if you are playing a double deck, dealer stand soft 17, dealer peek blackjack game, and the dealer has no good hand, then when the dealer shows an Ace, it is appropriate to double the total of 11?
Player Soft Total Player Soft Total – 9
There are actually a lot of rules involved in the previous sentence, so let’s look at how some of them affect that game decision.
Example Hands
Number of decks: If there are four or more decks, and the other rules are the same, then just hit. One reason is that Aces can be considered bad cards for the player doubling 11 (the player loses to any dealer card in the hand), and when there are more decks, Aces will be more relative to other shoes. There are other reasons, this is just one of them.
Dealer Hit/Stand on Soft 17: If you keep the rule the same and just change it to Dealer Hit on Soft 17, then doubling on a total of 11 is always the right decision. One reason is that if the dealer stands on a soft 17 and you double down for a final total of 12-16 (the relative number of remaining Aces to the shoe also comes into play here), then the dealer has a 6 in his hand, which immediately gives him a hand that beats you. Depending on the number of cards in the deck, if the dealer stands on a soft 17, you will call because the total of 12-16 gives you the opportunity to call again to try to end up with a total of 17 or higher.
On the other hand, if the dealer must hit a soft 17, then a 6 in the hole does not automatically beat you (the player). For this reason, among others, it is always correct to continue doubling if playing “hit a soft 17”.
Dealer Peek Blackjack (Hole Card): If the dealer does not peek at the blackjack, and the player does not lose the initial bet, but only because of the dealer’s blackjack, then it is absolutely incorrect for the player to double the total to 11 when the Ace comes up. While this should be obvious, the reason is that the dealer could have a natural card for 21 and the player has no way of knowing that.
So you see
We can see from that example hand and that play that there are a bunch of rules that can come into play when making a decision. However, generally speaking, each of these rules will have a general and independent impact on the house edge.
You’ll see that for basic strategy players, having fewer cards is always advantageous. Even though the player gets more doubles in the above scenario, it’s generally better for the player if the dealer has to stand on a soft 17 instead of calling. Finally, you probably guessed this, but it’s always better for you if the dealer either peeks at Blackjack or doesn’t, so you only lose your original bet.
We’ll discuss these and other rules and how they affect the house edge of the game. Unfortunately, we can’t go into the impact of the rules on each individual’s playing decisions, as that would take days to read through and is beyond the scope of this page. Fortunately, this is where you can enter your hand, the dealer’s upcard, and any general set of rules.
In order to make the right playing decisions for each hand. This will also help you develop strategies for very general rule sets.
The first thing that needs to be revised is the general description of the goal of blackjack, someone said: “The goal of blackjack is to get a hand total as close to blackjack as possible without busting.” This is a bit too simplistic even as a one sentence summary. It would be better to say: “The goal of blackjack is to get a hand total as close to blackjack as possible without busting, or to play in a way that hopes the dealer will bust.”
Player Soft Total – 15 Player Hard Total – 8
For example, as a player you might have a total of 14 and the dealer is showing a 5. Unless you are a card counter playing a combo-dependent exponential game in extremely negative situations (for whatever reason), you will always be playing with a 14 against a dealer showing a 5. Does this sound like trying to get as close to 21 as possible?
Of course not! In fact, your expected value of a total of 14 is negative no matter what you do (which means the dealer has a good chance of hitting a hand of 17-21), but you are hoping for a better chance of the dealer busting than you are trying to hit a hand that beats the dealer and risking a bust. If you let the dealer play, you will probably lose, if you bust, you will definitely lose.
Player Soft Total – 15
On the other hand, if the dealer shows a 9, then you might want to hit. Again, you expect to lose in this case, but hitting is better because the dealer is likely to have a hand (over 50%, A, 10, 9, 8) or will eventually hit a hand.
In short, the goal of blackjack is to always make the best decision based on the rules of the game and the probability of a particular event happening. Again, this is hard to calculate in your head, which is why it is important to use a strategy sheet when playing in a brick-and-mortar casino and have a blackjack calculator ready when playing online.
Hand Values
Player Soft Total Player Soft Total – 2 Player Soft Total – 4 Player Soft Total – 6
I think most of you know this, but blackjack hands are scored based on face value, except that any face card counts as a ten, and an Ace can be either a 1 or an 11. If an Ace counts as an eleven, causing a bust for either the dealer or the player, its value is automatically one.
Hands containing an Ace occasionally have two different values, and when this happens they are called “soft” hands. For example, an Ace-Seven is called a “soft 18” because it can either count as an 18 or as a total of 8.
A hand described as “hard” can technically refer to any hand that has a fixed value. However, the term “hard” is usually used to refer to a hand that has an Ace and is considered a fixed value hand. For example, a hand like an Ace-Six-Ten would be a “hard 17” because the Ace cannot count as an 11, otherwise the total value of the bust would be 27. A hand with an Ace is “hard” if it can only act as a 1.
How it’s played
Blackjack is a “dealer” game, meaning that all players play against the casino’s dealer, not against each other. Poker is a game we call “player” because it consists of players competing for each other’s money.
One exception to this rule is the “player bank” game, which is played in California poker rooms because of their ever-changing laws. The way it works is that players must pay a “fee” to play each hand, and one player “banks” the actions of all the other players at the table. The banker has no autonomy and must play by the “house rules,” just like the dealer in a casino must do. In fact, there is something called a “company” that does most of the banking in these games because they have the money to support these actions.
While craps may be the occasional liveliest game at the table, blackjack is usually a close second. The reason for this is that some or all of the players at the table will often want the same outcome, a bust by the dealer. The situation where all players expect the same outcome is more common in blackjack than in other casino dealer games, because players often experience different outcomes regardless of the dealer/community cards. For example, in Let It Ride, community cards such as Aces and Sevens may favor the player with an Ace in their three personal cards, but have no effect on other players.
The dealer deals an initial card to each player at the table, then deals the first (or only) card to himself, and then deals the second card to all players at the table. The cards are dealt from the dealer’s left to the dealer’s right, or from the player’s right to the player’s left. In most games, the dealer receives what is called a “hole card”, which is a face-down card that is not revealed until all players have made a decision. In some games in European land-based casinos (and perhaps Australia), the dealer does not receive a hole card, and therefore does not check whether there is a blackjack before continuing the game.
The first thing to determine is whether the player has a “natural”, commonly called “blackjack”, although it does not require a jack… let alone a blackjack. After seeing which players (if any) have naturals, the dealer checks to see if he has a natural if the dealer has a hole card. From this point on, the game can deviate in two ways:
Hole Cards, No Naturals: If the dealer has a hole card, but no naturals, the dealer should immediately pay all players with naturals and take their cards. At this point, or if a player has no naturals, all players may make their play decisions starting from the dealer’s left to the dealer’s right.
Hole Cards, Naturals: The dealer immediately shows his naturals and takes the losing bets from the player without a natural. If another player has a natural, the result is a tie, and the dealer will usually indicate a tie by clenching his fist and tapping the table lightly in front of that player (most common).
No Hole Cards: The dealer will not know if he has a natural until all players have made their decisions. The dealer will only receive a second card after the players have completed their play. In some games, when the dealer has a natural, the player only loses their initial bet (if they have split/doubled up), but in other games, they lose all bets, including any additional bets. If the player loses all bets, this may change the player’s decision to play.
After the initial deal, starting from the dealer’s left and moving to the right, each player can decide to hit/split/stand/double/insure/surrender based on the rules (which we will discuss) and the strength of the player’s hand. If the player busts (over 21 points), the dealer should take the player’s chips first, then take the player’s cards. This must be done in two times to avoid dropping chips off the table.
For any player who has not busted or has a Natural and has completed the game, the dealer will turn over the hole cards (or deal one to himself) and hit cards until the total reaches 17-21, otherwise it is a bust. Whether to hit or stand on a soft 17 depends on the dealer rules. If the dealer ends the game with a playable total, the dealer will announce his total, pay the winning player (whose total is higher) and accept the losing bets. The dealer will indicate a tie by tapping his hand near the player’s cards and possibly pushing the player’s chips back. If the dealer busts, the dealer will pay the bonus to all remaining players. Therefore, when a player busts, the bets and cards are taken away at once, so that if the dealer busts, he/she knows that everyone will automatically be paid.
After all winning players have taken their chips and have had a chance to bet on the next hand, the process starts over again.
If all players bust, then the dealer will usually show his hole card (if he got one in that game) and then take all the cards away.
Live dealer blackjack games in online casinos are generally played the same way. The only exception is that the dealer does not have to handle physical chips.
Online video blackjack is played similarly to land-based casino video blackjack. Players receive two cards and look at the dealer’s hole card before making a decision. If the dealer has an Ace (very common in land-based games, I should mention this), the player will have the opportunity to purchase insurance, or if he has a Natural, receive an even payout. Otherwise, the game is played exactly the same.
Dealer Draw
The rules regarding the dealer having to draw are determined by the rules of a particular table at a particular casino. It is a general rule that the dealer must draw to a total of 16 (or less), and individual casinos differ only in whether the dealer should draw or stand on a soft 17. All else being equal, it is better for the player if the dealer stands on a soft 17.
Player Soft Total Player Soft Total – 9
Player Decisions
Before discussing the impact of specific rules, we must know what decisions a player can make. We will briefly cover those decisions here:
Hits: A hit is a player’s request to take another card. Technically, a player can take any number of cards, but some land-based casino video blackjack games and most (if not all) online games will automatically stop a player if they hit 21. Without other (card counting, hole cards) knowledge, taking a hard 17 or higher is always an objectively bad decision.
Standing: Standing simply means that the player accepts their total and does not want to take any more cards. Standing is always incorrect for a total of 11 or less, since it is impossible to bust. In other words, there is only benefit in taking cards. Players will usually double up on totals of 9-11.
Splitting: If a player receives two cards of the same rank, then the player has the opportunity to split. Casinos usually allow players to split to a total of three or four hands. The effect on the house edge of allowing splits to be made to more hands (rather than fewer) is that the house edge is reduced, but not by much, because the opportunity to split multiple times is rare.
Inexperienced players will occasionally be tempted to split a 10 against a “weak” hand of the dealer, and unless the cards are counted or the hole cards are looked at, this decision is always wrong. Although starting with a 10 is a good start, ending the hand with a 20 is such a strong hand that it should not be split.
Doubling Down: This gives the player the opportunity to double their bet if they have a favorable situation, but the catch is that the player can only receive one card. I have never seen a game of blackjack that did not allow the player to double down in some way, but some casinos may limit the total number of hands a player can double down on.
Insurance: Players always have the option to insure, but should never insure unless they are counting cards or hole cards and know that there is a good reason. The dealer will usually insure the player if the dealer has an Ace (or the chance to get even money if they get a Natural). If the player insures and the dealer has a Natural, the bet wins, and the overall result is that the player wins one unit. If the player insures and the dealer does not have a Natural, the player loses their insurance and the game continues.
Let’s ignore the main bets and look at the insurance bet alone, which has a 2:1 payout. We assume
