Blackjack strategy and tips

When we're talking strategy in Blackjack, you need to know about six basic components of the game. This section, Part 1, deals with the first three: Hitting and Standing, Doubling Down, Splitting, Soft Hands, Insurance and Surrender.

Hitting and Standing

The most basic place to start is hitting and standing. The most fundamental thing to remember is, because the dealer always has to take a hit on any hand 16 or lower, you won't win as much money when you're holding less than 17, unless the dealer busts. So, how should that statement affect your play? Here's a quick rundown.

If your hand is below 17 and the dealer is showing an Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, or 8, you need to take a hit. Why? Simple. Whenever the dealer holds one of these cards his chances of busting are very slim, so unless you clear 16 your chances of winning are also slim. There are a few different ways to go when we're talking "soft hands," but we'll delve into those in our Tips and Tricks section.

So you may be asking when should I stand? If your hand is above 12 and the dealer shows a 4, 5, or 6, your best play is to stand. When the dealer is showing any of these three cards, his chances of busting are highest. In fact, it's more than 40 percent of the time. Think of how silly you'd feel if you took a hit with 15, caught a 10 and busted, only to see that the dealer had 14 and would have been forced to take a hit and draw the 10 instead of you. Every time you bust yourself instead of busting the dealer, you're not winning as much money as you could be winning.

For a thorough guide to strategic hitting and standing, please refer to the Blackjack strategy chart.

Doubling Down

Speaking of money, the best and fastest way to make it when playing Blackjack is by successfully doubling down at every opportunity. Doubling down can make you double your bet or end up costing you double if you do it in a bad spot. The first and most important rule of doubling down is, always double down any hand totalling 11. No matter what the dealer's showing, if you hit a 10 when you've got 11 he won't beat you.

So when else should you double down? When your hand is 10 and the dealer is showing a 9 or lower, double it up. When your hand is a 9 or you have a "soft" hand (an ace counted as 11) between 13 and 17 against a dealer's 4, 5 or 6, double it up. That's it though. Those hands give you the best shot at cashing in when you double down. Follow those rules and you'll end up on the winning end of a double.

For a thorough guide to strategic doubling down please refer to the Blackjack Strategy chart.

Splitting

The final strategy point, and what tends to be everyone's favorite or most hated part of Blackjack, is splitting. Splitting can be highly profitable if you do it with the right cards, or you could end up costing you by splitting a winning hand into a pair of losers.

The first thing to remember when splitting is, never split 10's or 5's. Ten's refers to any card valued 10, whether it be the actual 10 or any face card. Conversely, always split aces and eights, no matter what the dealer is showing. The reason behind splitting aces should be obvious, but you might be perplexed about eights. A pair of eights equals 16, which is really a middle-of-the-road hand in Blackjack. Like we said before, with 16 your only chance of winning is if the dealer busts. By splitting into a pair of eights, your chances of hitting two hands higher than 16 are actually quite good.

Other than aces and eights, your best bets when it comes to splitting is to split 2's and 3's against a dealer's 4, 5, or 6. When it comes to the rest of the cards in the deck (4, 6, 7, 9), the simplest rule is to only split these cards when the dealer's hand is showing a card of lesser value. There are variations on this rule however, so you may want to stick with aces, 8's, 2's and 3's for now.

For a thorough guide to strategic splitting please refer to the Blackjack Strategy chart.

Soft hands

We initially mentioned soft hands in Part 1, so now let's delve into the details. Soft hands can be tricky for the Blackjack layman because they have their own special rules when it comes to hitting, standing and doubling down. As a quick reminder, Soft hands are any hand with an Ace, where the player can choose between 2 totals, ie A and 5 could be 6 or 16.

You want to hit a soft 13 through 17 whenever the dealer is showing 7 or higher. Remember, with any soft hand no matter what card you receive you cannot bust. Now here comes the tricky part, doubling soft hands. If you've got a soft 13 through 17, only double down when the dealer shows a 5 or 6. If you've got a soft 15 through 17, you can also double up if the dealer's showing a 4. Most of the time you'll want to stand on a soft 18, but if the dealer's sporting a 9, 10 or an ace, you'll probably be better off taking a hit. With your soft 18, always stand versus a 2, 7 or 8, and double down against a 3, 4, 5 or 6. No matter what the dealer is showing, always stand on a soft 19 or higher.

Finally on soft hands, if the dealer holds a 2 and you've got a soft hand, do not double down.

For a thorough guide to soft hands please refer to the Blackjack Strategy chart.

Insurance

The other mistake players make when a possible dealer's Blackjack rears its ugly head is insurance. In the long run insurance is definitely not worth it, but one of the worst plays you can make is insuring a hand of 20 made of up two 10's. Think of it this way; you're insuring yourself against the dealer having a 10 when you've already reduced the odds of him having one by having two yourself. Besides, don't we already spend enough money on insurance away from the Blackjack table?

Another mistake a lot of Blackjack players can make is choosing the wrong play when the dealer shows an ace and could be holding a possible Blackjack. This is one of the worst things that can happen to a player, when they get lucky and catch a Blackjack of their own. If a player has a Blackjack and the Dealer is showing an Ace, the player can still purchase insurance. Many players fear having a push forced on them and end up taking 'even money'. Taking Insurance on your Blackjack vs a Dealer's Ace is called 'even money' because regardless of the Dealer's hand, you will take an 'even money' payout of 1-1 on your blackjack.

By taking even money you could be giving away potential winnings. You may lose out on a few wins once in awhile, but your Blackjack account will be reduced in the long run by taking even money.

For a thorough guide to insurance please refer to the Blackjack Strategy chart.

Surrender

One final tip before hitting the tables to make your Blackjack fortune; don't be afraid to surrender if the option is given to you. If, after the cards are dealt, the dealer is way ahead and the chances of you pulling out a win are slim, surrender, get 50 percent of your bet back and live to play another hand. If you're stuck on when to surrender and when to play on, remember this: always surrender with a hard 15 when the dealer has a 10, and always surrender with a hard 16 when the dealer has a 9, 10 or ace.

For a thorough guide to surrendering in blackjack please refer to the Blackjack Strategy chart.

In General

If you're looking to avoid some other common mistakes, perk up your ears. If you think playing two hands instead of one against the dealer gives you better odds of winning, you're mistaken. Playing two hands will give you the same advantage as two different players playing a single hand versus the dealer using exactly the same strategy. The advantage there is zero.

Another way many players feel they can get an advantage is by increasing their betting or by using a progressive betting system. No matter if you're ahead or behind, your chances of winning the next hand remain static so increasing your bets during a streak of wins or losses is not necessarily a smart move. So-called progressive betting -- betting one chip, then three, then five, etc. -- is not a smart move either. This offers no increased chances of winning, and by losing the hand where you bet five chips after winning the two hands where you bet one and three chips, you wind up in the red. Unless you can count cards and know what's coming out of the shoe, progressive betting won't pay off.

Good luck.

Note: All blackjack strategies discussed assume the blackjack rules found in the Introduction to Playing Blackjack.