Classic Blackjack

Blackjack carries the lowest house edge of anything on a casino floor, and it is the only common game where that figure depends on you. Every other game returns what it returns regardless of how you play it. Blackjack does not.

The number in the panel is conditional

Read the return figure above carefully, because it means something different here than it does on a slot. It is the return to a player using correct basic strategy on every hand. It is not what the game pays a player guessing.

The gap between those two is large — considerably larger than the edge itself. A player who hits and stands on instinct gives up several times what the rules take, which means the single most valuable thing on this page is the strategy table, not the payout.

Basic strategy is solved, not opinion

For any combination of your two cards and the dealer’s upcard there is one mathematically optimal action. This has been computed exhaustively and is not a matter of feel, table talk or reading the dealer.

The full table fits on a card, and a few rules cover most of the value:

• Always split aces and eights. Never split tens or fives.
• Stand on hard 17 or higher. Hit hard 8 or lower without exception.
• On 12 to 16, let the dealer’s upcard decide. Stand against a weak card, hit against 7 or higher.
• Double on 11, and on 10 unless the dealer shows 10 or an ace.
• Soft hands play differently. An ace counted as 11 cannot bust, so hitting is often correct where the same total would be a stand.

Following it will not make you a favourite. It reduces the edge to its published minimum, which is the best available outcome and still a negative one.

Check the blackjack payout before you sit

This is the most expensive detail in the game and it is stated on the table felt.

A natural blackjack should pay 3 to 2. Some tables pay 6 to 5 instead, and that single change adds well over a percentage point to the house edge — more than every basic-strategy decision you will make all evening. A 6 to 5 table with otherwise perfect rules is a worse game than a 3 to 2 table with mediocre ones.

Other rules worth glancing at: whether the dealer stands on soft 17 (better for you than hitting it), whether doubling after a split is allowed, and how many decks are in the shoe.

Insurance is not insurance

When the dealer shows an ace you will be offered insurance. It is presented as protection and it is a side bet on whether the dealer holds a ten, priced worse than almost anything else on the table.

Decline it. This holds whether or not you have a strong hand, and the fact that it is offered at the moment you feel most exposed is the reason it works as a product.

A low house edge is still a house edge. Playing perfectly makes blackjack the fairest game in the room; it does not make it a way to make money.

Set a deposit limit before you sit down, and treat the strategy card as the thing that makes the session last, not the thing that makes it profitable.