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Perfect blackjack
basic strategy.

Every player hand against every dealer up card. Memorize this and the house edge drops from ~2.5% (typical play) to ~0.5% (perfect play). Five-times improvement in your expected return — the single biggest EV gain available in any casino on the floor.

Edge — perfect play
~0.50%
6 deck · S17 · DAS
Edge — typical play
~2.5%
no chart, by feel
EV gain from chart
~5×
lower house edge
Payback on $1k turnover
$995 vs $975
$20 saved per session
Legend

What the cells mean

HHit
SStand
DDouble, else Hit
DsDouble, else Stand
PSplit
P*Split if DAS, else Hit
RSurrender, else Hit
RsSurrender, else Stand

Charts assume 6-deck shoe · dealer stands on soft 17 · double after split allowed · late surrender where shown

Chart 1

Hard totals (no usable ace)

Your hand × dealer up card
Player2345678910A
5–8HHHHHHHHHH
9HDDDDHHHHH
10DDDDDDDDHH
11DDDDDDDDDH
12HHSSSHHHHH
13SSSSSHHHHH
14SSSSSHHHHH
15SSSSSHHHRR
16SSSSSHHRRR
17SSSSSSSSSRs
18+SSSSSSSSSS

"Hard" means your hand has no ace, or the ace must count as 1 (counting it as 11 would bust). This is the most important chart — you'll be in this state most of the time.

Chart 2

Soft totals (ace counts as 11)

Your hand × dealer up card
Player2345678910A
A,2HHHDDHHHHH
A,3HHHDDHHHHH
A,4HHDDDHHHHH
A,5HHDDDHHHHH
A,6HDDDDHHHHH
A,7DsDsDsDsDsSSHHH
A,8+SSSSSSSSSS

"Soft" hands cannot bust on the next card (ace can shift to counting as 1). Soft 17 (A,6) is famously misplayed — most players stand; you should always hit or double.

Chart 3

Pair splitting

Your hand × dealer up card
Pair2345678910A
2,2P*P*PPPPHHHH
3,3P*P*PPPPHHHH
4,4HHHP*P*HHHHH
5,5DDDDDDDDHH
6,6P*PPPPHHHHH
7,7PPPPPPHHHH
8,8PPPPPPPPPR
9,9PPPPPSPPSS
10,10SSSSSSSSSS
A,APPPPPPPPPP

Always split aces and 8s. Never split 5s (you'd give up a strong 10). Never split 10s (you'd give up a 20). 9s split against most dealer cards but stand against 7, 10, and Ace.

Why this works

The math behind the chart

Every cell in this chart is the action with the highest expected value (EV) for that exact situation, computed by simulating billions of hands. There is no judgment call. There is no intuition. The chart is a solved game.

The dealer's strategy is fixed and public: hit until 17, then stop. Knowing this, every player decision can be modeled as a probability distribution: what's the chance the dealer busts given their up card, vs. the chance you bust if you hit, vs. the chance the next card improves your hand.

Example: you have hard 16, dealer shows 10. If you hit, 62% of cards bust you. If you stand, you lose ~77% of the time anyway because the dealer reaches 17–21. Hitting is slightly better. Surrendering (giving up half the bet) is even better when available.

The 0.5% house edge that remains after perfect basic strategy is what you are inherently paying to participate. To get below it requires card counting, which crypto casinos with auto-shuffled or RNG-shoe blackjack make impossible.

Memorize

Three patterns and you've got 80%

Pattern
Dealer 4–6 = bust card

When the dealer shows 4, 5, or 6 the bust probability spikes (35–42%). You stand on hard 12+ and double on more hands than against any other dealer card.

Pattern
Dealer 7+ = strong dealer

When the dealer shows 7 through Ace, you have to make your hand because the dealer probably will. Hit hard totals up to 16; stand on 17+.

Pattern
Always pairs

Always split aces and 8s. Never split 5s and 10s. Memorize these four; the other pairs follow the dealer-bust-card logic above.

Rule variants

When the table changes the math

Dealer hits soft 17 (H17) instead of standing
+0.20% house edge
Dealer makes more 17s — slightly worse for you. Some chart cells change (notably A,8 vs 6 becomes a double).
No double after split (no DAS)
+0.14% house edge
Some splits are no longer +EV — fall back to hit on those (the Ph cells in our chart).
No surrender allowed
+0.08% house edge
Replace R with H (and Rs with S). Surrender is rare in crypto-casino live blackjack.
6:5 blackjack payout instead of 3:2
+1.39% house edge
Devastating. Don't play 6:5 tables — walk away.
Single deck (1D) vs 6-deck
−0.48% house edge
Very rare in crypto-casino live blackjack. If you find a 1D table with otherwise-standard rules, it's the best blackjack on the floor.
Where to play

Casinos with reliable blackjack

Stake
Stake
Play
BC.Game
BC.Game
Play
CB
Cloudbet
Play
Bitcasino
Bitcasino
Play

Always verify the table\'s rules (S17/H17 · DAS · 3:2 vs 6:5) before sitting · 18+ · play responsibly