Online Blackjack

For 6 Decks, S17, DA2, DAS, No surrender

Splitting Pairs

Key:

• Y = Yes, split the pair
• N = No, don’t split the pair

Soft Totals

Key:

• H = Hit
• S = Stand
• D = Double; if unable, Hit
• Ds = Double; if unable, Stand

Hard Totals

Key:

• H = Hit
• S = Stand
• D = Double; if unable, Hit

This is the chart that you will eventually know as well as your own name — but don’t worry, you’re not going to memorize it in this form. What we are going to do is convert all this into what a “normal” person can understand. I call what’s above the “Basic Strategy Matrix” and you’ll use it in some of your training. But what we need to do in order to memorize this is to translate the information above into all-inclusive rules. Let’s do a few as examples.

Look at the strategy for a player’s hand of 9 on the matrix above; it says to double against a 3,4,5 or 6 and hit it against everything else. We can turn that information into a simple rule: “With a hand of 9, double versus 3 through 6, otherwise hit.” See how this works? We are going to take each player’s starting hand and convert the proper play of that hand into one easy-to-understand rule. Now look at a hand of A-2. Proper basic strategy says to double against 5 and 6 and hit it against everything else, so our rule for A-2 is “Double vs. 5 & 6, otherwise hit.” As a bonus, we can group A-2 with A-3 since the play for each is identical. So we end up with a rule like this “A-2 , A-3; double vs. 5 & 6, otherwise hit.” One more example; a pair of 3′s. When double after split is permitted, proper basic strategy says to split 3′s whenever the dealer is showing a 2,3,4,5,6, or 7. Against any other dealer up card, we do not split; we should just hit the hand. Thus, our rule for a pair of 3′s becomes “3,3; split vs. 2-7, otherwise hit”. Clear on all that? Good. Below is the basic strategy chart for the matrix shown above.

(Source: GameMaster)