Blackjack - The Basic Strategy
Craig Jones 
Scott McGlynn
When looking to achieve the best results when playing Blackjack, you will hear and read about a 'basic strategy' on many sites.
This is what we will look at here and examine how to win at Blackjack.
Because the game of Blackjack relies on a player making decisions on every hand that they are dealt, it is extremely popular among both online and offline communities due to this ability to affect the outcome of any particular game.
Excluding Poker, it is considered to require more skill than most other casino games.
On saying this, most sensible and even advanced players of the game will not deviate too much from the 'basic strategy', which is considered the best Blackjack strategy.
The reason this basic strategy works is that the optimal decisions for a player will be the same, since the dealer has to make no decisions.
In the first instance, a player will need to get to grips with the basic rules of Blackjack before moving on to optimising their chances of winning.
You will find many strategies and theories created to help a player gain an advantage against the dealer.
However, this can never really be achieved without the strategy being considered illegal from the casino's perspective.
The main strategy to gain an advantage is called 'card counting', which I am sure you will have heard of. This is banned in most casinos.
This article will not cover this, as we will be sticking to the basic strategy.
What is the Basic Strategy?
This system is the best way to play Blackjack.
Based on both the dealer's initial card and your cards (as the player), it provides the best possible move and is based on statistical probabilities.
The concept behind the basic strategy is ultimately to win and win as often as you can.
However, it is also designed to maximise your wins by doubling down to minimise the chance of going bust, and it is also a strategy to help keep any losses to a minimum.
As with all table games you will find in a casino, the house will always have the edge.
Using basic Blackjack strategy, you are trying to reduce the house edge significantly.
Unlike card counting, which we mentioned earlier, the basic strategy does not take into account other cards that will have been seen in other players' hands or have previously been dealt.
This is more of an issue for offline casinos, as online casinos generally play each round with a newly shuffled deck or decks (usually a 6-deck pack).
We won't be looking into how these statistical permutations arose to develop the basic strategy.
Instead, we'll look at the playing guide they created.
As a new player, and especially if you are playing online, it is a good idea to keep this guide close by for reference.
As with everything that has a learning curve, the more you play, the less you will find that you need to refer to the guide, as you will automatically know what the optimal next move will be.
Playing in an offline casino, you may find that some frown on a player using a guide at the Blackjack table, especially on a mobile device.
However, some may actually have a reference sheet available at the table for you to use.
Looking at the basic strategy guide shown above, you can see the patterns for when to hit and when to stand.
As a minimum, you should always hit (and maybe double-down) if your hand is below 11.
If you have 17 points or more and are still in play, then you should stand.
