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Blackjack strategy at its core is as basic as a twist on the old country song “The Gambler”. Instead of knowing when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em, you have to know when to hit and when to stand. You can find that in a chart. Before we get to blackjack charts, however, let’s start with some basic blackjack strategy you don’t need a cheat sheet to utilize. Basic Blackjack Strategy

First a few definitions:

a “hard” hand is a hand containing no Aces, or a hand in which the Ace is forced to equal 1 point because equaling 11 would bust the hand a “soft” hand is a hand containing at least one Ace that can still safely be used as a 1 or an 11 (this gives the player holding this Ace more flexibility hitting and thus the advantage)

In general (and please don’t take these as hard, fast rules):

If the dealer shows 2 to 6 Hit with a hard 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 or a soft 13, 14, 15 Stand with a hard 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 Double with a hard 9, a soft 16, 17, 18, or a hard 10 or 11 as long as it’s more than the dealer has showing Split with a “pair” of 2s, 3s, 6s, 7s, 8s, 9s, As Don’t split with a “pair” of 4s, 5s, or 10s If the dealer shows 7 to A Hit with a hard 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 12, 14, 15, 16, a soft 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, or a hard 10 or 11 as long as it’s more than the dealer has showing Stand with a hard 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, or a soft 19, 20, 21 Don’t double with anything Only split with two 8s or Aces, nothing else