Basic strategy, explained simply

Where basic strategy comes from

In the 1950s, four US Army mathematicians (Baldwin, Cantey, Maisel and McDermott) worked out the best decision for each situation by hand. Their results, later refined by computers over billions of simulated hands, produced the chart used today. It isn't an opinion or a "system": it's the play that loses least (or wins most) on average, computed for a specific set of rules.

Reading the chart in 30 seconds

The chart crosses two pieces of information:

• Rows: your hand. There are hard hands (no Ace, or an Ace that must count as 1), soft hands (an Ace that can count as 11) and pairs (two identical starting cards).
• Columns: the dealer's upcard, from 2 to Ace.

The cell where they meet gives the play: Hit, Double (double your bet and take exactly one card), Stand, or Split (play the pair as two hands). In Hitwise each action has its colour: green, blue, red and yellow.

Why the dealer's card matters so much

The dealer has no choices: hit to 16, stand on 17. So the upcard tells you how likely the dealer is to bust. With a 5 or 6 showing, the dealer busts roughly 4 times in 10 — time to stand on weak hands and double whenever you can. With a 7 or higher, the dealer often lands on 17–21, so you need to improve your hand even at the risk of busting.

The rules to learn first

If you only keep a few:

1. Always split Aces and 8s. Two Aces are two shots at 21. Two 8s make 16, the worst hand in the game — better to start over from two 8s.
2. Never split 10s or 5s. 20 is a great hand; a pair of 5s is a 10, which you double.
3. Double 11 against everything but an Ace, and 10 against 2 through 9.
4. Stand on 13–16 against 2–6; hit against 7 and up.
5. Stand on 12 against 4, 5 and 6 only; hit against 2 and 3.
6. Double weak soft hands (A-2 to A-7) against a weak dealer: the Ace protects you, one more card can't bust you.

What basic strategy does (and doesn't) do

It minimises the house edge: with typical rules it drops to around 0.5%. Put simply, for every €100 wagered in total, the expected loss is about 50 cents, versus €2 or more for a player who improvises. Within a single session, variance dominates: you can win or lose far more than that.

It does not flip the edge. Over the long run the casino stays the favourite. Only rigorous card counting, under specific conditions, can tilt things slightly — see our true count article.

Why Hitwise instead of a printed chart?

Because mid-hand, scanning a 310-cell grid takes time and invites wrong-row mistakes. Hitwise does the reading for you: three clicks, one colour. And if you draw a card, the decision is recalculated for the new hand, including when doubling is no longer allowed.

Frequently asked questions