Knowing whether you should hit or stay in blackjack is the aim of the game. It’s a make or break situation which could make all the difference. Twisting, or hitting, is when you draw another card to add to your total. Standing, staying or sticking is when you decide to keep your total as it is. Even the basic rules of the game dictate specific actions by the dealer. The dealer must always hit on 16 or less and stand on 17 or more. Just as the dealer must follow certain rules, so must you. The difference is that the dealer has the casino watching over him to ensure he will follow the rules. The player stays with the cards they were dealt. The player is dealt another card, and they can be dealt more if they wish. If the total of the cards exceeds 21 at any point, the player is bust and loses the hand. This is where the player gives up half his bet to forfeit the hand. What is Hit in Blackjack? Hit is a decision in Blackjack that considers taking an additional card. If you choose this move, one more card will be added to your hand. You can hit until the value of your hand reaches or exceeds 21, as many times as you want, during the match. For example, you have a 5 and a 6 in your initial hand.

• Hit Or Stand Blackjack Practice
• When To Hit Or Stay In Blackjack For Real

My mom taught me how to play blackjack when I was a little kid. The strategy she taught me addressed when you should hit or stand in blackjack in simple terms.

She taught me to stand if I had a total of 16 or higher, and to hit if I had a total of 15 or lower.

If you know anything about blackjack basic strategy at all, you’ll know that her strategic advice was off-base, to say the least.

In this post, I’ll answer the question, “When should you hit or stand in blackjack?” in some degree of detail. Keep reading below to learn a few blackjack tips.

What Does It Mean to Hit or Stand?

The two basic moves in blackjack are to hit or to stand, although you have some other options. You might think everyone knows that, but you’d be surprised. A friend of mine took a date to the casino not too long ago, and she asked him what she should do next.

When he told her to “stand,” she didn’t necessarily understand what that meant for the game. So, no, not everyone knows what it means to hit or to stand.

For those folks, here’s a quick explanation of blackjack and the moves you can make during the game.

• You get two cards, and so does the dealer. The dealer has one card face-up and one card face-down.
• The cards are worth points based on their ranking. The numeric cards are worth their number. So, the seven of spades is worth 7 points. The face cards (the jacks, queens, and kings) are each worth 10 points. An ace is worth 1 or 11 points, whichever works out better for the hand.
• Your total score is the point value of the cards added together.

The higher total wins the bet, but there’s a catch. If you get a total of 22 or higher, you bust, which is an automatic loss.

When you play your hand, your basic moves are simple. You can “hit,” which means to get another card. Or you can “stand,” which means to forego any other cards and let the dealer play their hand.

The Implications of Going Bust

Since the blackjack player goes first, it’s important to avoid busting your hand if you can. Once you bust, you lose your bet, even though the dealer hasn’t played her hand yet.

The higher your total, the higher the probability that the next card will bust your hand.

If you have a total of 10, for example, it’s impossible to bust. The highest value card you can get is 11, which would give you a total of 21—the best possible point total you could have.

If you have a total of 11, it’s still impossible to bust. The only card worth 11 can also count as 1, so you’d never stand on a total of 10 or 11.

With a total of 12, you now start having a possibility of going bust… Which cards will bust a total of 12? Any card that’s nine or lower will improve your total, but any card worth 10 is going to bust you.

How many cards are worth nine or less? You have the following cards which could help your hand, and there are four of each of them:

1. Aces
2. 2s
3. 3s
4. 4s
5. 5s
6. 6s
7. 7s
8. 8s
9. 9s

That’s 36 cards that will help you. There are also 16 cards worth 10 points in the deck—the 10s, jacks, queens, and kings. Those will bust you.

Hit Or Stand Blackjack Practice

16/52 is the same thing as 4/13, which is slightly less than 1/3. If a card is going to help you almost 2/3 of the time, it’s probably a good idea to take that card.

Some More Examples of Totals and Possible Bust Cards

Suppose you have a higher total, though. Let’s say you have a total of 16, for example.

How many cards will help you in this situation?

1. Aces
2. 2s
3. 3s
4. 4s
5. 5s

That’s 20 cards out of 52 which will help you, which leaves 32 cards which will bust your hand.

A lot of people always stand on 16, even though mathematically, that’s not always the correct move.

If blackjack were as simple as calculating the probability of going bust, everyone would know which moves to make and when. You also need to account for the dealer’s face-up card.

The correct strategy with a total of 16 is to stand if the dealer is showing a card of six or lower, but you should hit if the dealer has a seven or higher showing. For this purpose, an ace is also considered a high card.

Yes, you’ll bust most of the time, but the dealer has a strong enough hand that you must be willing to risk this to get the best odds of winning. In fact, with every possible total, you must consider both your total and the dealer’s total when deciding whether to hit or stand.

Soft Hands vs. Hard Hands

Something else to consider when deciding whether to hit or stand is whether you have a hard total or a soft total. What’s the difference?

Remember how I explained that an ace counts as either 1 or 11 points? If you have a hand with an ace in it where you can count it as either without going bust, you have a soft hand.

If you must count the ace as 1 point to avoid busting, it’s a hard hand. You’ll hit more often with soft hands because you’ll have a lower probability of going bust.

You have an ace and a two. That’s a soft total of 13. If you get a 10 or a nine, you can just count the ace as a one instead of an 11, and you now have a total of 13 or 12, respectively.

You Do Have Other Options

Hitting and standing aren’t the only options you have. You can also make the following moves in blackjack.

You can split. If you get two cards of the same ranking, like two aces or a couple of eights, you can split your hand. This means you put up an additional bet and start two hands instead of one. These two hands play out independently.

You can double. Doubling down is the same thing as hitting, but with two differences:

1. You must double the size of your bet.
2. You can’t take any more cards after the first one.

You can surrender. If you hate your chances, you can surrender, which means you only lose half your bet. But you also have no chance of winning.

More About Basic Strategy in Blackjack

If you want to know the move in every situation with the best potential outcome in the long run, you’ll want to memorize basic strategy. Basic strategy was generated by running millions of hands through a simulator and determining which moves had the best expectation.

Most people learn basic strategy using a chart or a table. A table usually has the dealer’s possible up-cards listed across the top. The player’s possible totals are listed along the left-hand side.

You cross-index what you have with what the dealer has, and the table tells you what to do. The tricky thing about basic strategy is that the correct moves vary a little bit based on the conditions of the game you’re playing.

For example, basic strategy for a single deck game might be different in some situations from an eight-deck game. You can find multiple basic strategy generators on the internet, but for most recreational players, I recommend just learning a single basic strategy and sticking with it.

The difference in expected value from one game to another doesn’t usually change much regarding the handful of basic strategy differences based on game conditions.

And if you’re not counting cards, you’re playing a game with a house edge. No matter how big or small that edge is, you’ll eventually lose all your money in the long run.

What difference does it make if you lose it slightly faster?

Conclusion

When should you hit or stand in blackjack? When basic strategy tells you to!

That’s the only correct answer to that question. I’ve tried to offer some examples of how that math works, but it’s more complicated than just looking at the probability of busting.

You also need to account for the dealer’s possible outcomes.

Blackjack is a super popular game which also happens to be home to some of the biggest myths about gambling and winning, inevitably leading to people using various tactics to try and up their chances of landing that huge win. Of course, you’re free to try as many of these strategic techniques as you want, but let’s be realistic: there’s no silver bullet that will magically help you eliminate the house edge and one-up the casino in just a couple of swift moves. But what there is, however, are various ways to lower the house edge and get a slight advantage through a series of strategic decisions. Playing smart will not only improve your understanding of the game but also give you a chance to minimise your losses and therefore get a somewhat higher win over time. Keen to learn more? This blackjack strategy guide will give you a rundown of the basic and more advanced strategies – so stay strapped in if you want to know how to get started!

Using Blackjack Strategy: Basic Principles

Blackjack isn’t all fun and games – there’s some serious thinking to be done if you want to master a strategic approach to this game. Don’t worry though: as daunting as it sounds, in the end, all blackjack strategy comes down to is basic arithmetic and probability. There are many tools to help you learn. Strategy charts are a very common reference point for players. These combine the possible hands of the player and the dealer and give you the best follow-up moves depending on each combination.

Blackjack Strategy Chart

• = Hit
• = Stand
• = Double

Of course, playing at a land-based casino, you’ll have to work on memorising a chart. This is made easy with colour coding, with each hue representing a move like hit, stand, double or split. On the other hand, playing at one of our top recommended online casinos will give you the chance to use a chart as you play!

Scouting the Best Blackjack Tables

Before you hunker down and start learning some blackjack tactics, there are a few things to scope out. Namely, the place where you’ll play. Blackjack tables online are ten a penny, so you’ve got to be prudent about where to settle down and play. Our reviews of the best online casinos in the UK are a great starting point for that, so we’d recommend you check out some of the online casinos in this top list. Alternatively, our guide to the best blackjack casinos can serve as a more pointed resource tailored specifically for blackjack players.

When looking for the right table(s) to play at, always keep an eye on the details. For instance, table limits are important to consider as these can vary wildly. While some tables start at just £0.25, others may be more geared towards high stakes gambling with table minimums that start at £50 or more. Another factor to consider is the number of decks in play. Typically, you’re looking at 5 or 6 decks, but there are also single or double deck games both online and offline (though online, the former is more common). This may seem like a small difference, but the number of cards in play does have a massive effect on probability.

The number of players also matters for similar reasons. Simply put, dealing out one, two or three hands will impact not only how many cards there are left in the shoe, but also what that implies for your chances. That’s why many blackjack strategy experts advocate sitting at a crowded table only if you’ve got a good deal of experience to back you up. Lastly, shuffling also matters. Most dealers will shuffle by hand and place the deck(s) in the shoe, while some tables employ a continuous shuffling machine. This contraption mixes up cards constantly, virtually eliminating your chance to know what’s left in the deck and make it harder for you if you try to count cards.

When To Hit Or Stay In Blackjack For Real

What is the Best Blackjack Strategy to Use?

It’s hard to pin one particular chart down as the overall best blackjack strategy. This is mainly due to the fact that there are several game variations, with each game’s slight difference in rules rendering an adjusted strategy chart. For instance, Blackjack Pontoon players follow a subtly different chart than those playing Double Exposure. Nevertheless, there are some basic blackjack strategy guidelines and tactics that can be applied to all variations of this game. We’ll tackle these in the following section.

Blackjack Tactics for Beginners

Whether you play Blackjack Surrender or Single Deck Blackjack, there are some common threads that allow you to make smart decisions and, hopefully, reach a rewarding outcome. These may seem incredibly obvious – but you’d be surprised at how many people approach the table without any knowledge of the basics and hit, split or double up willy-nilly! So, all things considered, it never hurts to review the basic blackjack tactics, if not for anything else then at least to have you avoid looking like a total noob at the casino.

• Basic Blackjack Principles
• Check the dealer’s upcard – This will help you gauge how likely the dealer is to win or lose a round.
• Stand on 17 and up – It’d be extremely unwise to hit with such a high count – you’ll most likely go bust!
• Split Aces and 8s: These are the best pairs to split – you’re nearly halfway to a win, twice!
• Double with 11 points – This is an advantageous position, so use it!
• Don’t take insurance: It’s mostly a rip-off, so swerve it.

That’s fairly easy, isn’t it? Of course, there are additional guidelines and recommendations – for instance, never split pairs of 10s or double when you’ve got a soft 19 and the dealer has a 6. For those keen to practice, you can check out our casino games demo player with a handful of blackjack favourites!

Test Your Basic Blackjack Strategy

To help you practice what we’ve just preached, here’s a quick exercise in blackjack basics where you can test out the principles we’ve just gone over. Take a look at the hand on the left and decide what to do next and see if you’ve mastered the basics. Option A – Hit. Option B – Stand. Option C – Double Down. Click the expandable text to find out, whether you succeeded or not.

HOW DID YOU DO? If you chose option C, then you’ve mastered this little example, well done! The dealer will stand on 17 they turn a 10, so doubling down for a 7 or higher is a nice move. But there’s still more things to learn. Stay put and get the scoop on some principles of the more advanced blackjack strategies.

How did you do? If you’ve mastered this little example, well done! But there’s still more things to learn. Stay put and get the scoop on some principles of the more advanced blackjack strategies.

Advanced Blackjack Strategy

If you’re feeling confident in your basic strategy for blackjack, time may be ripe for moving onto some more advanced methods. We’d be lying if we said that these will usher in an era of endless wins. However, that’s not quite how this card game works (and, frankly, if it were so, it would take all the fun out of the experience, wouldn’t it?). So, mastering an advanced strategy simply means playing in a way which minimizes your losses over time – and, consequently, ups your wins. Apart from observing the basic tactics explained above and making good use of strategy tables, here are some general steps or levels of advancement you can undertake in order to join the ranks of blackjack heavyweights.

As you can see, these are long-term strategical approaches instead of direct shortcuts to astronomically high wins. Frankly, this is what it boils down to in blackjack – playing smart and thinking strategically will, in the long run, prove rewarding. All you need to do is stay alert, don’t get swept up in the thrill of the game, and think before you act.

Basic Blackjack Strategy for Side Bets

There are several options for side bets among the existing blackjack variants out there, and they are offered both at offline and online tables. Since availability is not an issue, the only thing to address is when a side bet is worth going for. Apart from insurance, which is best left untouched, various side bets offer players the chance to wager on various scenarios, out of which some can actually be very rewarding if played right (otherwise the RTP can be quite low). With that in mind, many pro players choose to stay away from side bets and focus on good basic play. This is something to consider as we browse the options. Here are some of the more common side options to consider.

Perfect Pairs

As the name suggests, Perfect Pairs is a wager placed on the player’s expectation to get a number pair in his hand. Your wager should be equal to the original one, and the initial wager and the side bet are treated separately, meaning you can lose one but win the other, and vice versa. You get different payouts based on what colour and suit the cards are. For instance, a 5:1 payout is in store for mixed colour and suits, while same colour but mixed suits gets 10:1 and the same suit, same colour combo gets you 30:1. While there’s nothing wrong with using this side bet every so often, there’s little benefit in doing so long term – the side bet has an extraordinarily large 6% house edge (which is crazy high compared to most blackjack house edge averages).

Royal 20’s

Another attractive side bet is the Royal 20’s, which pays a player out based on whether he or she has a total of 20 in the initial hand (if the player opts for this, of course). It pays up to 25:1 for two cards of the same suit, while same suit but non-face cards get 10:1 and unsuited get 5:1.

21 + 3

Though there are various versions of this side bet, especially in land-based casinos, in principle, the 21+3 bet is based on the player’s hand and the dealer’s up-card. If you opt for this side bet, most commonly you’ll get a payout of 9:1 when the three cards form a straight flush (three cards of the same suit in a sequence), three of a kind, straight, flush or pair and flush.

Bust Bonus

Another side bet you might come across, the Bust Bonus, is perhaps also the only side bet that allows the players to take it after they have played their hand. You can bet before the dealer plays her or his hand – even if you have already busted you own! You might have already guessed it from the name – the Bust Bonus is a wager you can place on the dealer busting when she or he reveals the hole card. Observe the dealer’s upcard and you’re halfway there, but win the bonus, and you can have up to a 50:1, depending on the combination of cards in the dealer’s hand.

How to Decrease the House Edge

Knowing the basics and the side bet options have hopefully given you a good overview of the game. Though we should note that, with blackjack being an ever-evolving game, it is still possible to spot other fringe side bets depending on the casino you play at. That being said, there’s some tips and guidelines which will help you make use of the rules and your own strategic thinking in order to minimise the house edge if you play well. The foundation of this should be a basic strategy for blackjack, for instance, the total-dependent or composition-dependent one. The former observes the total of the player’s hand but not the composition and considers whether the hand is soft or hard and whether actions like splitting, doubling or surrendering are possible. There are total dependent strategy charts for games with one deck, two decks or four or more decks, as here the total number of cards also plays a role.

Alternatively, the composition dependent approach considers the make-up of the hand in relation to the rest of the cards in the deck. However, this strategy works best in single deck games. For instance, a hard 16 hand can consist of a 10 or a 6, or even a 7, a 5 and a 4 – so the two compositions are wildly different. Whereas a T-D strategy chart would tell you to hit on both, the C-D strategy proposed standing with a three-card 16 and hitting on the other one.

Another thing to observe is whether the dealer hits or stands on a soft 17 (an Ace and a 6). This detail plays a huge role because it might influence the rate at which the dealer busts, which, of course, gives you an advantage. Pay close attention to the blackjack variant or even table – this rule should be clearly designated each time. Re-splitting is another touchy item on the table: some games allow you to split a second time, with some casinos even allowing unlimited splitting. Keep your eyes peeled for the chance to re-split Aces: if allowed, playing this strategy could further reduce the house edge by 0.08%.

Bogus Blackjack Strategies

As much as you might want a foolproof method to beat the house, we’re sorry to say many approaches that call themselves ‘strategies’ are actually absolute biscuits. Whereas some roulette players stay true to the Martingale system, for instance, we’re talking about a different game here and, as it turns out, with blackjack, you’re best off sticking to the good old strategy charts. Let’s take a look at some of the less-advisable methods.

Martingale/Doubling Strategy

A simple approach like Martingale is based on doubling your wager after each loss, meaning that a win will recover your lost wagers and give you a profit of one unit. This sounds fair and square and also quite attractive, but this strategy spells out trouble for blackjack players. Options like splitting or doubling down complicate the matter, so, to actually employ this strategy you’d need a sizable bankroll. Plus, you’re likely looking at more losses than wins considering that there’s roughly a 52% chance of losing a hand. Considering this detail combined with the fact that maximum table limits are a thing in real life, you’re likely to hit a wall with doubling your bets before you recover your losses.

Fibonacci Betting

Inspired by the principle of the Fibonacci sequence, the betting pattern of the same name involves making a wager which is always the sum of its two predecessors. That means that, starting from two wagers of one unit each, the third one will be the sum of the first two, the fourth one the sum of wager two and three, and so on. This repeats until you win, which is when you go back and start from one. However, this method again ignores the element of doubling up, splitting, re-splitting, etc, so you’d need a really hefty bankroll to pull through with the Fibonacci method. As intriguing as it sounds, perhaps it’s better to stick to this approach when trying to replicate renaissance paintings.

D’Alembert Strategy

This strategy is somewhat similar to the Martingale approach – but slightly tweaked. While you increase your bet by one unit after a loss, you also decrease your bet by one unit after a win. And even though this system was presumably invented with card games in mind, it’s still hard to apply the D’Alembert system to blackjack due to the quite common streaks of losing hands, as we’ve mentioned before.

Practice Makes Perfect

Put your knowledge to the test and hit up the play table to see how far this blackjack strategy guide has got you! Don’t want to risk losing any money while you learn? No worries – there are plenty of practice play game versions and demos where you can try out a hand of 50 (or 500 for that matter) and apply a strategy chart in combination with other tactics described above. Alternatively, you can opt for a casino with a no-deposit bonus or a free play reward to still have a crack at playing with real money. Keep at it until you feel like you’re making a small profit after breaking even, or after you feel completely comfortable with the game. Only then move on to real money play – it’d be a shame if you succumbed to impatience and lost a chunk of money as a result!

Our Verdict on Blackjack Strategies

As you can see, there’s no magic or mystery to mastering the best blackjack strategy out there – simply stick to the fitting chart and keep in mind the principal rules applied at a specific table and choose your tactics carefully based on those rules. We could go on for days and explore various angles and takes on how to make smart gameplay decisions – but that won’t help you further, will it? Instead, focus on the basic blackjack tactics, helpful tools and a realistic long-term strategy and you’ll be on your way to becoming a skilled blackjack player!