Using Basic Strategy Charts and Cards
All Basic Strategy charts are read with the players hand possibilities listed vertically on the left side of the chart with the dealer's exposed cards variations listed on the top. To determine the best course of action find the value of your hand and the dealers hand. Often it is helpful to notice patterns in the strategy charts. Particular moves such as: standing, hitting, doubling, splitting and surrender, including their conditions (e.g. double if allowed or split, double if allowed or stand, surrender if allowed or hit) are usually color coded. Once you have become familiar with the strategy charts you can associate the moves with the colors and their relative position according to the hands. This can be a powerful mnemonic learning method.
Each deck generally has two variations depending on the rules that the dealer follows: Dealer stands on soft 17 or dealer hits on soft 17.
Single Deck Blackjack Strategy Chart
While this is generally an out of date style of play, single deck games can still be found in smaller casinos, online and of course at home. Beware single deck blackjack game at casinos with special rules or 6:5 payout ratios as they are usually a clever way to fool novice players. The gimmick actually turns the house advantage to be as much or greater than a normal multi-deck shoe game.
Playing with a single deck may be used to assist a player in building certain skills (such as card counting) and making other lessons easier to digest (deck penetration, card pairs), however it is generally more accepted to play with 2-8 decks.
2 Deck Blackjack Strategy Chart
4 Deck Blackjack Strategy Chart
6 Deck Blackjack Strategy Chart
