What Is a Blackjack Chart Used for?

Blackjack strategy charts feature a grid-like combination of player hands and dealer up-cards, in addition to a series of actions the player is encouraged to take. Blackjack strategy charts feature a colour-coded grid with Hit, Stand, Double, Split, and Surrender options. These blackjack strategy charts are a highly effective visual guide for helping blackjack players make intelligent decisions about their hands.

It is worth pointing out that there isn’t a single blackjack chart that players use; there are multiple blackjack charts available to players. For example, there are single deck soft 17 blackjack charts, single deck hard 17 blackjack charts, double deck blackjack soft 17 charts, double deck hard blackjack 17 charts, 4+ decks soft 17 blackjack charts, 4+ decks hard 17 blackjack charts, et cetera. There are different blackjack odds portrayed by different charts, and player actions vary from one chart to the next.

Effective Use of Blackjack Strategy Charts

Many blackjack players utilize a basic blackjack strategy against the dealer to reduce the house edge as much as possible. When you implement a basic blackjack strategy, it is possible to reduce the house edge to as little as 0.5%. Yet, despite our best intentions as blackjack players, variance (the luck of the cards) will always have an outsized part to play in the results of blackjack games. Experts routinely advise players to create an all-encompassing blackjack strategy that includes basic blackjack strategy, blackjack charts, blackjack card counting, blackjack odds calculators, and budgeting.

Players will be well served by committing many blackjack strategy tips to memory and implementing these rules whenever appropriate. It is important to point out that there are scores of different types of blackjack strategy charts available to players. It’s not a one-size-fits-all recipe for success with blackjack charts – there are different games with different rules. For example, there are hard 17 games and soft 17 games. It’s important to understand the difference. A hard 17 game of blackjack does not include any Aces in the hand total, or it includes an Ace but the value of that Ace is 1. A soft 17 hand includes an Ace valued at 11. The hand is deemed ‘soft’ because the Ace can assume two values without the hand busts.

Pulling Back the Curtain: Basic Blackjack Strategy Charts

Basic blackjack strategy charts provide players with hard and fast rules to employ, based on the player’s hand total and the dealer’s hand total. Below is an example of an easy-to-use blackjack strategy chart:

Blackjack Strategy Chart S17

Player Hand Value Dealer Hand Value 2– 6 Dealer Hand Value 7 – Ace
13, 14, 15 HIT HIT
16, 17, 18 DOUBLE HIT
19, 20, 21 STAND STAND

 

Blackjack Strategy Chart Rules for Splitting (Yes/No)

Player Hand Value Dealer Hand Value 2– 6 Dealer Hand Value 7 – Ace
Pairs of 2s, 3s, 6s, 7s, 9s YES NO
Pairs of 8s, Aces YES YES
Pairs of 4s, 5s and 10s NO NO

 

 

Blackjack Strategy Chart H17

Player Hand Value Dealer Hand Value 2– 6 Dealer Hand Value 7 – Ace
4 – 8 HIT HIT
9 DOUBLE HIT
10, 11 DOUBLE DOUBLE (Player Hand > Dealer Hand)

 

12, 13, 14, 15, 16 STAND HIT
17, 18, 19, 20, 21 STAND STAND

 

For the most part, players can use single deck hard and soft 17 blackjack strategy charts for blackjack games. We introduced a comprehensive set of blackjack strategy charts in our Basic Blackjack Strategy Guide. These have been reintroduced here for your benefit. Players have several options available, as detailed below: Hit, Stand, Double, or Surrender

Blackjack Strategy Chart for Soft 17

 

Player Card  VS Dealer Card

 

Hand 2 3 4 5
13 Hit Hit Stand Stand
14 Hit Hit Stand Stand
15 Hit Hit Stand Stand
16 Hit Hit Stand Stand
17 Double Double Double Double
18 Stand Double Double Double
19 Stand Stand Stand Stand
20-21 Stand Stand Stand Stand

 

6 7 8 9 10 Ace
Stand Hit Hit Hit Hit Hit
Stand Hit Hit Hit Hit Hit
Stand Hit Hit Hit Hit Hit
Stand Hit Hit Hit Hit Hit
Double Hit Hit Hit Hit Hit
Double Stand Stand Hit Hit Hit
Double Stand Stand Stand Stand Stand
Stand Stand Stand Stand Stand Stand

 

Blackjack Strategy Chart for Hard 17

 

Player Card VS Dealer Card

Hand 2 3 4 5 6
4 – 7 Hit Hit Hit Hit Hit
8 Hit Hit Hit Double Double
9 Double Double Double Double Double
10 Double Double Double Double Double
11 Double Double Double Double Double
12 Hit Hit Stand Stand Stand
13 Stand Stand Stand Stand Stand
14 Stand Stand Stand Stand Stand
15 Stand Stand Stand Stand Stand
16 Stand Stand Stand Stand Stand
17 Stand Stand Stand Stand Stand
18-21 Stand Stand Stand Stand Stand

 

7 8 9 10 Ace
Hit Hit Hit Hit Hit
Hit Hit Hit Hit Hit
Hit Hit Hit Hit Hit
Double Double Double Hit Hit
Double Double Double Double Double
Hit Hit Hit Hit Hit
Hit Hit Hit Hit Hit
Hit Hit Hit Hit Hit
Hit Hit Hit Hit Surrender
Hit Hit Hit Surrender Surrender
Stand Stand Stand Stand Surrender Stand
Stand Stand Stand Stand Stand

 

Here at Casinofy, we want to impress upon you that there are many different possibilities in the game of blackjack. For example, it is highly unlikely that you will be playing single-deck blackjack games at a land-based casino or an online casino.

For most players, blackjack games comprise multi-deck games with 4 – 8 decks of cards in play. As you might expect, there are different blackjack charts to use for these types of games. In multi-deck blackjack games, you are more likely to come across 6 or 8 decks of cards per game. Fortunately, the self-same strategies apply
whether it is 4, 6, or 8 decks of cards.

In fact, the blackjack charts for games including 4 – 8 decks bare striking similarities to single deck blackjack charts. Below you will find the blackjack strategy chart for the dealer standing on soft 17 with 4 – 8 decks of cards in play, for soft hands and hard hands respectively:


Dealer Upcard

Player Hand (Soft) 2 3 4 5 6
13 HIT HIT HIT Dh Dh
14 HIT HIT HIT Dh Dh
15 HIT HIT Dh Dh Dh
16 HIT HIT Dh Dh Dh
17 HIT Dh Dh Dh Dh
18 STAND Ds Ds Ds Ds
19, 20,

21

STAND STAND STAND STAND STAND

 

7 8 9 10 A
HIT HIT HIT HIT HIT
HIT HIT HIT HIT HIT
HIT HIT HIT HIT HIT
HIT HIT HIT HIT HIT
HIT HIT HIT HIT HIT
STAND STAND HIT HIT STAND
STAND STAND STAND STAND STAND

 

Dealer Upcard

Hard 2 3 4 5
4,5,6,7,8 HIT HIT HIT HIT
9 HIT Dh Dh Dh
10 Dh Dh Dh Dh
11 Dh Dh Dh Dh
12 HIT HIT STAND STAND
13 STAND STAND STAND STAND
14 STAND STAND STAND STAND
15 STAND STAND STAND STAND
16 STAND STAND STAND STAND
17,18,19, 20, 21 STAND STAND STAND STAND

 

6 7 8 9 10 ACE
HIT HIT HIT HIT HIT HIT
Dh HIT HIT HIT HIT HIT
Dh Dh Dh Dh HIT HIT
Dh Dh Dh Dh Dh HIT
STAND HIT HIT HIT HIT HIT
STAND HIT HIT HIT HIT HIT
STAND HIT HIT HIT HIT HIT
STAND HIT HIT HIT Rh HIT
STAND HIT HIT Rh Rh Rh
STAND STAND STAND STAND STAND STAND

 

That’s how to play soft and hard player hands with blackjack charts!

Author : Brett Chatz

A Worldwide leading content writer for casinofy.com, Brett brings a decade of expertise in the online casino realm to his articles. Merging a deep understanding of industry trends with his writing prowess, he delivers insightful and engaging content.

Please enter your email address. You will receive an email message with instructions on how to reset your password.