Blackjack Basic Strategy Calculator

Use this Blackjack Basic Strategy Calculator to look up a starting-hand decision: hit, stand, double, split or surrender. Select your two-card hand, the dealer’s upcard, H17/S17, double after split and late surrender. The result shows the chart recommendation, its reason and a fallback when a recommended double or surrender is unavailable.

This blackjack calculator covers 4–8 decks with dealer peek and doubling on any first two cards. It selects a move under those assumptions; it does not calculate the exact expected value of the cards remaining in a shoe. Basic strategy aims to maximize expected profit or minimize expected loss, which is different from maximizing the chance of winning one hand.

Beyond the Strategy Chart

Choose among these blackjack tools and guides according to your question. Use the strategy calculator above for the next move; follow a link below for action values, rules, payouts or session planning:

• Hand decision EV — compare the expected values of alternative actions under its model. A difference in EV is an expected cost, not an amount necessarily lost on that hand.
• Blackjack rules and house edge — examine rules and expected average cost before playing.
• Blackjack payouts — distinguish profit from total return and compare 3:2 with 6:5.
• Expected Value Guide — understand the connection between edge, stakes and average cost.
• Session Variance Simulator — explore possible session swings under its assumptions.
• Bankroll Calculator — examine bankroll requirements using the specified edge, variance and risk target.

Default profile: S17, DAS and no surrender. The default example is a non-pair hard 16 against a dealer 10: HIT. Turn late surrender on and the recommendation becomes SURRENDER. Enter 8–8 in the Pairs group instead of selecting hard 16; pair decisions can differ.

How to use the blackjack strategy calculator

1. Identify your starting blackjack hand. A hard total has no Ace counted as 11. A soft total has a usable Ace. Select matching ranks from Pairs; two ten-value cards belong to that group even if their ranks differ. An original Ace plus a ten-value card has its own Blackjack option.
2. Select the dealer upcard. Ace is a separate choice. For dealer Ace or 10, this chart assumes the dealer has checked and does not have blackjack before you double, split or surrender.
3. Set H17 or S17. H17 means the dealer hits soft 17; S17 means the dealer stands on it. Both stand on hard 17.
4. Set DAS. Double after split changes some small-pair decisions. This setting does not mean you should double every hand after a split.
5. Set late surrender. Use Yes only if it is available on the starting hand. Late surrender loses half the original stake after dealer blackjack has been ruled out. Early surrender uses a different chart.
6. Read the result and fallback. Results refresh when a selection changes. Reset restores the default profile. If the output says DOUBLE, read whether its fallback is HIT or STAND.

Scope matters: this blackjack calculator follows a conventional total-dependent chart with separate pair rules. It does not resolve composition-dependent exceptions, hands after a hit, hands after splitting, resplit limits, single/double-deck games, ENHC/no-peek, restricted-doubling games or blackjack variants. The payout assumption is 3:2; this tool does not estimate RTP or the cost of 6:5 payouts.

If your table limits doubling to particular totals, use a chart for that full rule set. The displayed fallback is useful when the recommended action cannot be taken, but it does not recalculate all pair decisions for a different doubling rule.

Hard Total Strategy

This blackjack strategy chart uses the default S17 profile without surrender. Check the separate surrender table before applying a hit/stand rule. A pair should be looked up in the pair table first.

Key: H = hit; S = stand; D/H = double if allowed, otherwise hit. Dealer T means any ten-value card.

Hard 12 stands against 4–6 but hits against 2–3. Hard 13–16 stands against 2–6. Hard 17 and hard 18–20 are shown separately because only 17 has a late-surrender exception against Ace under H17.

Soft Total Strategy

The soft-hand blackjack chart also uses the default S17 profile. A usable Ace makes a hand soft: for example, A–7 can count as 18 or 8. A–8 is soft 19, while 10–9 is hard 19; their H17 decisions against dealer 6 differ.

Key: D/S = double if allowed, otherwise stand. D/H = double if allowed, otherwise hit. H = hit; S = stand.

Against dealer 3–6, A–7 doubles if allowed and otherwise stands. A–6 has a different fallback: hit if doubling is unavailable. Under H17, add doubles for A–7 against 2 and A–8 against 6; both use STAND as their fallback.

Pair Splitting Strategy

The blackjack pair-splitting chart uses S17 with DAS. P = split; the other symbols have the same meanings as above. With late surrender under H17, the 8–8 versus Ace exception takes priority over P.

Without DAS, hit 2–2 and 3–3 against dealer 2–3, hit 6–6 against 2, and hit 4–4 against 5–6. The other cells in this blackjack pair chart stay the same within the supported profile.

Splitting can be the preferred move even when its expected profit is negative. The recommendation compares alternatives; it does not mean either split hand is likely to win. The chart assumes splitting is available on the original pair and does not handle a hand that has reached a resplit limit.

H17 and late surrender: which decisions change?

Changing the blackjack dealer rule from S17 to H17 adds three doubles in this chart: hard 11 against Ace, soft 18 against 2, and soft 19 against 6. Late surrender adds the following decisions, provided it is offered for that hand:

Hard 16 in this table means a non-pair starting hand, such as 10–6 or 9–7. It does not mean 8–8. In S17, 8–8 remains a split against Ace. In H17 with late surrender, surrender the pair against Ace; if surrender is unavailable, split. Hard 18, 19 and 20 never inherit the hard-17 surrender exception.

The differences between total-dependent and composition-dependent surrender are documented in the Wizard of Odds surrender tables. The blackjack strategy calculator uses the total-dependent convention and the stated pair exception, rather than treating every composition with the same total as an exact EV calculation.

Commonly Misplayed Hands

These blackjack hands are useful practice cases because small differences in the hand type or table rules can change the preferred action.

Hard 16 vs Dealer 10

For an original non-pair 16, choose HIT without surrender and SURRENDER when late surrender is available. This is a comparison of expected values, not a prediction. Do not carry the two-card recommendation over to every three-card 16: composition-dependent exceptions can change the decision.

Hard 12 vs Dealer 2 or 3

HIT under either supported soft-17 rule. A low dealer upcard alone is not enough to justify standing on every stiff hand. Hard 12 starts standing at dealer 4; hard 13–16 starts standing at dealer 2.

Soft 18 vs Dealer 9, 10 or Ace

HIT with A–7 against all three upcards in this chart. Compare that with A–7 against 6: DOUBLE, or STAND if doubling is unavailable. Selecting the wrong hand type or ignoring the fallback produces a different decision.

Pair of 8s vs Dealer 10

SPLIT in the supported chart, including when late surrender is enabled. The H17 surrender exception for 8–8 is against Ace, not 10. This is why the pair input must be kept separate from non-pair hard 16.

Dealer bust probability in blackjack

How often does the dealer go over 21? This reference table uses six decks, with dealer blackjack already excluded. It conditions on the dealer’s upcard only, with no known player cards or other removals. Cards are drawn without replacement. S17 and H17 are shown separately; these percentages do not change when you adjust the strategy widget.

With a dealer 6, the bust probability is 42.28% under S17 and 43.93% under H17. With an Ace, it is 16.70% or 20.13% after blackjack has been ruled out. Those Ace figures must not be used as probabilities before the dealer checks. The calculations agree with the six-deck Wizard of Odds dealer-outcome tables.

Dealer bust odds are not your chance of winning. You can lose by busting first or by finishing below the dealer; you can also win when the dealer does not bust. A higher H17 bust rate therefore does not mean H17 is better for the player. Use the action chart for a decision, and the next-card bust risk calculator for the separate question of whether one more card will bust your hand.

Basic Strategy vs Card Counting

Blackjack basic strategy gives a fixed recommendation from the hand, upcard and rules. Card counting uses information about cards already dealt and can change both bet size and selected plays. This calculator has no running-count, true-count or remaining-shoe input, so it does not apply those deviations.

For example, a chart recommendation to hit a hard 16 is not a claim that hitting is optimal at every possible shoe composition. Likewise, a total-dependent recommendation need not match every result from a finite-deck hand solver. Compare the assumptions before treating a difference between tools as an error.

The card counting guide explains that separate topic. Correct blackjack strategy alone is not a promise of positive expected profit or a winning session.

Frequently Asked Questions

Blackjack strategy references

• Wizard of Odds: 4-deck to 8-deck strategy — S17 chart, DAS differences and H17 changes.
• BlackjackInfo strategy engine — a second reference chart with rule settings and explicit double/hit versus double/stand notation.

Set a spending limit before gambling. Strategy can improve decisions but cannot guarantee a profit. If gambling is causing harm, see our warning signs and help resources.