Click here to Practice Black Jack.

You and the dealer will each receive two cards. Your cards will be dealt face-up and the dealer will receive one face-up and one face-down card. Play your hand according to the chart below. After your hand is completed, the dealer will play the house hand according to the House Rules. If your hand beats the dealer's hand without going over 21, you win!

Blackjack, Natural as it is sometimes called, is an Ace and ten-value card on the first two cards of a hand. This is the highest hand in the game. When you are dealt a Blackjack, you cannot lose. You can only win or push. Blackjack is not the same value as a hand that totals 21. Although a hand consisting of a 6, 7 and 8 total up to 21, a Blackjack is a Natural 21 and therefore a higher hand.

This Basic Strategy for a particular set of rules was developed by intensive computer simulation which performed a complete combinatorial analysis. The computer "played" tens of thousands of hands for each BlackJack situation possible and statistically decided as to which play decision favored the player. The following chart is the results of this analysis.

Legend: H = Hit S = Stand D = Double P = Split
Single Deck Basic Strategy Table

	Dealer's Up Card
Your Hand	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	A
8	H	H	H	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
9	D	D	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
10	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	H	H
11	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D
12	H	H	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
13	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
14	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
15	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
16	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
17	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S
A,2	H	H	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
A,3	H	H	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
A,4	H	H	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
A,5	H	H	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
A,6	D	D	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
A,7	S	D	D	D	D	S	S	H	H	S
A,8	S	S	S	S	D	S	S	S	S	S
A,9	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S
A,A	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P
2,2	H	P	P	P	P	P	H	H	H	H
3,3	H	H	P	P	P	P	H	H	H	H
4,4	H	H	H	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
6,6	P	P	P	P	P	H	H	H	H	H
7,7	P	P	P	P	P	P	H	H	S	H
8,8	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P
9,9	P	P	P	P	P	S	P	P	S	S
10,10	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S

It's only a game, Play responsible!

* The dealer has to follow a set of rules regardless of his position. Even if the dealer has a winning hand with a total of 16 he still has to take another card and may bust.
* The way to win is to get a better hand than the dealer. Many players forget this and play solely to get as close to 21 as possible, and end up busting more often than they should.
* The dealer has the advantage in that all players go first. If a player busts first he/she loses even if the dealer busts later in the game.