Blackjack strategy charts help players decide what action to take in any possible situation during a blackjack game. Charts are read with the players hand listed vertically on the left side of the chart with the dealer’s exposed cards variations listed on the top. Read our expert Blackjack Strategy guide to learn how to win. We cover basic & advanced strategies + Download our FREE Blackjack Strategy Charts! If you want the dummy’s guide to blackjack strategy, you’ll do well with our top blackjack strategy tips. Reference a strategy chart: After your cards have been dealt, compare your hand with the dealer’s up card by reading our strategy chart above. This chart will indicate the. As you can see, the standard blackjack chart consists of 2 columns where the vertical one shows the cards you have as a player, and the horizontal one shows the open card of a dealer: everything you should do is to put these two lines together, and the place where these two.

Blackjack Strategy Chart

How to Use Blackjack Strategy Charts

This section contains blackjack strategy charts. These charts vary by both type of blackjack and playing location. If this is your first time to see blackjack strategy charts, you should view our blackjack basic strategy section before you begin. These blackjack strategy charts are based on blackjack basic strategy and offer no guaranteed winning system. They simply display the correct mathematical decision you should make for every blackjack situation.

Using Blackjack Strategy Charts

Using blackjack strategy charts isn't complicated if you know how to read and understand the charts. The left vertical column of the charts is your hand and the top horizontal column is the dealer's hand. On the charts, A stands for Ace. Simply line up the columns where your hand meets the dealer's hand, to find the correct play. The abbreviations below are commonly found on blackjack strategy charts:

• H - Hit
• S - Stand
• D - Double if allowed, otherwise hit
• Ds - Double if allowed, otherwise stand
• P - Split
• H/P - Split if you can double after split, otherwise hit
• H/R - Surrender if allowed, otherwise hit
• P/R - Surrender if allowed, otherwise split
• S/R - Surrender if allowed, otherwise stand

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Blackjack has, over time, been considered to be a purely mathematical card game. This idea has led to several strategies that players can use to maximize their chances of winning. And these strategies are printed over a chart that is called the blackjack strategy chart and it is a 101 for playing blackjack. The chart helps players to reduce the house edge and hence, it is important to know how to read a blackjack chart.

How Should You Read a Blackjack Strategy Chart?

Blackjack charts, or blackjack decision matrix, are essentially tables with multiple rows and columns. The chart indicates the best-possible decisions and moves that a player can make in a given situation after he is dealt the first two cards and the dealer’s up-card is revealed.

It lists down the five main options players can choose from each time and these are hit, double down, split, surrender and stand.

In the basic blackjack strategy chart, there are two broader rows, indicating the player’s hand on the left and the dealer’s upcard on the right. When you read a blackjack chart, you find the player’s hand as rows and the dealer’s up cards as columns (these can be inverted in some matrices).

Rows

On a basic blackjack strategy chart, there is one heading row, the left side is for the player’s hand and the right side is for the dealer’s up card. Below it, there are about 26 sub rows with the subsequent digits (in case of the player’s hand) and the actions (with respect to the dealer’s up-card number) written on them.

Columns

There is one column under the player’s hand section depicting all the numbers and the probable combinations. On the right side, under the dealer’s up card section, there are 10 columns. The topmost one has digits 2 to 10 and ace and the below ones have the actions marked in their respective colors.

Actions

The actions in a blackjack strategy chart are:

• H – Hit
• S – Stand
• Dh – Double if possible, otherwise, hit
• Ds – Double if possible, otherwise stand
• P – Split the pair
• Ph – Split if allowed to split after double, otherwise hit

How To Read Blackjack Strategy Chart Printable

Apart from these, there are a couple of additional actions listed in some charts. These are only applicable in variants where the dealer is allowed to hit on soft 17. These optional actions are:

• Rs – surrender if possible, otherwise hit
• Rp – surrender if possible, otherwise split

Colors

The color-coding makes it easy for the players to read blackjack strategy charts. Generally, the background color of:

• Hit is green,
• Stand is red,
• Double Down is blue,
• Pair Split is yellow, and
• Surrender is orange.

Blackjack strategy charts can differ slightly with the primary actions and key information remaining the same. For instance, in some charts, a “+” denotes hit, “-“denotes stand, the split is marked by a “/” and Dh and Ds are represented by “2x” in some different color.

Why Are Blackjack Charts So Complicated?

Blackjack strategy charts seem to be complicated mainly because they hold a lot of information in a strictly mathematical way. While the charts do lay down the basic strategy, in a nutshell, it is difficult for any player to decipher all the information and implement the strategy into the ongoing game at the same time.

It takes years of practice for pro gamblers to master reading blackjack matrices and make them work in their favor at a casino or in online blackjack.

Are Blackjack Basic Strategy Charts Allowed In Casinos?

Free Printable Blackjack Strategy Chart

Yes, casinos do allow players to use the blackjack basic strategy charts. Players can carry them as a card and set it on the table while they are playing.

There are two main reasons why carrying a card-sized blackjack strategy card is not a big deal for the casinos. First, the charts suggest an optimal strategy and this does not make much difference to the house edge and second, most players will find it difficult to keep following the basic strategy as depicted in the charts and simultaneously take the right decision at the right time.

Blackjack strategy charts are helpful, providing players with actionable insights. However, the charts and the strategies are hard to master and need to be practiced extensively to actually be able to minimize the house edge.