Keep these points in mind when playing Blackjack:

• The dealer has an edge because the players have to go first. The edge here is that when a player busts they lose immediately even if the dealer go on to bust later in the game.
• The way to win is to get a better hand than the dealer. Forget about getting as close to 21 as you can concentrate on getting a better hand than the dealer can make.
• There are two ways to win: 1) You can hold a higher hand than the dealer or 2) You can hold when the dealer has a good percentage chance of breaking and wait for the dealer to break.
• The dealer must follow the house rules. Even if he/she has a winning hand at 16 he/she must draw another card.

Dealers Face-up card	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Ace
Chance of busting	35%	37%	40%	42%	42%	26%	24%	23%	23%	17%

Notice that the dealer has a higher chance of busting when his face-up card is 6 or less than if the face-up card is 7 or more. Keep this table in mind when rules for winning are discussed.

Soft Hands are hands that contain an Ace counted as an 11. The strategy for these hands is different because you cannot bust with a soft hand (you simply revalue the Ace from a value of 11 to a value of 1). The basic strategy with a soft hand is to double down when the dealer has a high probability of busting (his/her face up card is a low value card).

Soft Total	Dealer Showing	Action
19, 20, 21	All	Stand
18	3, 4, 5 or 6 9, 10 or Ace 2, 7 or 8	Double Down Hit Stand
17	3, 4, 5 or 6 2, 7, 8, 9, 10 or Ace	Double Down Hit
15, 16	4, 5 or 6 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10 or Ace	Double Down Hit
13, 14	5 or 6 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10 or Ace	Double Down Hit

Sometimes when playing with a soft hand you draw a card and you have to convert your hand to a hard hand. In this case you play the hand using hard hand rules.

Hard Hands are hands that either don't have an Ace in them or if they contain an Ace it has a point value of 1.

Players Total	Dealer Showing	Action
17, 18, 19, 20 or 21	All	Stand
12, 13, 14, 15 or 16	2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 7, 8, 9, 10 or Ace	Stand Hit

Doubling Down gives you a chance to increase your wager. You should always double down when your chances are winning are good. Again different strategies are to be used for soft and hand hands.

Soft Hands - Double down when:

Player's Hand	Dealer Showing
(Ace & 6) or (Ace & 7)	3, 4, 5 or 6
(Ace & 2) or (Ace & 3)	5 or 6
(Ace & 4) or (Ace & 5)	4, 5 or 6

Hard Hands - Double down when:

Player's Hand	Dealer Showing
9	3, 4, 5 or 6
10	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9
11	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10

Splitting Pairs should not be automatically done.

Never split a pair of fives or a pair of tens. Two fives total ten and your odds of drawing a ten are better than for any other card while two tens total 20 and you have a high probability of winning.

Always split Aces an eights. Your chances of drawing a card worth ten are better than for any other card so you end up with a total of 21 (for Aces) or 18 (for eights). Both of these are difficult for a dealer to beat.

Other splitting decisions depend on what the dealer is showing. Split when:

Player Pair	Dealer Showing
2, 3 or 7	2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7
4	5 or 6
6	2, 3, 4, 5 or 6
9	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 or 9

Surrendering (when playing multiple deck games) is advisable only when:

• You have a hard 16 and the dealer is showing a 9, 10 or Ace.
• You have a hard 15 and the dealer is showing a 10.