Blackjack Drillmaster

Blackjack Info

Basic Strategy

Basic strategy is the term applied to a system of play providing the highest betting yield without keeping track of the cards already played. It tells you the mathematically correct playing decisions that you should make to improve your chances of winning. Basic Strategy consist of the best percentage moves of drawing a card (hitting), standing, splitting or doubling down,  after you receive 2 cards and the dealer reveals his upcard. Strategy decisions are made by evaluating the player's first 2 cards versus the dealer's upcard. Cards held by other players on the table have no bearing on the Basic Strategy decision to be made.

Basic Strategy is the first key to reducing the casino's edge and increasing your chance at winning in blackjack. When you use Basic Strategy in your games, you have reduced the casino's odds to almost even. Basic Strategy is also a key component of any effective card-counting system by which you could gain an advantage over the house.

Reading a book will give you a good base of knowledge, but you need to commit to your memory the Basic Strategy plays to be able to make good use of it in actual battle with the casino. Every casino, or even every table in the same casino will need a slightly different optimal blackjack strategy table. Minor adjustments are made to basic strategy depending on certain rule variations that the casinos can chose to use. For example some casinos will allow you to double down after splitting (DOS) and some do not allow it. There are also some changes made to basic strategy for single and multiple deck games. However, it's not practical for the average player to try to memorize each and every strategy table. In practice, it is best to memorize one Generic Basic Strategy table.

Most players start learning by referring to a basic strategy chart. The strategy chart shows you how to play your first two cards based on the dealers up card. To use the chart, locate your 2-card hand in the leftmost column and locate the dealer's upcard in the topmost row, the cell where they intersect shows the proper play for that situation.

Chart 1 - Level 1 Generic Basic Strategy Table

Example:  Suppose that your first two cards are and a 9 and a 5 for a total of 14 and the dealer is showing a 7.  Their intersection holds the letter H which means that you must hit or take another card.

Looking at this chart, you'll find that there are 10 columns and 28 rows for a total of 280 different decisions to be learned and memorized. It is not all that hard at all. There are general patterns that can be noted and knowing them will aid in understanding and committing the Basic Strategy to memory. The BlackJack DrillMaster program even goes further by providing a 2-level approach to learning the generic Basic Strategy.

The Level 1 Basic Strategy Guide

• When playing you first check for SPLITS. Then you check if you can DOUBLE-DOWN. And finally, you decide if you will HIT or STAND.
• You will always SPLIT a pair of Aces or 8s.
• If you have a total of 10 or 11, DOUBLE-DOWN if your total is more than the dealer's upcard (You double-down on a total of 10 only if the dealer is showing a 9 or less. You double-down on a total of 11 only if the dealer is showing a 10 or less)
• In general, if you have a total of 8 or less, keep hitting until until you get 17 or more. If you have 17 or more always stand.
• When the dealer shows a LOW card (2 thru 6), you would NEVER HIT A BREAKING HAND (a total of 12 thru 16) with the exception of a dealer 2 or 3 showing.
• When the dealer shows a HIGH card (7 thru Ace), ALWAYS ASSUME THAT THIS HOLE CARD IS A 10. Then it will be easy to remember that you must keep hitting your hand until you get a total of 17 or better to beat the dealer's potential standing hand.

The Level 2 Basic Strategy Guide

In general, the Level 1 rules still apply when you move up to Level 2. You still follow the SPLIT - DOUBLE-DOWN - HIT/STAND evaluation sequence. However additional rules are provided for each stage of the evaluation sequence. Most of the additional rules apply to pair splitting and the handling of soft hands against a dealer low upcard.

• PAIR SPLITTING

• DOUBLING-DOWN

• HARD HANDS/HARD TOTALS

• SOFT HANDS/SOFT TOTALS

Chart 2 - Level 2 Generic Basic Strategy Table

Now that you have been presented with the Generic Basic Strategy Charts and the Memory Aid Rules, how do you go about learning them. There are several approaches you can try such as

1. By using flash cards (On an index card, write the player and dealer hands on one side and the correct play one the other side or back of the card. Go thru the index cards one by one and read the scenario to be played and call out the correct play. Check you answer by flipping the card over )
2. Try to reproduce the chart on a piece of paper or in an Excel spreadsheet and compare with the charts above.
3. Simulate playing situations with a deck of cards. Deal a card for the dealer and deal yourself 2 cards. Call out the correct play and check your answer against the charts above.
4. Practice with a computer. The BlackJack DrillMaster program is designed to help anyone learn and master Basic Strategy with ease and have greater memory retention. With this program you get to use approach numbers 1 and 3 at the same time. The program will present you with a graphical flash card (fully rendered cards will be displayed for the dealer and player hands not notations like A-9 vs 8). You will not spend time with shuffling and dealing the cards by hand, this will be automatically taken care of by the program This will allow you to concentrate on your primary objective of learning the rules and committing them to memory. You also get to know how well you did with your practice with the counts of hit and misses.

One last advice before you go.... you must always PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!