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• Julian Braun - Blackjack
• Julian Braun Blackjack

Julian Braun is the author of How to Play Winning Blackjack. He refined Edward Thorp’s original blackjack strategies in the 1960’s using more advanced. Le blackjack est l'un. On y retrouve les plus grands joueurs de tous les temps: Ken Uston, Edward Thorp, Andy Bloch, Stu Ungar, Julian Braun, Jeff Ma. Explains the orgins of blackjack and the development of blackjack strategy. A blackjack game history.

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BLACKJACK

WHAT IS THE CORRECT BLACKJACK BASIC STRATEGY?

There is only one correct basic strategy for this game given a set of established rules. However, since all casinos don’t offer the same rules the strategy can be slightly different from game to game. The number of decks used also affects the strategy slightly. A player should always play his hand using the applicable basic strategy chart unless he is card counting or has additional knowledge of the situation. Card counters often refer to basic strategy as the playing strategy for a neutral deck. As the count rises and falls the optimum playing strategy will also change. Check out our FAQfile for more important questions like this about blackjack.

BASIC STRATEGY HISTORY

The first scientific and mathematically sound attempts to devise a basic strategy were published by Roger Baldwin, et al in 1953. In 1962, Edward Thorp published his findings of an optimal blackjack strategy using a high-speed digital computer. Julian Braun continued this work and published what most players know today as the correct basic strategy of the game. Further refinements for single and double deck were made by Peter Griffin who published what is considered, by most professional players today, as the exact basic strategy of the game.

Although the majority of the playing strategies shown have been known for many years you may find differences of opinion on some of the finer points of play. Don’t labor over these fine points! Instead, you might even consider misplaying some of them to camouflage your play as a card counter.

For many years, Stanford Wong’s Basic Blackjack were the player’s best resources for the “correct” basic strategy for any number of decks and rules. These charts are organized by rule and rule variation. Players are advised to check the particular casino or casino area rules to determine which chart and possibly which portions of the charts are applicable.

Although casino rules can change overnight, players were often (prior to 2000) advised to compare rules with those of the Las Vegas Strip casinos. On the Strip you were often able to find games where you can double down on any two cards and in which the dealer stood of soft 17. In Downtown Las Vegas most casinos would have their dealers hit soft 17. In Reno, dealers generally hit soft 17 and you were usually allowed to double only on 10 or 11. Many of the larger casinos allowed doubling after splitting and some even offered late surrender. Be sure you understand all the rules and options available to you before you step inside a casino. In recent years, many casinos are now forcing 6:5 blackjack rules on the public. This is a terrible rule for the player as it adds about 1.39% more to the casino edge against you.

ORDER YOUR BASIC STRATEGY CARDS NOW!

INSURANCE, SIDE BETS AND BLACKJACK VARIATIONS

The basic strategy for the insurance decision is to never take insurance unless you are counting cards and know when to take this side bet. If you find a casino that offers a side bet(e.g., Royal Match, Over/Under 13, etc) you should not play any of these bets at any time — unless you have mastered a specific optimized count to overcome their usual high house edge . The basic strategy for Multiple-Action blackjack (and similar games) is the same as regular blackjack.

READING THE BASIC STRATEGY CHART(S)

• Dealer’s up-card is shown along the top of the chart.
• Player’s hand is shown vertically on the left side of the chart.
• Always hit hands less than 9 unless otherwise indicated.
• Always stand on A,9 or higher. Always treat 5,5 as a 10.
• If soft doubling is not allowed stand on A,7 Vs 2 – 8.

CORRECT BASIC STRATEGY (GENERIC)

This is a generic multi-deck strategy where the dealer stands on soft-17 and double after splits is allowed. Refer to the full charts on this page for all rule variations and fine points for single, double and multi-deck games. When trying to make a decision, first decide if surrendering is an option, then whether to split or double and finally whether you should hit or stand.

SURRENDER

Surrender hard 16 (but not 88 pair) vs dealer 9, 10 or Ace.
Surrender hard 15 vs dealer 10.

SPLIT

Always split Aces and 8s.
Never split 10s and 5s.
Split 2s and 3s vs dealer 4-7.
Split 4s vs dealer 5-6.
Split 6s vs dealer 2-6.
Split 7s vs dealer 2-7.
Split 9s vs dealer 2-6 and 8-9.

DOUBLE DOWN

Double hard 9 vs dealer 3-6.
Double hard 10 vs dealer 2-9.
Double hard 11 vs dealer 2-10.
Double soft 13 or 14 vs dealer 5-6.
Double soft 15 or 16 vs dealer 4-6.
Double soft 17 or 18 vs dealer 3-6.

HIT OR STAND

Stand on hard 12 vs dealer 4-6.
Stand on hard 13-16 vs dealer 2-6.
Stand on hard 17 or more.
Stand on soft 19 (A8) or more.
Hit hard 11 or less.
Hit soft 17 (A6) or less.
Hit soft 18 (A7) vs dealer 9, 10 and Ace.

IF DEALER HITS SOFT 17

Surrender 15, 88 and 17 vs dealer Ace.
Double 11 vs dealer Ace.
Double soft 18 (A7) vs dealer 2.
Double soft 19 (A8) vs dealer 6.

A PROVEN WINNING SYSTEM

The correct basic strategy is a proven winning system for the game of twenty-one. It is a strategy which maximizes the player’s expectation given only knowledge of the player’s hand and the dealer’s up-card. In the good old days when single deck was plentiful and rules were great, these non-counting strategies could actually give the player a small advantage. Today, casino managers are aware of the power of basic strategy and generally do not offer games that can be beaten off the top of the deck. However, players should keep their eyes open for promotional games which do surface from time to time!

Basic strategy is powerful! All card counters must master it before moving on to the fine art of card counting. Basic strategy is not difficult! A person with average intelligence can memorize it in just a few hours. Basic strategy is the way to play! Every time you make a play on a hunch or intuition and ignore the “correct” basic strategy play you increase the casino advantage against you.

For example, a pit boss witnessing a player standing on an A-7 versus a ten valued dealer up-card would generally consider this player a novice or an idiot. If you stand on this hand you will win it about 41% of the time. If you hit the hand you increase your chances to 43%. Why would anyone not hit this hand? You can’t bust (at least not initially) and you stand a good chance of improving it. But every time I play this game I witness players standing on A-7 vs 10 with the hope that the dealer doesn’t have a nine or ten in the hole. Don’t be an idiot! Trust in basic strategy and play it perfectly. Your bankroll will thank you for it.

Julian Braun - Blackjack

OTHER GOOD RESOURCES

• Spanish 21 by Michael Shackleford
• Blackjack B.S. Engine by '>Ken Smith
  
• Ultimate Guide to Blackjack by Michael Shackleford

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Blackjack Review Network
FAQ 3: Portions of the above article were originally published as a Frequently Asked Question in Volume 4 Issue 4 of Blackjack Review Magazine

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Late Surrender Basic Strategy: Why the Correct Strategy Doesn't Make Sense

Question from a Reader: The widely published and disseminated blackjack basic strategy for late surrender seems to me to be wrong. The strategy that is accepted is to surrender a hard 15 vs. a 10, and hard 16 (excluding 8, 8) to a 9, 10 or Ace. Although I am not using high-level blackjack mathematics or computers for my reasoning, it seems to me that the correct strategy would be to surrender every hard 15 or hard 16 (except 8, 8) any time a dealer shows 7, 8, 9, 10 or Ace.

My reasoning is that any time you take a hit on 15 or 16, over half of the cards in a full deck will bust you. If you have a 15, drawing a 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen or King will bust you. That equates to 7 out of the 13 possible cards to draw. If a blackjack game consists of four decks, and the player holds an 8 and a 7 versus a dealer 7, and those are the only cards that have been played, then 109 of the 205 unseen cards will bust him.

If a player is over 50% likely to lose all his bet, then it seems advantageous to surrender one half of his bet all the time. If my reasoning is flawed, I would greatly appreciate an explanation as to why.

Answer: This is a wonderful question because your argument is so persuasive, that to anyone — other than a mathematician — it makes perfect sense. First of all, you are 100% correct in most of your analysis. In a four-deck game, there are a total of 208 cards (52 x 4). If you remove a player hand consisting of a Seven and an Eight versus a dealer upcard of Seven, you will have 205 unseen cards remaining.

Of those 205 remaining cards, 109 cards (all remaining Sevens and Eights, plus the Nines, Tens, Jacks, Queens and Kings) will bust the player’s hard 15. One hundred nine cards represent 53% of the 205 possible hits. Furthermore, you would also expect to lose at least some of the 47% of the hands which you did not bust with one hit, depending on the ultimate totals of your own hand and the dealer’s hand.

So, since you know you’re going to lose more than 50 percent of your 15s played out against a dealer Seven—no doubt about it!— why don’t the “experts” tell you to surrender this hand as basic strategy, and hold your losses to an even 50 percent and no more?

This makes perfect sense, right?

WRONG!

This is what happens when amateurs try to do a dangerous stunt like statistical analysis. Statisticians are the Evel Knievels of the math world — trained professionals who dare to perform their feats of mental wizardry without any safety nets. But please, don’t try it yourself at home. You’re liable to start devising your own “basic strategy,” and the next thing you know, you’ll be panhandling for pocket change, wondering where your savings went!

Let’s simplify this problem. Forget about decks of cards. Instead, let’s use marbles in a vase.

Put 100 marbles in an opaque vase — 47 white marbles and 53 black marbles. You have to reach in and draw out one marble. If you draw a white one you win $1, and if you draw a black one you lose $1.

It is obvious from the start that you are going to lose 53 times out of 100 draws.

Therefore, if I offer you a surrender option, whereby you may simply give me 50¢ per draw, rather than risking a dollar to draw a marble, would you surrender?

No!

You’re forgetting that when you don’t lose, you win. In our marble example, you will expect to lose $53 on every 100 draws, but you offset this loss by winning $47 out of every 100 draws. So, your net result after 100 draws will be a loss of only $6. If you surrender 50¢ on all 100 draws, you will lose $50 instead of losing only $6! So, just because you know you’re going to lose more than 50 percent on a specified hand does not make it a surrender decision. No way!

What percentage of your hands do you have to expect to lose before you would be better off surrendering half your bet?

Consider the marbles...

If I had 60 black marbles (losses) and 40 white marbles (wins), what would be my net result from 100 draws?

Julian Braun Blackjack

-60 + 40 = -$20.

Still not enough black marbles to make surrendering a wise decision. What about 70 black marbles and 30 white ones?

-70 + 30 = -$40.

Still not enough black marbles. How about 75 black marbles and 25 white ones?

-75 + 25 = -$50.

Aha!

This is our break-even point, where 100 draws would result in the same expectation (-$50) as 100 surrender decisions.

Since 75 is exactly 3 x 25, then you know that surrendering half your bet is the optimal strategy decision only if you will lose more than three times as many hands as you will win!

With cards, instead of marbles, the math is not so simple because some hands will push, and we don’t know the precise win/loss percentages for Seven, Eight versus Seven without a more detailed analysis showing all of the possible player totals versus all of the possible dealer totals. But the simple fact remains that unless you expect to lose more than three times more often than you expect to win — don’t surrender.

If you want to work out all of the possible outcomes yourself, use a computer to cycle through all of the possible hands, because there are many thousands of possibilities. You could spend months trying to figure out what to do with 15 versus 7.

Instead, trust the dozens of mathematicians and computer programmers who have all come to the same conclusion — don’t surrender that hand. It’s true you will lose more than 50% of these hands. But you will not lose more than three times as often as you will win. And that’s how you determine your surrender basic strategy. ♠

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For more information on blackjack statistics and card counting analysis, see the Professional Gambling Library