Blackjack basic strategy chart in 280 cells, dealer upcards 2 to 6 vs 7 to A and the 3 cells the soft 17 rule changes
2026-10-31
280 cells. That is how many decisions sit on one blackjack basic strategy chart. There are 100 hard cells, 80 soft cells and 100 pair cells, and each one says hit, stand, double or split.
At first it looks like a list to memorize. Read it from the dealer's upcard side, though, and the cells fall into a few lines. Below are the numbers behind those lines, and where the chart changes between a table where the dealer stands on soft 17 and one where the dealer takes another card.
1.The blackjack basic strategy chart in 280 cells
The chart here assumes 8 decks, dealer stands on soft 17 (S17), double after split allowed and no surrender. Every cell was checked against Wizard of Odds 4-8 deck basic strategy and all of them matched.
Counted by action, the 280 cells are 112 hits, 69 stands, 47 doubles and 52 splits.
- Hard, 100 cells: hit 46, stand 33, double 21
- Soft, 80 cells: hit 39, stand 23, double 18 (4 of them stand if a double is not allowed)
- Pairs, 100 cells: split 52, hit 27, stand 13, double 8
Hit fills the most cells, but the dealer's upcard is what gives the chart its shape.
Soft hand: a hand that counts an ace as 11. A,6 is soft 17. If the ace has to count as 1, the hand is hard.
2.Dealer upcard 2 to 6 vs 7 to A, the line that splits the chart
Look at the hard 13 to 16 rows and there is a line between dealer 6 and 7. Every cell to the left is stand and every cell to the right is hit. Only the 12 row differs, standing against 4 to 6 alone.
How often the dealer goes over 21
That line comes from the dealer's bust chance. Starting from 416 cards of 8 decks minus the upcard, we calculated every way the dealer can draw until reaching 17 or more.
With an upcard of 2 to 6 the dealer busts 35.4% to 42.3% of the time. A 2 busts 35.4%, a 4 39.5% and a 6 42.3%.
From 7 the numbers drop. A 7 busts 26.2%, an 8 24.4%, a 9 22.9% and a 10 21.2%, and an ace only 11.5%.
Between dealer 6 and 7 the bust chance falls from 42.3% to 26.2%, a drop of 16.1 points.
Where the dealer stops from 7 up
With a 7 showing, the dealer finishes on exactly 17 36.9% of the time. An 8 finishes on 18 36.0% of the time, a 9 on 19 35.2% and a 10 on 20 34.1%.
Ten-value cards make up 4 in 13 of the deck, so the hole card is a ten more often than anything else. The dealer often stops on the upcard plus 10.
Holding 13 to 16 against a 7 or higher, standing rarely gets bailed out by a dealer bust, and it never beats the dealer's 17 to 20. That is why the chart says hit there.
Doubles and splits follow the same line
All 18 soft doubles sit on the dealer 2 to 6 side. A hard 9 doubles only against 3 to 6.
Splits work the same way. 2,2, 3,3 and 7,7 split against 2 to 7, 6,6 against 2 to 6, and 4,4 only against 5 and 6. A,A and 8,8 always split whatever the upcard, and 10,10 and 5,5 never do.
The whole chart is built on putting more money out when the dealer shows a weak card and improving your hand when the dealer shows a strong one.
3.S17 chart vs H17 chart, the 3 cells that change
Whether the dealer stops on soft 17 or takes another card changes 3 of the 280 cells.
- 11 vs dealer A: hit with S17, double with H17
- A,7 vs dealer 2: stand with S17, double (stand if not allowed) with H17
- A,8 vs dealer 6: stand with S17, double (stand if not allowed) with H17
Evolution's seven-seat blackjack tables show hit_on_soft_17=false in their table settings. The dealer stands on soft 17, so the chart in this post applies as it is.
Charts follow different rules. Check that the deck count and soft 17 rule on the chart match the table first.
4.What is left when you play the chart perfectly, RTP and insurance
Play every cell right and the house edge is still there. Evolution's seven-seat tables have an RTP of 99.29% (Blackjack Classic help page) and Infinite Blackjack 99.47%. For every 100 bet, about 0.71 and 0.53 go on average.
Insurance is a "no" on the chart. It pays 2 to 1, so it only breaks even if the dealer's hole card is a ten more than 33.3% of the time.
In a fresh 8-deck shoe with a dealer ace showing, 128 of the remaining 415 cards are tens, 30.8%. That falls short of 33.3%.
What the chart does is pick the option that loses less on each hand, and that is where it stops.
Q.Is 16 vs a dealer 10 a hit or a stand?
A.A hit. At a table without surrender, hitting loses slightly less than standing. As shown above, a dealer 10 ends on 20 34.1% of the time, which makes standing on 16 a long wait.
Q.Does the same chart work for Infinite Blackjack?
A.The core is the same. Infinite Blackjack has a Six Card Charlie rule, where six cards without going over wins, and the small changes it causes on five-card hands are not in this chart.
Q.In what order do I read the tables?
A.Pairs first, then soft, then hard. 5,5 plays as hard 10 and follows the double cells, and 10,10 stands.
Q.Do I need to memorize the whole chart?
A.Start with the line between 6 and 7, soft doubles only against 2 to 6, and always splitting A,A and 8,8. That covers a large share of the 280 cells, and the rest can be checked with the chart beside you.
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