Memorizing Basic Blackjack Strategy: Learn to Up Your Game

Memorizing Basic Blackjack Strategy: What You’ll Learn

• Understanding the Importance of Timing in Memorization: Learn why allowing time between reading and recalling information helps transfer facts from short-term to long-term memory when memorizing basic Blackjack strategy.

• Developing Strong Neural Pathways: Discover how challenging your brain to recall information can strengthen neural connections, making memorized strategies more enduring.

• Implementing Active Learning Techniques: Gain insight into the practice of active learning by intentionally setting aside time for reading and recall exercises, enhancing retention of blackjack strategies.

• Customizing Recall Intervals: Recognize the personal nature of memorization as you experiment with different recall intervals to better suit your memory retention capabilities.

• Foundation for Enhanced Gameplay: Understand how mastering basic blackjack strategy through effective memorization can lead to more successful and profitable gameplay.

The path to profitable Blackjack has three essential steps. First, memorize basic strategy. Second, select and commit to a card counting system. Finally, advantage players will make adjustments to the basic strategy decision chart that account for their counting system and specific hand & count scenarios.

This article is all about learning, understanding, and memorizing basic strategy. Blackjack basic strategy is the (more-or-less) universally agreed-upon play for every combination of Player hand and Dealer up card.

Reinforcing the Basics

Blackjack basic strategy can be shown as one or more tables where you can simply cross-reference your own hand against the Dealer’s up card and make the decision indicated.

But don’t let the straightforward format deceive you, the choices shown in basic strategy tables aren’t guesswork; each play has been arrived at through rigorous probabilistic analysis using millions of simulated hands.

Every play seeks to maximize the expected value (or EV) of every hand.

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Note: Blackjack is a game with a built-in house advantage, and playing perfect basic strategy can’t completely erase that edge. Depending on table rules at your game, basic strategy can reduce the casino’s advantage to as little as a .5%, or a loss of only 50 cents for every $100 wagered.  

In some cases basic strategy is an offensive tool, directing you make a choice that maximizes your winnings in an already advantageous situation. But it can also be used for defense; when you’re facing an unfavorable hand, basic strategy will show you the least painful choice.

Memorizing Blackjack strategy is easier if you understand some underlying principles:

• The construction of the Blackjack deck gives rise to this key principle: the most common card value in a Blackjack deck is a 10-card. With four different ranks being valued at 10, that amounts to 30% of the deck. Basic strategy plays often assume that an unknown card  –  whether it’s the hit card you might or might not take, or the dealer’s hole card –  is a Ten, Jack, Queen, or King.

• Doubling down and splitting aren’t just fun gameplay options, they provide you critical opportunities to maximize profits. But for starters, you’ll want to make sure you master basic hit-versus-stand play. Once you’ve done that, you’ll want to take on memorizing doubling and splitting opportunities.

Basic Play with Hard Hands

The starting point for basic strategy is encompassed in the table below consisting of hard hands. A hard hand is any two card hand where an Ace is not involved.

The decisions in this table also apply if you have more than two cards including an Ace that’s counting as 1 toward your hand.  (e.g. Player is dealt Seven and Eight versus Dealer Eight. The Player hits and draws an Ace. That Ace can only count as 1; if it counted as 11, the Player’s hand would bust.)

Note: House rule variations affect basic strategy. The version of Blackjack basic strategy shown on all tables in this article are based on standard Las Vegas blackjack rules:  most important: the shoe contains more than two decks, Dealer stands on soft 17, Double down allowed on any two cards.

This is the meat-and-potatoes of Blackjack, covering nearly 70% of all situations you’ll encounter in the game. Learn it. Know it. Live it.

The logic of this chart can be summarized as follows:

• When the Player’s hand is a hard 17 or higher, stand no matter what the Dealer shows;  your hope is that the Dealer busts or that the Player’s hand is good enough to win in a showdown.

• When Dealer shows a bust card (Two thru Six, the left half of the table), the optimal move in almost every case is to stand pat, whether the Player’s hand is good or bad. With a bust card, the Dealer is more likely to bust than the Player is to draw a small card and improve their hand.

• When the dealer shows a winning card (Seven or higher, the right side of the table), the Player acts on the assumption that the Dealer’s hole card is a 10-valued card. The Player’s only hope is to attempt to improve their hand by hitting.

Note: If your game allows late Surrender (and you might have to ask the Dealer if it does), basic strategy suggests taking that option on a hard 16 versus Nine, 10-card, or Ace showing, and with a hard 15 against a Dealer’s 10-card.

There are two notable exceptions to the above rules. When the Player’s hand is a 12 versus a low Dealer card (Two or Three), the correct decision is to hit.

As the Player’s hand gets smaller (or the Dealer’s up card gets smaller), there are more cards available in the deck that will improve the hand without busting. This is still a disadvantageous situation for the Player, with an EV of negative 25 cents.  But hitting is a slightly better play than standing.

Basic Play with Soft Hands

Before we get to the advanced game options, let’s look at how to make a basic hit versus stand decision when holding a soft hand. Remember, a soft hand means the Player is holding an Ace that still has the flexibility to count as 1 or 11 without busting the hand.

The only complexity to this chart is what to do with a soft 18 (Ace-Seven). That hand is good enough to stand against everything but a Dealer 9 or 10.

Note: The soft hands table contains one of the rules of basic Blackjack strategy that is hardest for new players to get their heads around: hitting on Soft 17.

Most players are surprised to learn that a 17 is not a very good hand. In fact, it would probably shock some veteran gamblers to learn that a hard 17 is at a mathematical disadvantage against every possible Dealer up card, including bust cards!

Let that sink in. When the Player holds a hard 17, that player is more likely to lose than win, no matter what the Dealer is showing. The best decision with a soft 17 is therefore to hit in hopes of improving that weak hand. Where a hard 17 is a negative EV hand across the board, a soft 17 is a positive EV hand versus every Dealer up card less than 8.

Advanced Play: Hard Hand Double Down Situations

Once you’ve learned the essentials of hitting and standing, it’s time to get into the more advanced options: doubling down and splitting, two methods of putting more money at risk. And here the tables will start to become less intuitive and harder to memorize.

One of the most common variations in Blackjack house rules is which hands you’re allowed to double down on. Every table will let you double a hand of 10 or 11, but not all tables allow doubling on a hand value of 9.

The logic behind this table is straightforward: with 10 or 11 you’re looking to double down against anything except a Dealer showing the most powerful up cards. With a 9 you’ll want to limit your aggressive play to the four worst Dealer bust cards.

Advanced Play: Soft Hand Double Down Situations

Blackjack games that allow doubling down on any two cards aren’t always easy to find, but when you do, you should take full advantage.

The superscript indicates the ‘next best option’ if doubling this card combination isn’t allowed. For example, if Player holds a soft 18 (Ace-Seven), the correct play against the worst four Dealer bust cards is to double down.

But if that option isn’t available, the Player should simply stand. (The alternate plays listed above are consistent with the basic play table above covering soft hands.)

This table demonstrates the principle of increasing the size of your bet when the Dealer shows a bust card. In terms of memorization, learn this table in two blocks:

• Dealer Five or Six is an opportunity to double down when the Player holds any soft hand less than 19, provided it’s allowed. These double down scenarios have EV’s in the 20’s. That is, in the long run you can expect to make 20 cents per dollar wagered when doubling down against a Dealer Five or Six.

• Doubling down against a Dealer showing Three or Four are still positive EV plays, but in the low single digits, so don’t expend energy learning the nuance of those Dealer up cards until you’ve cemented the most profitable play from the first block.

Advanced Play: Playing Pairs

When you’re dealt cards of matching rank (including any two 10-valued cards) you have the option of splitting them. Like doubling down, this effectively doubles your wager, and your split cards form the nucleus of a new hand.

We’ve saved the trickiest chart for last, but don’t be alarmed. It’s a combination chart where split opportunities are overlaid with double-down opportunities. Just remember that a pair is also a hard hand, so for every situation where Split isn’t recommended, the strategy should match the previous tables for hitting, standing, and doubling with a hard hand.

I recommend breaking your memorization of this chart into three distinct levels or sections.

Level One: Always and Never Split Rules

• Always split Aces and Eights. Splitting Aces gives you a great chance at a Blackjack (or two!), and splitting Eights gets you out of one of the most disadvantageous hands for a Player.

• Never split 10’s, 5’s, or 4’s. Don’t break up a great hand or a hand that’s one 10-card away from being great. That’s especially true if doing so creates two hands on the verge of being terrible as is the case with Fours and Fives.

Level Two: Offensive Splits

• Split 6’s, 7’s and 9’s when the Dealer shows any bust card (Deuce through Six)
• Split Deuces and Threes against the worst Dealer bust cards (Four, Five, or Six)

Level Three: Advanced Splits

• Split 9’s against Dealer’s Eight and Nine
• Split 7’s against a Dealer’s Seven
• Split Deuces and Threes against Dealer’s Seven
• Split Deuces against Dealer’s Three

Memorizing Basic Blackjack Strategy: Memorization Techniques

Everyone has a different approach to memorizing facts by rote. There have been tomes written on the subject, but when it comes to Blackjack basic strategy, nothing beats actually playing the game with access to a basic strategy card.

With enough repetition you’ll start to absorb rules in no time. I can’t prove this theory, but I believe playing the game for real money puts more urgency in your learning process and you’ll become a master sooner than if you’re playing a friendly game.

Memorizing Basic Blackjack Strategy: Quick Drills

Mixing the format of your study and memorization has been shown to help cement facts into your brain. I’ve included several hundred Blackjack hands in a table at the end of the article, divided into five groups, one for each of the strategy tables above. Check them out if you want to get started right away.

Memorizing Basic Blackjack Strategy: Simulations

In the age of handheld smart devices, your pathway to memorizing Blackjack strategy has an added tool: Blackjack simulators. There are many apps available for iOS and Android that are built solely for the purpose of learning basic strategy.

For example, the free version of Blackjack Trainer 101 is quite capable; it will drill you on random hands, you can practice several sets of house rules, and the app keeps track of your stats. Upgrading for a few dollars lets you zero in on situations you’re struggling with. With a little searching you can find a training app that’s right for you.

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Memorizing Basic Blackjack Strategy: Long-term Memorization

If you’re determined to simply study the tables and commit them to memory without playing a version of the game, one of the best memorization strategies I know of says: try to recall a newly learned fact just before you’re about to forget it.

That might sound slightly circular, so let me straighten out the rationale for you.

Closing your eyes and repeating a fact two seconds after reading it creates a short-term memory that isn’t likely to stick in your head more than a few minutes. The goal is to turn newly learned facts into long-term memories.

Research has shown that the longer the interval between the initial exposure to a fact and the first attempt at recall, the more likely you are to create a long-term memory. Why? The harder your brain has to work to recall something, the stronger the neural pathways are (provided you’re eventually able to successfully recall it). And stronger pathways mean long-term memories.

Memorizing Basic Blackjack Strategy: Practice Active Learning

So to memorize something new, you’ll want to start by setting time aside for some intentional learning and practice. Experiment with reading a section (or just a line or two) of basic strategy from one of the tables in this article, then waiting for an interval of a few minutes before attempting to recall it.  

If you can reproduce it too easily, you’ll want to increase that interval until you find the period of time when you are able to recall, but it takes a little work. Every person is different, and some areas of basic strategy will be more challenging than others to commit to memory, but your goal is to identify the approximate time your brain stores a new fact in short-term memory before discarding it.

Good Luck and Get to Work!

Whatever your approach, by committing to adopting basic Blackjack strategy, you’re taking the first big step to upping your game. You’ll be laying the foundation for bigger, better, and more profitable gameplay. To help you get there, we’ve pulled together all the information in this article into the chart below.

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