Blackjack Basic Strategy for Experts

The initial house Percentage for Blackjack is about 5,75%. Playing with the Basic Strategy, you can lower the house Percentage to about 0,5%. Depending on the house rules, you can even reach a player advantage of 0,1%.

The rules for Blackjack vary in different countries and casinos. I.E. splitting twice might be possible in one casino, but not in another. These varieties of rules have little effect on the Strategy you choose. The beginner should play with the Basic Strategy. But to optimize game play, an expert should use the special strategy depending on the house rules. Since there are a few main types of software available, I have chosen to show you the perfect strategy for each of them. The strategy tables come from the Wizard of Odds, a mathematician, like nobody else, who is specialized in online casinos .

Some Boss Media casinos have two different Black Jack variations. The rules for “normal” Blackjack are:

• six decks
• Dealer stands on Soft 17
• Player can double any two cards
• Player can double after split
• Player can’t split after split
• Player only gets one card for each hand after splitting two Aces
• Dealer checks for Blackjack before the player can make any decisions (US-Rules)

Using this strategy on these rules, the house percentage is about 0,46%.

The second variation is likely the best type to find on the internet. The rules are the same, but there is only one deck used. Use this strategy on these rules, to receive a player advantage of 0,1%!

There are two different types of Microgaming software. The old one (which does not have the great Auto play Mode) has two variations: Multihand and European (2 decks). The house percentage on the European version, using this strategy is lower (0,13%) than the house percentage on the multiplayer (0,57%) version.

The new software version (Viper) has a lot of different Blackjack variations. You have the lowest house percentage with the Vegas Strip rules (0,36%). The best thing, available with the Viper software is the Auto Play Mode. You can edit your own strategy and let the software do the work.

You can find strategies for all the other variations here.

Playtech offers a six-deck Blackjack with a house percentage of 0,52% using this strategy.

A very nice new variation offered only by Playtech casinos is Black Jack Switch. It can be played with a house percentage of 0,05% but the rules are a bit complicated.

Cryptologic has the same rules as Boss Media six-deck and is played with the same strategy.

The rules of Odds On have a relatively high house percentage. Whoever uses this strategy looses about 0,73%.

Whoever wants to know about all the available special strategies should use the “Basic strategy engine”, which shows the correct strategy to use once you have entered the rules.

AAnother very nice tool is the “House edge calculator"

You can find a very good introduction into the game of 21 here. There is also an explanation about card counting.

Deepnettech has some good training software. You can learn everything from Basic strategy to card counting.