The TRUTH about Basic Strategy
(Revised: April 2003)

Part I

by Boris

Virtually every book on Blackjack offers some sort of write-up on Basic Strategy; some more "accurate" than others. Yet, suprisingly, Basic is one of the most least-understood aspects of the game. To make for easier assimilation, I've broken the topic down into the categories list below. Click on any of the items to proceed.

Basic Strategy - a Simple Definition

Basic Strategy - Evolution

Basic Strategy - Details & Assumptions

Understanding Basic Strategy

Drilling Basic Strategy

What's Wrong with Basic Strategy

Beyond Basic Strategy

Basic Strategy - a Simple Definition

The idea behind Basic Strategy is to provide the average player an approximately-optimum way to play the cards, taking into account ONLY the player's hand/total and the dealer's upcard.

You should know that Basic is a lose-less strategy; not necessarily a winning strategy. Its purpose is to drop the house edge as much as possible, given minimal information and minimal skill. Because of this, it is crucial that you not only memorize the Basic Strategy plays, but understand the logic behind those plays. Even if you plan to advance to other strategies (such as card-counting or clump-tracking), Basic Strategy is still important knowledge to possess, if for no other reason than to serve as a point of comparison.

Basic Strategy Evolution

What is accepted today as "Basic Strategy" has actually evolved based on the research and ideas of many contributors. Major contributors to this body of knowledge include: Baldwin, et al (circa 1953), Ed Thorp (circa 1962), Julian Braun and Peter Griffin (circa early 1970's). Arnold Snyder detailed a "Composite Basic Strategy" to "blend" all the variations into one (albeit compromised) approach. This is detailed in his book Blackbelt in Blackjack.

Basic Strategy Details and Assumptions

Details
Basic Strategy is influenced by a number little-known aspects of the game of Blackjack. For example, it can be easily shown that the dealer's SOLE advantage in Blackjack has to do with the fact that if BOTH the player and the dealer break, the player loses (because the player hand is retired immediately, regardless of whether the dealer breaks later). This seemingly insignificant rule gives the dealer an advantage of over 8%.

Learning to Hit/Stand, Double/Split and Surrender "correctly" (which is what Basic Strategy is all about) reduces that advantage to well under 1%. While Basic Strategy players may lose way more hands than they win, in theory, the volume of split-wins and double-wins make up for many of the otherwise lost hands.

It can be well argued that a player's over-all win-rate in a given playing session comes down to a handfull of Double/Split plays; the remaining Hit/Standing decisions serve to maintain the win during non Double/Split situations.

Assumptions
Basic Strategy is born out of a number of assumptions; all of which have interesting implications in today's Blackjack games.

To begin with, you should understand that Basic Strategy was derived from computer-run simulations which utilized a "random" card shuffle. In actuality, the card shuffling procedures in today's Blackjack games produce cards that are nowhere near random; even with the proliferation of Shuffle Machines. As the number of decks increase, so does the non-randomness of the cards resulting from the shuffle.

There are a number of even more "serious" flaws with Basic Strategy as applied to today's Blackjack games. Because this is such a hot topic, I've decided to detail this in a separate article. Part II of this discussion is accessible via the What's Wrong with Basic Strategy part of this article.

Ignoring Basic's defficiencies for now... let's move on to an understanding of how Basic Strategy works.

Understanding Basic Strategy

To understand Basic Strategy it is best to break it down into its major components:

1. Hitting and Standing
   

2. Hard Doubling
   
3. Pair Splitting
   
4. Soft Doubling
   
5. "Advanced Plays"

Note: In the following tables we have the following possibilities:

H = Hit

S = Stand

P = Split

D = Double

Surr = Surrender

Hitting and Standing
Because most of your Blackjack plays will be Hit or Stand decisions, it is crucial that you understand the correct way to play these hands.
In general, there are 4 kinds of hands: (1) Pat hands - 17 - 21 (on which you always stand), hands totaling less than 9 (which you always hit), potential double-hands (9, 10 & 11, as well as certain "soft" hands) and Stiff hands (12-16).
It is from correctly playing hands in the 4th category that the biggest difference is made in your win-rate.
Doubles and Splits have the next greatest impact.

	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	X	A
12	H	H	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
13	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
14	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
15	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	Surr/H	Surr/H
16	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	Surr/H	Surr/H	Surr/H
17	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S
A-7	S	D	D	D	D	S	S	H	H	H

In the above table entries, the Surr/H entry means to Surrender if offered in the game; otherwise you should just hit the hand.
With these hands, standing is not an option. Statistically, players lose way more by standing on these hands than by hitting.

Pair Spliting
Pair splitting allows you to take one hand of questionable value and convert it to two hands (of lesser value), allowing you to in effect "start over", with a double-chance to make a score. After splitting pairs, it is not suprising to find that you win one hand and lose the other. It is better to push overall than to lose a hand (which might well happen if we don't split). Pair-splitting can be seen as an offensive, as well as a defensive, strategy. As with doubling down, splitting pairs can be done to maximize the player's win-rate, should the dealer be perceived to have a lousy (i.e. potentially-breaking) hand.

	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	X	A
2-2	H	H	P	P	P	P	H	H	H	H
3-3	H	H	P	P	P	P	H	H	H	H
6-6	P	P	P	P	P	H	H	H	H	H
7-7	P	P	P	P	P	H	H	H	H	H
8-8	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	Surr/H	Surr/H
9-9	P	P	P	P	P	S	P	P	S	S
A-A	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P

Doubling Down
The idea of doubling down is to get more money on the table when:

1. You have a potentially strong hand

2. You predict the dealer to have a breaking (or near-breaking) hand and want to get more money on the table (as is the case with most soft-double hands).

The Hard and Soft-double aspects of Basic Strategy are designed to maximize your win-rate, while keeping your losses to a minimum.

	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	X	A
A-2	H	H	H	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
A-3	H	H	H	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
A-4	H	H	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
A-5	H	H	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
A-6	H	D	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
A-7	S	D	D	D	D	S	S	H	H	H
9	H	D	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
10	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	H	H
11	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	H

Drilling Basic Strategy

Learning Basic Strategy is not a difficult process for people of average intelligence (your mileage may vary). You can study books, make up flash cards or use computer software designed to assist the drilling process. The Boris for Blackjack Software comes with a comprehensive drills facility, which amongst other things, allows you to master Basic Strategy.

Learning Basic is simply a matter of repetition. Using computer software gives you immediate feedback on your drill progress. Before moving on to more complex aspects of Blackjack, be sure that your knowledge of Basic Strategy is 100% (without having to resort to looking up the plays).

The more you drill Basic Strategy, the easier it will be to commit it to memory for immediate retrieval in your casino play. If you are slow, uncertain or flat-out wrong in your strategy decisions, that simply means you need more practice. With the Boris for Blackjack Software you can ask for immediate advice, as well as look at the correctness of your Hit/Stand/Double/Split/Surrender decisions. Boris will also report to you the win/lose effect violating Basic Strategy has had on your play - very telling information.

What is wrong with Basic Strategy

After all I have said regarding the importance and efficacy of Basic Strategy, it might surprise you to know that I take issue with many aspects of Basic; at least in today's multi-deck (shoe) games. Remember that Basic Strategy was derived from computer studies assuming a RANDOM shuffle of the cards in play. If you have been to the articles sections on the Boris for Blackjack Website, you know that we dispute the myth of Random cards in today's games.

According to Basic Strategy mathematics, in todays shoe games a B.S. player suffers only a 0.4% to 0.8% edge against the house. At this rate, a player playing 800 $5 hands of Blackjack (about the max for an average 3 - 4 day casino trip) should be able to buy-in for $100 and cashout with approximately $68 dollars at the end of the trip. As it turns out, that rarely happens. Even most of the players I watch flat-betting with Basic Strategy are usually blown-out of the water in an hour or two at best. When was the last time YOU consistently invested 20 units and came away with 10 - 13 units left, playing ONLY Basic Strategy?

Remember that (according to the card-count experts) one or two mistakes per hour can eradicate a [theoretical] 1% player advantage; even moreso if those plays are doubles and splits.

In Part II of this section on Basic Strategy, I will point out what happens when some of our key playing assumptions are wrong.

Beyond Basic Strategy

As discussed earlier, Basic Strategy is a "lose less" strategy. It designed to help the player cut losses to a minimum, not necessarily to win. If you would like to win consistently at Blackjack, you need to tackle one of the many card-count or clump-track strategies available. Articles at the Boris on Blackjack Website will give you ideas of what kind of play (counting or clumping) best suits your abilities and temperment.

If you are a casual player, you will find Basic to be the perfect compromise between quality play and ease of learning to play accurate Blackjack. You probably won't win much money, but with judicious money management, you probably won't lose much either.

We are currently in the process of fine tuning a pair of replacements to Basic Strategy, in the form of Basic Strategy II & Basic Strategy III. Check back with the Boris for Blackjack Website for updates on our progress.

ENJOY!

Updated: 08-24-2007

Copytight 2000 - 2007 Casino Gaming Software - All Rights Reserved.