Strategy can tell a player when the best time to bet is in blackjack and what the best plays are given the cards being held and what the dealer is showing. Normally this means knowing the math and probability of the game. Unfortunately most blackjack players do not want to take the time to go that deep into the game. Generally only professional gamblers will go that deep into the game.

However, there is nothing wrong with wanting to make some serious extra money and that is where knowing the best times and best plays comes in. For players that want to make that serious real money on the side but do not want to do the math there is another way to know when and what the best bets in blackjack are: basic strategy.

In basic strategy the math and the probability has already been calculated and put into an easy to use chart. This chart is not only the best strategy tool for both online blackjack and casino players, it also has another benefit: it is free. It costs nothing to obtain a basic strategy chart and it does not require any extra investment other than what you would normally be wagering in a game of blackjack.

Basic strategy is a char that gives the best play for each combination of dealer up card and player starting hand. Playing according to basic strategy can open a player’s eyes up to more double down options, which in turn opens players up to more winning opportunities and more opportunities to increase their own edge. Playing according to basic strategy can drop the house edge to 0.5%.

First of the do’s is to play with a blackjack strategy, preferably using basic strategy. Blackjack for real money is not a guessing game. Guessing or “intuitive” playing is a quick way to lose your bankroll. Also, when I say strategy I do not mean some pseudo strategy. Strategy for blackjack has to be based on math, on numbers, statistics and odds. That is what makes something as simple as basic strategy so effective.

Basic strategy is simple a chart with the best statistical play for every hand in blackjack against any of the dealer up cards. It is a simple way to play out every hand while being effective. Playing blackjack according to basic strategy can lower the house edge to 0.5%.

Now it is time for a do not. Do not ever (and I do mean not ever) take insurance. Or play in a blackjack variation with a side bet. Side bets are another way for the house to very quickly swipe your bankroll out from under you. Understand this: insurance and side bets do not have player favorable odds. That is why they should be avoided. Stick to standard blackjack games. And no insurance!

So what do you do with stiff hands when you are dealt them?

Well, if it is a hard 13, 14, 15 or 16 your hitting or standing will be split in half. If the blackjack dealer is showing a 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 you will stand. This is because it would be too easy for you to hit and bust. At least with standing you have the shot at winning if the dealer busts. But if you hit and bust then you definitely lose. But if the dealer has a 7, 8, 9, 10, king, queen, jack or Ace showing you had better hit. It is likely that they will win so what does it hurt taking a stab at improving your hand? Your odds of losing here are greater anyway.

Now if you have a hard 12 the options are a little bit different. You would still hit against a 7, 8, 9, 10, king, queen, jack or Ace; but you would also hit against a dealer 2 or 3. Because a hard 12 is still a relatively small hand, there is the chance of improving the hand so blackjack players should hit!

Above all it should be understood about stiff hands in blackjack that they are the underdog hands of the game. These blackjack hands do not have the odds with them to win. But following basic strategy and winning with one is good feeling.

There is such a fear of failure and losing that beginning blackjack players hem and haw over whether to hit or stand. If their first two cards are a low total then the answer is easy: hit. It is the higher hands, the ones that put a player over half way to 21 that seem to be the problem.

But then if you stop and think about it, that is really quite understandable. After all the hands that are more than halfway to 21 just so happen to also be the stiff hands. So no real surprise.

A lot of what determines the decision to hit or stand comes from what cards the player has compared to the dealer’s up card. As a rule of thumb if the dealer has a 7 or more, it is in the player’s best interest to hit; and if the dealer has 6 or less it would be time to stand. The only hand that is different is the hard 12. Naturally, there would be a difficult one.

If the player has a hard 12 and the dealer has a 2 or 3 showing, the player should hit instead of stand. The reason is because with only a 12, the player still has some room to work with when the dealer is also showing a small card.

Figuring out how to play stiff hands and other hands in blackjack—both online blackjack and casino blackjack—can be found on a basic strategy chart. That chart is a legal strategy that gives the best statistical play for every hand.

Doubling down in blackjack is when the player puts forth more chips in order to double the amount of the original wager. For example, if you were playing blackjack at $10 per hand and wanted to double down, you would have to put out another $10 so that your total wager is $20. Once the doubling of the original wager is complete, the player receives one more card from the dealer at which point the player must stand.

Because you can only receive one more card and because you are doubling your wager, it makes sense not to double down on every turn or even every other turn. There is a certain risky feeling to this play in blackjack, which is why many players tend to ignore the play.

They understand that there are opportune times to double down but because they are only receiving one card, it is somewhat hard to determine when the best times to double down are. The best rule of thumb is when you have a hard 9, 10 or 11. Generally speaking, most casinos will only let you double down on a 10 or 11 anyway. However, if the dealer has a 10 or an 11 when you have a hard 10, or an 11 when you have a hard 11, do not double down.

If you want an even easier way to know when the best times to double down are, use basic strategy. That chart will tell you when the most opportune times are making it easier to take the risk to double down in blackjack.

So I want to go back to the basics this week.

The point of playing blackjack is that it is the one casino game with the best house edge for players to go up against. I say this not only because it is the one of the lowest house edges on the casino floor or in an online casino prior to applying any strategy—and I am talking about standard blackjack, not variations—but because applying one of the best existing blackjack strategies can lower the house edge to the point that there is no denying that blackjack is the best casino game.

Basic strategy is the blackjack strategy that I mean. It is the simplest strategy to use. Every single player hand is represented along with every dealer up card. Players merely check the point where the player hand and dealer up card intersect; the play found at the intersection is the best statistical play. While that play does not guarantee a win, basic strategy does offer you the best odd for that particular situation.

Playing according to basic strategy can lower the house edge to 0.5% over time. That means sticking to basic strategy and not deviating from it. But considering how easy it makes blackjack to play, there is no reason to deviate.

When a blackjack player mimics the dealer, he is playing exactly how the dealer would play. This means hitting on a hand that the dealer would hit on and standing when the dealer stands. This is limiting to a blackjack player simply because there are hands, specifically hard hands of 12 through 16 against a dealer’s 2 through 6, which the player would find the best opportunity in standing on rather than hitting; but those are hands that the dealer has no choice but to hit.

Another loss to the blackjack player found in mimicking the dealer is found in the lack of doubling down and splitting pairs. Those are two plays that the dealer does not have at their disposal in a game of blackjack. Of the two, not doubling down is the most hurtful. Losing out on doubling down causes the player to lose the 1.6% odds boost that they would have gotten. As for the odds lost from a lack of splitting pairs, that is 0.06% that is not gained.

Now for the astute blackjack player who does want to make the most of hitting, standing, doubling down and pair splitting opportunities, the best strategy option is to use basic strategy. A basic strategy chart will tell players when the best time to double down and split pairs, as well as the best times to hit or stand. Making the most of those opportunities is what brings the house edge down to 0.5%. Mimicking the dealer gives players a house edge of 5.48%.

Between those two I would rather follow basic strategy and knock the house edge down to 0.5% than mimic the dealer in a bad blackjack strategy and suffer with a house edge of 5.48%. Remember, never mimic the dealer.

But there is bad news for online blackjack players: card counting does not work in online blackjack.

Sorry, everyone, but it just does not. This can be owed to how the game of online blackjack actually functions. While the rules of a game of online blackjack do not differ from the rules found in a basic game of blackjack in a brick and mortar casino. The difference lies in how the game itself is actually conducted.

A live game of blackjack in a brick and mortar casino will be dealt by a dealer from a deck that is played almost entirely through with cards being discarded after they are played. Unless you are playing at a table with a CSM, which you should not be in the first place, but that is another story. The point here is that cards are discarded from play once they have been played.

In online blackjack, the Random Number Generator (RNG) will pull from all possibilities when dealing a new round and hitting hands. And when I say all possibilities I mean it. This has the effect that no cards are discarded.

And since card counting depends on cards being discarded from play it is fairly useless in online blackjack simply because of the RNG, which is necessary for a game of online blackjack to actually function. So the best piece of strategy that an online blackjack player has in their corner is basic strategy.

Really quick, just to review, a 10 is not just the 10 card of a suit, it is also a Jack, Queen or King.

The way this supposed strategy works that the player makes all of his or her plays based on the idea that the dealer’s hole card is a 10. So if the dealer is showing a 6, the player will assume the dealer has a 16.

But this strategy is not practical because there is only approximately a 30% chance of the hole card being worth 10. This is because out of the thirteen cards in a suit, only four are worth 10. The remaining nine cards have other values, which gives them a 70% chance of showing up as the dealer’s hole card.

It is rather silly to base a strategy on poor odds when the purpose of strategy in blackjack is to increase your odds. Playing by assuming the dealer’s hole card is a 10 actually increases the house edge to 10.03%. Now compare that just over 10% house edge to the house edge gained by playing according to basic strategy, which gives players a house edge of 0.5%.

So with the option of using a supposed strategy that makes no logical sense which gives you a house edge of 10.03% or a blackjack strategy that gives you a house edge of 0.5%, which are you going to choose? Exactly, you want to use the blackjack strategy that gives you that 0.5% house edge—basic strategy.

Kind of like how soft hands require a little extra thought to play at first, so too do pairs in blackjack. The biggest trap in dealing with a pair is the just knowing that it is a pair, and that you have an extra playing option that is not available with hands that are not pairs.

Because of having this extra playing option to split a pair into two new hands and possibly win twice as much in a single round, players make the mistake of splitting every pair. Unfortunately this is not good blackjack strategy.

Just because it is a power and the player has the power to split it does not mean that every pair should be split.

For example a pair of 5s and a pair of 10s should not be split. The pair of 5s can be played like a hard 10 and be doubled down on. Doubling on a pair of 5s has better odds of winning and making a profit than splitting the 5s does. Likewise, a pair of 10s is stronger as a hard 20 than split. This is because there are only two hands with which the dealer can beat you with: hitting to 21 or having a natural blackjack.

But then there are pairs that should always be split simply because the player has a better chance of building two stronger hands than beating the dealer by standing on the pairs. Those two pairs are a pair of Aces and a pair of 8s. It is more advantageous to split those two pairs.

Basic strategy is a good pair splitting strategy tool. It should be used as the base of your blackjack strategy because it tells players the most advantageous play to make.