Practice Table Games

Mini game

Blackjack right move

Your two cards against the dealer's up card. Hit, stand, double, split or surrender? Three hands in four are traps, where the right play is not the one that feels right.

Bash Mode

Test yourself. Bash Mode turns off the hints. Answer 50 on your own and get a report card after 10, 25 and 50, grading every answer against the book and showing where you slip.

Six decks, double after split0 of 0 right

What's the right move?

The hands that fool people

These are the spots where basic strategy disagrees with the play that feels safe. They come from our solver's strategy chart for six decks, double after split, the dealer hitting soft 17 and late surrender allowed, the defaults above.

Split more pairs than you think

  • 6s against 2 to 6. Twelve feels like a hand to stand on. Two hands starting with 6 do better against a dealer likely to bust.
  • 7s against 2 to 7. Fourteen is a bad hand; two 7s are two decent starts.
  • 2s and 3s against 2 to 7. Small pairs split against weak and middle up cards.
  • 9s against 2 to 6, 8 and 9. Eighteen feels safe, but two hands starting with 9 are worth more. Stand against a 7, a 10 or an ace.
  • 4s against 5 and 6. Only because you can double after splitting.
  • Never split 5s or 10s. Play 5s as a hard 10 and double; 20 already wins most of the time.

Double soft hands

  • Soft 18 (ace-7) against 2 to 6: double. Against 7 and 8, stand. Against 9, 10 and an ace, hit. Soft 18 is not as strong as it looks.
  • Ace-6 against 3 to 6, ace-4 and ace-5 against 4 to 6, ace-2 and ace-3 against 5 and 6: double.
  • Ace-8 against a 6: double when the dealer hits soft 17.

Hard hands

  • 9 against 3 to 6: double.
  • 11 against an ace: double when the dealer hits soft 17.
  • 12 against a 2 or a 3: hit. A 2 or a 3 busts less often than a 4, 5 or 6.

Surrender

  • 16 against 9, 10 and an ace; 15 against 10 and an ace. These hands lose so often that getting half your bet back costs less.
  • 17 against an ace, and 8s against an ace, when the dealer hits soft 17.

When the dealer stands on soft 17, a few of these change: ace-7 stands against a 2, ace-8 stands against a 6, 11 hits against an ace, and you don't surrender 15, 17 or 8s against an ace. Switch the rules above and the game follows.

Every answer comes from our blackjack solver, the same one behind the blackjack trainer's strategy chart. It is a model: it works from a full six-deck shoe with your two cards and the dealer's up card removed, and allows one split. How our odds are calculated.