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Blackjack strategy
In 1956 four US army technicians, Roger Baldwin, Wilbert Cantey, Herbert
Maisel and James McDermott published an article in the 'Journal of
the American Statistical Association' which was titled 'The optimum
strategy in Blackjack'. Using statistical analysis the authors developed
a blackjack strategy which maximizes the player's average or
expected gain, when playing blackjack. Today this strategy is more
commonly referred to as 'Basic Strategy'.
In 1961 Edward Thorpe published his famous book 'Beat the dealer'
in which he refines Basic Blackjack Strategy. In 1966, the 2nd edition
of 'Beat the dealer' was published, in which the first correct version
of Basic Blackjack Strategy' appears, based on the results of simulations
computed on a IBM 704/709 computer by Julian Braun, a programmer
working for IBM corporation. Using Basic Blackjack Strategy when
playing blackjack can reduce the house edge well below 1%.
The publication of 'Beat the Dealer' lead to a sharp decline in
casino blackjack profits. As a consequence, Basic Blackjack Strategy
led casinos to develop variations in blackjack rules, with the intend
to diminish the potential gains for a player using Basic Blackjack
Strategy. For example, some casinos do not demand the dealer to
stand on soft 17, or do not allow to double down after a split.
More importantly, the number of decks the cards are dealt from,
has increased from 1 in the early days, to 4 or more decks nowadays.
Tip: Both Cryptologic
and Boss Media offer a single
deck Blackjack game. The house edge on the former approaches zero,
and on the latter it's actually slightly in favor of the player.
Microgaming offers a variety
of Blackjack variants, ranging from two to eight decks.
'Basic Strategy' charts on the Internet
Every variation in blackjack rules corresponds to a variant of Basic
Blackjack Strategy, that dictates the optimal play for that specific
variation. Basic Blackjack Strategy charts are widely and often for
free available on the Internet.
Provided you know the rules for a particular blackjack variant,
you can generate the corresponding Basic Blackjack Strategy chart,
using the 'Basic Strategy Engine' found at www.blackjackinfo.com.
Another useful site is www.wizardofodds.com,
where you can find pre-generated Basic Blackjack Strategy charts
for each major software brand of online casinos. You can find out
the software brand of an online casino by right clicking on the
executable (.exe) that starts the casino, and looking up the name
of the brand in the version tab.
Check out our Basic
Strategy Chart for a blackjack game played with a shoe of 4
or more decks, where the dealer stands on soft 17 or above, and
hits on 16 or below.
Blackjack strategy tips
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