Basic strategy instructs a player to hit a soft seventeen in every situation, yet most players are hesitant to do so, assuming their chances of winning are better if they stand on 17 than if they risk decreasing the value of the hand with subsequent hits. A closer examination of the math behind the advice can be helpful in understanding why it makes sense always to hit a soft 17. This tip could just be how to win at blackjack.
Always stand on hard 17 or more. Always hit soft 17 or less. Stand on soft 18 except hit against a dealer 9, 10, or A. Always stand on soft 19 or more. As I've said many times, the above strategy will be fine under any set of rules. However, for you perfectionists out there, here are the modifications to make if the dealer hits a soft 17. Free Blackjack Strategy Game: Hit or Stand is a free online blackjack game and trainer that teaches you blackjack strategy while you play. The goal of the game is to make a high percentage of correct moves, not to earn money. Click on the big game machine to the right to begin playing. When the dealer’s hand achieves 17 with an Ace, this is called a soft 17 and in many versions of the game, the dealer is required to stand. In other games, the dealer has to continue drawing cards. This rule is almost always shown on the blackjack table – the dealer may stand on soft 17 or on all 17s.
Standing on Soft 17
Seventeen is a weak hand from the very start. The following table shows the odds for the outcome of the dealer’s hand, regardless of what cards are originally dealt:
| 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | BUST |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14.61% | 13.87% | 13.27% | 18.12% | 6.99% | 33.15% |
As you can see, a player who stands on a 17 of any kind has only a 33.15% chance of winning, because the dealer must bust for the player to win at all. Even if you count the 14.61% chance of a push as being in the player’s favour, there remains a 52.24% chance the player will lose. Given this level of risk, and an even-money payoff if the player comes out on top, the house has roughly a 20% edge over a player when he stands on seventeen.
Hitting on Soft 17
Naturally, it doesn’t make sense to hit a hard seventeen. Since there are only four of thirteen cards, there’s a mere 30.76% chance of improving the hand and a much higher chance (69.23%) of busting.
However, since the ace in a soft 17 can revert to a value of one, the four ten-value cards pose no risk—drawing a ten will leave the player no worse than he was, to begin with. This means that, with the first hit alone, the chances of drawing a steady hand with a value between 17 and 21 are eight in thirteen—or 61.53%.
In the remaining 38.47% of all possibilities, the immediate outcome of the player’s hand will vary between twelve and sixteen. If the player stands pat, his chances of winning are the same as if he’d stood on the soft 17, because the dealer will still need to bust for the player to win, regardless of the total of the player’s hand. Even if the situation calls for the player to take additional hits, there remains a 44.85% chance the player will hit to a strong hand.
In the end, the probable outcomes of hitting a soft seventeen are:
| 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | BUST |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 34.22% | 11.44% | 11.14% | 11.14% | 11.14% | 21.21% |
While the player who hits a soft 17 does run the risk of busting (21.21% as compared to 0% if he’d stood), he has a much greater chance of improving the hand (44.56% as compared to 0%).
Hit on Soft 17? Final Comparison
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When compared to the possible outcomes of the dealer’s hands, the chances of winning after hitting soft 17 are considerably better than if he’d have stood:
This trims the house’s edge over the player from 20% to less than 5%—which makes hitting the soft 17 the smart play in every situation.
Blackjack strategy charts draw a line in the sand. On one side you have the gamblers, you know, the players that don’t use basic strategy charts. On the other side you have varying degrees of advantage players; players that choose to use them to reduce the house edge.
Which side are you on?
Even if you don’t want to become a professional, card counting blackjack player, I highly recommend taking the side that uses strategy charts. You’ll learn the basic strategy necessary to reduce the house to nearly a coin flip.
And I recommend that you start by reading this page. If you do a Google search for blackjack charts, you’ll notice that most sites just post the charts and a key that covers what the abbreviations mean.
Helpful? Sure…
However, I think that you’d get a lot more out of your strategy charts if you knew more about them. Things like why you should use them, how to read and memorize them. Those are the types of things I’m going to cover in more detail below.
What are strategy charts?
Blackjack strategy charts are paper or digital guides that tell you how to play your hand based on the game you’re playing, your hand and the dealer’s hand. You can find them online with a simple Google search. Brick and mortar casinos give them away, too. In either case they’re free — or should be.
These will give you the basic strategy you need to reduce the house edge from 6-9 percent, to as low as .5 percent, depending on how well you know and use them.
Not only will strategy charts reduce the house edge, but they’re the foundation to card counting techniques, too. To be a good card counter you’ll want to have these (basic) plays down pat. All of your more advanced plays and decisions will be based on them.
Why should you use strategy charts?
The simplest answer is that you reduce the casinos’ edge to nearly nothing. So instead of losing .40-.50 minimum per hand (live), you reduce your losses down to .2-.3 per hand.
Another way to look at is that you remove most of the luck factor from the game. Instead of crossing your fingers hoping for the dealer to bust, you can use basic strategy to take control and increase the odds of that happening.
They’re free, too. Although it might take a little bit of effort to learn them, and at times they might be inconvenient, you’re going to increase the likelihood that you walk out of the casino with cash in hand. And worse case scenario, is that over the long run you’ll be about breakeven. How many people in the casino can say that about the games they’re playing?
Why do casinos give them to you? How come they let you use them?
Blackjack Chart Stand Soft 17 In 1
I don’t know the exact reason why casinos are willing to give out basic strategy charts, let alone give you permission to use them at the tables. I can make a couple of guess though.
- Basic strategy won’t put the house edge in your favor. In the long run the casinos will still make money, and that’s all they care about.
- Most people don’t use strategy charts that well or to the fullest extent. So not everyone is able to reduce the house edge so low. The margin of error is still 1-2 percent, giving the house a 2-4 percent edge. Again, in the long run the casinos make money.
- Those two points in mind, I would think that strategy charts keep players in the chairs longer, perhaps thinking that they’ve finally got control of the situation.
Ultimately, the casinos are still going to make money. Otherwise they wouldn’t give them out.
What do the abbreviations mean?
This is what the abbreviations mean:
- H = Hit
- S = Stand
- D = Double if allowed, otherwise hit.
- Ds = Double if allowed, otherwise stand.
- P = Split
- Ph = Split if double after split is allowed, otherwise hit.
- Rh = Surrender if allowed, otherwise hit.
- Rs = Surrender if allowed, otherwise stand.
- Rp = Surrender if allowed, otherwise split.
These abbreviations may be different depending on the chart you use. They should be listed on the chart, though.
How do you read the chart?
The cards are very simple to read.
On the left side of the chart will be your hand. Look at your hand and ask if it’s hard, soft or a pair. Then look down the left side of the chart to find it.
On the top of the chart is the dealer’s up card. Find that on the chart.
What you’ll want to do next is move your finger from left to right, starting from the hand you have, and starting with the dealer’s up card, move your finger from top to bottom. You’ll stop where the 2 lines intersect. This will give you an abbreviation, which will be the move you need to make.
Blackjack Charts Pdf
How do I memorize strategy charts?
Memorizing a strategy chart can take a lot of time. In fact, I would guess that’s why so many people balk at the idea of learning card counting. Card counting sounds sexy in theory, but there’s a lot of work and time involved.
Hard Vs Soft Blackjack
Experts recommend that you use flash cards to learn strategy. I’m not an expert, but I think that’s a great idea, too. I would create a flash card for every hand (or group of hands) that you can be dealt, along with a specific dealer up card. The (correct) action would be on the backside.
Blackjack Strategy Dealer Stand Soft 17
By the time you’re done you’ll have nearly 250 flash cards to go through. One method is to go through them all. However, I think I would focus on just soft, hard or paired hands, or, focus on one type of hand period. For example, memorize all the plays for when you have a soft 17, or, all the plays for when the dealer is showing a 2.
However you decide to go about it, it’ll take you some time to get each decision right. Just stay consistent with it, spending maybe 30-90 minutes on it everyday and you’ll get there.