Basic Blackjack

by Stanford Wong

Calculating Basic Strategy
Table of Generic Basic Strategy
Pairs
Soft Hands
Hard Hands
Surrender
Insurance

Number of Decks
Dealer Hits Soft Seventeen
Lose All to a Natural
Dealer Final Totals
Fixed Shuffle Point

If a Natural Pays Other Than 3:2
Get Paid on a Tied Natural
Double Naturals Win 2:1
Extra Pay On Same-Suit Naturals
No Natural Winner for Dealer

Doubling on Three or More Cards
Doubling Eleven on Three or More Cards
Doubling For More With Match-Play Chips
Redoubling

Restriction on Splits
After Split, Restriction on Doubling
Split 10-10, Catch Ace For 3:2 Win
Split Any Sixteen
Optional Bet Split Rule
Split for Less

Early Surrender
Surrender Any Number of Cards
Surrender After Doubling Down
Surrender After Splitting
Surrender And Get a New Hand

Dealer Takes Ties
Lose on 17-17
Lose Ties Except 21-21
Tie Insurance

Half a Bet
Automatic Win
Twenty-One Only
Example: 6-Card Automatic Winner
Example: Five-Card Half Win

Bonuses for 6-7-8
Bonuses for 7-7-7
Bonuses for 5-5-5-5

After Splitting Aces
Coupon For an Ace
Ace as First Card

Joker as Card of Your Choice
Double Win With Joker

Push on 22
22 Counts as 21
Push on Tie Over 21
Push on Anything Over 21
Bust Box

Field Bets
Over/Under
Red/Black
Multiple Action
Royal Match

Ties Push
Hybrids

Definitions
Julius Fast
Ian Andersen
Steve Forte
Becoming a Kinesic
How to Spot a Tell
Playing Strategy for Tells
Estimating Accuracy of a Tell
How Certain Must You Be of a Tell?
Other Considerations for Kinesics
Tokes For Tells

Figure 1 Typical Warped Cards
Definitions
Quick Warp Strategy
Value of Playing the Warps
Finding Warped Cards
Likely Stiff and Likely Pat
Typical Warped Deck
Strategy for Playing Warps
Gain from Playing Warps
How Much Accuracy in Predicting Hole Cards

Front Loading
Spooking
See the Top Card
Seventeen-Card Cut
Dealer Errors
Benefiting From Your Misplays