Strategy course

Basic strategy, one step at a time

Basic strategy is the best move in every hand — the one that cuts the house edge to about half a percent. It is not a way to beat the casino, but everything else in the game is built on it. This course teaches it in pieces, until the answer arrives without thinking.

Eight tracks· 37 levels· No sign-up

What you learn here

The course follows the order the professional literature teaches the chart in: first what it does and which rules on the table change it, then hard totals, soft totals, pairs and splitting, surrender, rule variations, and finally the whole chart at table speed.

Every level is practice rather than reading: a hand against the dealer's upcard, and you choose a move. The right answer comes from the same chart published on this site, so the drills and the guides cannot contradict each other.

The rules the course assumes

The common game: 4 to 8 decks, the dealer stands on soft 17, double after split allowed. A whole track teaches what changes when the table plays differently — a dealer who hits soft 17, a table without double after split, and the European game where the dealer takes no hole card.

Open now, with no sign-up and no payment

All 37 levels are open to anyone who arrives. Progress, accuracy and your practice streak are kept in the browser you practised in; this course has no account yet, so progress does not travel between devices.

Why the levels open one after another

The order is teaching, not a barrier: there is no point drilling pairs before hard totals are automatic, or learning surrender before it is clear what a hand is likely to lose. What is entirely open is what each level teaches — the full syllabus is below.

The full syllabus

Opening — what the chart does 4 levels Practise →

1 What the chart does Basic strategy is not a way to win. It is the best move in every hand — and that is worth a great deal.
2 Where the house edge comes from Not the cards and not luck: the order of play. You act first, and whoever busts first loses at once.
3 The rules that govern the chart Same hand, same dealer card — and a different answer, depending on what the table says.
4 The five decisions Hit, stand, double, split and surrender — and when each one is available at all.

A. Hard totals 6 levels Practise →

5 5 to 8: always hit The low hands. There is no real decision in them, which makes them the place to start.
6 9, 10, 11: the doubles Here doubling is worth money — but not against every card.
7 12 to 16 against a weak dealer The stiff hands. Against 2 to 6 the answer is almost always to stand and let the dealer bust.
8 12 to 16 against a strong dealer The same hands against a strong card — and now there is no choice but to hit.
9 Every hard hand All of it together, without knowing which family is coming.
10 Hard hands against the clock The same chart at table speed. The answer has to arrive without working it out again.

B. Soft totals 5 levels Practise →

11 What makes a hand soft An ace counting as 11 changes the rules: one card cannot bust the hand.
12 The doubling ladder: A,2 to A,6 Five hands, one piece of logic: the stronger the soft hand, the more dealer cards it doubles against.
13 Soft 18: the most misplayed hand An ace and a 7. It looks strong, and it loses money for everyone who stands on it against a strong card.
14 19 and up: stand A,8 and A,9. Excellent hands, and there is nothing to do with them but keep them.
15 Soft hands against the clock Every soft hand mixed together, at table speed.

C. Pairs and splitting 6 levels Practise →

16 What splitting really does It is not a move of instinct: it is a second bet, so it has to pay.
17 Always and never Four pairs with nothing to think about: aces and eights always, tens and fives never.
18 Nines, sevens and sixes Here the dealer's card decides, and nines hold an exception that is easy to forget.
19 The small pairs Twos, threes and fours. Here the table's own rule settles some of the answers.
20 Every pair All ten pairs mixed together.
21 Pairs against the clock The same pairs, at table speed.

D. Surrender 3 levels Practise →

22 What surrender is The one move that gains by losing less.
23 The four situations 16 against 9, 10 and ace; 15 against 10. That is all of them.
24 When the table has no surrender The same hands without that option. What is the next best move?

E. Rule variations 6 levels Practise →

25 What changes when the rules change Three rules, a few dozen cells — and the ability to read a table before sitting down.
26 The dealer hits soft 17 Four changes, all of them towards aggression: double more, surrender more.
27 Without double after split Four splits disappear the moment that rule is missing.
28 The European game The dealer holds no hole card, so money added mid-hand is at risk.
29 A soft-17 table, all together The whole chart, under the rules most tables in Las Vegas use.
30 Reading a table The same hands, different rules. Before deciding — what does the table say?

F. Fluency 5 levels Practise →

31 Everything against a weak dealer 2 to 6. This is where the doubles and splits live — and the temptation to do too much.
32 Everything against a strong dealer 7 through ace. Most answers here are hit — and the discipline is not to stand.
33 When you cannot double The second move. After a hit, after a split, or at a table that forbids it — what then?
34 Marathon Thirty hands in a row. Not speed — consistency.
35 Table speed Four seconds a hand. At a real table that is roughly what you get.

G. The exam 2 levels Practise →

36 Test: the whole chart Twenty-four hands from every family, under the course's rules. A high standard.
37 Final test: a real table Thirty hands, Las Vegas rules, against the clock. The test that closes the course.

Start from level one

The first level explains what the chart does, before the first hand. From there the course moves at your pace, and remembers where you stopped.

Start training

This course teaches the mathematics of blackjack as a skill exercise. It does not encourage gambling and is not legal advice. Gambling laws differ by country and state; check the rules where you live.