What rules does this blackjack cheat sheet assume?

A standard multi-deck game, four decks or more, where the dealer stands on soft 17, doubling is allowed on any first two cards, and doubling after a split is allowed. No surrender is assumed. A different rule set can shift a handful of the closer calls.

Does following blackjack basic strategy guarantee a win?

No. Basic strategy minimizes the house edge on every decision; it does not turn the game in your favor or guarantee any single hand. What it does is stop you giving back edge to guesswork that the math has already settled.

Is card counting the same as blackjack strategy?

No, they are different tools. Basic strategy is a fixed chart applied the same way every hand, regardless of what has already been dealt. Card counting tracks the remaining shoe and adjusts bets and plays as that composition changes, which this chart does not attempt to do.

What do the letters on this chart mean?

H is hit, S is stand, D is double if the table allows it and hit otherwise, Ds is double if allowed and stand otherwise, and P is split. Each table below uses only these five.

77JILI Blackjack Cheat Sheet: End the Guesswork

In this section
Fact	Value
77JILI How to Play Blackjack	Learning how to play blackjack comes down to six steps: bet, get dealt two cards, compare your total to the dealer's up-card, act, let the dealer finish, then collect or lose the payout.

Which move does basic strategy call for on your total against the dealer’s up-card? This blackjack cheat sheet answers that for every hard total, soft total and pair, assuming a standard multi-deck game where the dealer stands on soft 17.

What Blackjack Basic Strategy Actually Is

Blackjack basic strategy is a fixed set of correct decisions, one for every combination of your total and the dealer’s visible card, calculated to produce the smallest possible house edge over the long run. It assumes:

A multi-deck shoe of four decks or more.
The dealer stands on soft 17 rather than hitting it.
Doubling is allowed on any first two cards.
Doubling after a split is allowed.
No surrender option.

A table that runs a different rule set, dealer hits soft 17, or surrender is offered, can shift a small number of the closer calls, mainly around hard 11 against a dealer Ace and some of the soft doubles. Blackjack online rule variations covers what those different rules actually do to the edge.

Blackjack Cheat Sheet: Hard Totals

Legend: H = hit, S = stand, D = double if allowed, otherwise hit.

Your total	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	A
8 or less	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H
9	H	D	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
10	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	H	H
11	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	H
12	H	H	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
13	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
14	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
15	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
16	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
17 or more	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S

Blackjack Cheat Sheet: Soft Totals

Legend: H = hit, D = double if allowed, otherwise hit. Ds = double if allowed, otherwise stand.

Ace plus	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	A
2 (soft 13)	H	H	H	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
3 (soft 14)	H	H	H	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
4 (soft 15)	H	H	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
5 (soft 16)	H	H	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
6 (soft 17)	H	D	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
7 (soft 18)	Ds	Ds	Ds	Ds	Ds	S	S	H	H	H
8 (soft 19)	S	S	S	S	Ds	S	S	S	S	S
9 (soft 20)	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S

Blackjack Cheat Sheet: Pairs and When to Split

Legend: P = split, H = hit, S = stand, D = double if allowed, otherwise hit. A pair of 5s is played as a hard 10, never split.

Pair	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	A
2, 2	P	P	P	P	P	P	H	H	H	H
3, 3	P	P	P	P	P	P	H	H	H	H
4, 4	H	H	H	P	P	H	H	H	H	H
5, 5	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	H	H
6, 6	P	P	P	P	P	H	H	H	H	H
7, 7	P	P	P	P	P	P	H	H	H	H
8, 8	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P
9, 9	P	P	P	P	P	S	P	P	S	S
10, 10	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S
A, A	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P

Is a Blackjack Strategy Chart the Same As Card Counting?

Problem

You've heard a blackjack strategy chart and card counting confused for the same thing.

Fix

They solve different problems. This chart tells you the fixed correct move for a given total against a given dealer card, applied identically on the very first hand of a fresh shoe or the last. Card counting tracks how many high and low cards remain in the shoe and adjusts bets and a handful of plays as that balance shifts, which nothing on this page attempts to do.

A player using only this chart, with no card tracking at all, is still playing to the lowest house edge the game’s own rules allow. Counting is a separate skill layered on top of, not instead of, basic strategy.

Using This Cheat Sheet at 77JILI’s Live Tables

Learn the sequence of a hand first if you haven’t: how to play blackjack covers bet to payout, step by step.
Check the specific table’s rule variations against the assumptions stated above before relying on a borderline call.
Open the Live section in the 77JILI lobby to find a table, since blackjack sits there rather than under Slot or Fishing.
Set your bankroll before you sit down; a correct chart still loses hands in the short run, and a fixed bankroll is what carries you through that variance.

Problem

A table's rules don't match what this chart assumes.

Fix

Read the rule-variation table on the blackjack online pillar page first. A table that hits soft 17 or pays 6:5 on blackjack shifts a few of the closer calls above, most often around hard 11 against a dealer Ace and the soft doubles, even though the great majority of the chart still holds.

77JILI Blackjack Cheat Sheet — Basic Strategy By the Numbers