Softonic

Blackjack Calculator

Step 1 / 3 Blackjack Calculator
Next: dealer card

Choose your two cards, the dealer upcard and the rules of your table (number of decks, whether the dealer hits soft 17, double after split and late surrender). The calculator returns the basic strategy play for that exact starting hand, hit, stand, double down, split or surrender, plus a one-line reason and what to do if doubling is not allowed.

How to use the Blackjack Calculator

  1. 1

    Pick your two cards

    Choose each card from Ace to King. Jack, Queen, King and 10 all count as 10, so a 10 and a King is a pair of tens.

  2. 2

    Pick the dealer card and the rules

    Choose the card the dealer shows face up, then set decks, dealer soft 17, double after split and late surrender to match your table.

  3. 3

    Read the best play

    The result shows your hand (hard, soft, pair or blackjack), the recommended play and why. Use Start over to check another hand.

What basic strategy is

Basic strategy is the play with the best average result for each combination of your hand and the dealer’s upcard, worked out by simulating millions of hands. It does not look at cards that have already been dealt, so it is not card counting. Followed perfectly, it leaves the house an edge of roughly half a percent on a typical 3 to 2 table. It cannot turn the game in your favour, but it avoids the extra losses that guessing costs.

The three kinds of starting hand

  • Hard hand: no Ace, or an Ace that must count as 1. A hard total can bust on the next card.
  • Soft hand: an Ace counted as 11, such as Ace and 7 (soft 18). It cannot bust with one more card, which is why soft hands are doubled so often against weak dealer cards.
  • Pair: two cards of the same value, which you may split into two hands. Any two ten-value cards form a pair of tens.

How the rules change the play

Rule What changes
Dealer hits soft 17 (H17) Double 11 against an Ace, double soft 19 against a 6, double soft 18 against a 2, and surrender hard 15 against an Ace
Dealer stands on soft 17 (S17) Hit 11 against an Ace on 4 to 8 decks and stand on soft 19
Double after split allowed Split more small pairs: 2s, 3s and 6s against a 2, and 4s against a 5 or 6
Late surrender available Give up hard 16 against a 9, 10 or Ace, and hard 15 against a 10
Fewer decks Double more often: hard 9 against a 2 and soft 17 against a 2 on one or two decks, hard 11 against an Ace, and hard 8 against a 5 or 6 on a single deck

Limits of the advice

  • It is the standard chart for blackjack that pays 3 to 2 where the dealer checks for blackjack. Tables that pay 6 to 5 or have unusual rules need their own chart.
  • It covers your first two cards. After you hit, the calculator does not track the new total.
  • It does not include card counting or plays that depend on the exact cards in your hand, such as standing on a 16 made of three or more cards against a 10.
  • Insurance and even money are not part of basic strategy: take neither.

Frequently Asked Questions

If your table pays 3 to 2 and the rules match what you set, yes: the play shown has the best average outcome for that hand. A single hand can still lose, because basic strategy improves your long-run result, not the next card.

Some tables only allow doubling on certain hands, and you cannot double after hitting. When the best play is to double, the result also tells you the next best play, hit or stand, for when doubling is not offered.

With fewer decks, removing your own cards changes the odds of the next card more, so a few borderline plays switch to doubling. With 4 to 8 decks the chart is the standard multi-deck one.

No. It uses only your two cards, the dealer upcard and the table rules. It does not track cards already played.

No. The cards you pick are sent to our server to work out the play, and they are added to the page link as you move between steps so a hand can be bookmarked or shared. They are not saved to any account or profile.

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