Blackjack Strategy Calculator
Enter your two cards and the dealer's up-card to get the basic strategy play and the reason for it, under classic, UK no hole card and H17 rules.
Pick your two cards and the dealer's up-card, choose the rules you are playing under, and the calculator returns the basic strategy play and the reason for it. It uses the same decision tables as our blackjack strategy chart, so the answer is the one you would find on the chart, without the need to find the right row.
6 decks, dealer stands on soft 17, double any two, double after split, no surrender, dealer checks for blackjack.
Add each drawn card in turn. The recommendation updates after every card; pairs, doubles and surrender are only considered on the first two cards.
Soft 17 versus dealer 10. Take one more card and reassess. Hit: soft 17 cannot bust and needs to improve against a dealer 10.
How to check a hand
- Choose the rule profile. Classic 6-deck S17 is the default. Switch to UK no hole card for a live or online table at a UK-licensed casino, which is most of them, and to Dealer hits soft 17 if the rules panel says H17.
- Enter your two cards. Select the rank of each card; suits do not matter. If you have already taken a hit, enter the total instead, since doubles and splits are only available on the first two cards.
- Enter the dealer's up-card. The calculator assumes nothing about the hole card beyond what the rule profile says about when the dealer checks for blackjack.
- Read the play and the reason. The result is hit, stand, double, split or surrender. Where the play depends on whether a double or surrender is allowed, the fallback is shown too, for example "Double, otherwise hit".
What the calculator assumes
Every answer depends on the rules. The three profiles below cover the games most UK players will meet. All assume 6 decks, double on any two cards and double after split. The cells listed are the only ones that change between profiles.
| Profile | Rules | Cells that differ from Classic | House edge with basic strategy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Classic 6-deck S17 | Dealer stands on soft 17, dealer checks for blackjack, optional late surrender | n/a (the reference chart) | About 0.4%, or about 0.33% with late surrender |
| UK no hole card | 6 decks, S17, DAS, no surrender, dealer does not take a hole card | 11 v 10: hit. 11 v A: hit. A,A v A: hit. 8,8 v 10: hit. 8,8 v A: hit | About 0.5% |
| Dealer hits soft 17 | As Classic but the dealer hits soft 17 | 11 v A: double. A,7 v 2: double (stand if not allowed). A,8 v 6: double (stand if not allowed). 15 v A: surrender. 8,8 v A: surrender (split if no surrender) | Classic plus about 0.2% |
The UK changes all come from one fact: the dealer does not check for blackjack before you act, so a double or split stake is also lost to a dealer blackjack. That makes the extra stakes in the listed doubles and splits worse than a plain hit; 11 against an ace is also a hit in Classic S17. Surrender is rarely offered in UK games, so that profile leaves it out. The full reasoning is on our UK blackjack strategy guide.
If your game pays 6:5 on blackjack the plays do not change, but the house edge rises by about 1.4%, more than every other rule difference in the table put together.
Worked examples
A,6 against a dealer 10
Soft 17. Under all three profiles the answer is hit. Soft 17 cannot bust on the next card and loses to any dealer 17 or better if you stand. Doubling is correct only against 3 to 6, where the dealer busts 37% to 42% of the time; against a 10 the dealer makes a standing hand too often for the double stake to pay.
8,8 against a dealer 10, Classic versus UK
Under Classic 6-deck S17 the play is split. Two hands starting from 8 do better than one hand of 16, even though each will often lose. Under UK no hole card the play is hit. About 8% of the time a ten up-card is hiding a dealer blackjack, and with no check the stake on the second hand would be lost to it. That is enough to tip the split below a plain hit, and it is the most common mistake UK players make with a chart written for US rules.
11 against a dealer ace, S17 versus H17
Under Classic S17 the play is hit: doubling 11 against an ace is close and falls just short. Under Dealer hits soft 17 the play is double, because a dealer who hits soft 17 busts slightly more often and makes fewer 17s. Under UK no hole card it is hit again, since the ace has about a 31% chance of being a blackjack and the double stake would go with it.
Use it to learn
In reference mode the calculator gives a short answer. In guided mode it explains the recommendation. To choose a play before seeing the answer, use the free strategy trainer.
A good exercise is to take one hand and run it against every dealer card from 2 to ace, watching where the play switches. Hard 12 is the classic case: hit against 2 and 3, stand against 4 to 6, hit against 7 to ace. Once you can say why the play flips at 4 and again at 7, you understand the chart rather than just its contents.
To test yourself on random hands rather than chosen ones, our blackjack strategy trainer deals at random and keeps score by category.
For the reasoning behind a recommendation, read our basic blackjack strategy guide. It explains how hard hands, soft hands and pairs lead to different decisions.
Frequently asked questions
Does the calculator work for live blackjack?
Yes. Live tables use the same rules as any other blackjack game. Most live tables at UK-licensed casinos use no hole card rules with 6 or 8 decks and the dealer standing on soft 17, which is the UK profile. Check the rules panel for the soft 17 rule and the number of decks.
What if my game has no hole card?
Use the UK no hole card profile. It highlights five plays to check against the classic chart: 11 against 10, 11 against ace, A,A against ace, 8,8 against 10 and 8,8 against ace all become a hit. 11 against an ace remains a hit under Classic S17 too. These comparisons assume surrender is unavailable. The house edge with basic strategy is about 0.5%.
Why can't I double after three cards?
Because almost no game allows it. Doubling is available on your first two cards only, and in most games splitting is too. Once you have taken a hit, the calculator offers hit or stand because those are your only options.
Does it cover splits and resplits?
It covers the split decision for every pair under each profile, with double after split assumed. After a split, run each new hand through the calculator as a fresh two-card hand. A new pair in a split hand follows the same pairs table, provided your game allows resplits; most do, to three or four hands.
Is it the same as a strategy chart?
It gives the same answers, because it is built from the same tables as our blackjack strategy chart. The chart shows every decision at once and is better for study and printing. The calculator shows one decision at a time and is better for checking a specific hand quickly, or for the guided mode above.
Can it predict the next card?
No. The calculator gives the play with the best expected result across all the cards that could come next, weighted by how likely each is in a shoe of the chosen size. It does not track cards already dealt. Card counting is a separate skill, covered on our card counting page, and even that only shifts the odds over hundreds of hands. No strategy guarantees a win on any one hand.