Blackjack decisions begin with the hand total.

Card values and the objective

Number cards count at face value, tens and picture cards count as 10, and an ace counts as 1 or 11 without taking the hand above 21. The aim is to finish closer to 21 than the dealer without going over. A two-card ace-plus-ten-value hand is a blackjack.

Player actions

Hit

Take another card.

Stand

End the player hand.

Double

Double the original stake, take exactly one card, then stand.

Split

Turn a matching pair into two separate hands where the rules permit.

A compact basic-strategy outline

For a common multi-deck, dealer-stands-on-17 game with doubling allowed, hard totals follow these core decisions:

• Hit hard 8 or less. Double 9 against dealer 3–6, 10 against 2–9, and 11 against 2–10; otherwise hit those totals.
• Stand on hard 12 against 4–6 and hard 13–16 against 2–6; hit against the stronger dealer cards.
• Stand on hard 17 or more.

For soft totals, double ace-2 or ace-3 against 5–6; ace-4 or ace-5 against 4–6; and ace-6 against 3–6. With ace-7, stand against 2, 7 or 8, double against 3–6 and hit against 9, 10 or ace. Rule variations can change edge cases.

Dealer procedure is not a choice

After players finish, the dealer draws according to the table rule. Under the rule used for this guide, the dealer hits 16 or less and stands on every 17, including soft 17.