How to Make a Basic Strategy Chart for Blackjack

Making a basic strategy chart for blackjack is the first step toward advanced play and fundamental to playing break-even blackjack.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• Pencils
• Graph Papers
• Rulers Or Straightedge

1. Sit down at a table.
2. Take out a pencil and a piece of graph paper.
3. Draw a line across the top, leaving room to write a title, and draw a line down the left margin, leaving room to indicate hands.
4. Form a little box at the top left-hand corner of the page.
5. Leave space for a title and below that write the subtitle "Dealer's Upcard." Below that, evenly spaced, write "2," "3," "4," "5," "6," "7," "8," "9," "10" and "Ace."
6. Mark "Player's Hand" at the top of the left-hand margin. Below that, mark "hit/stand" vertically.
7. To the right of that, starting from the top and going down, mark horizontally "soft 18," "hard 17," "hard 16," "hard 15," "hard 14," "hard 13" and "hard 12."
8. Draw a line under that subsection.
9. Mark "double" vertically along the left margin, and to the right of that, mark "11," "10," "9," "8," "7," "6" and "5."
10. Draw a line under that subsection.
11. Mark "double" vertically again along the left margin, and to the right of that, mark "Ace-9," "Ace-8," "Ace-7," "Ace-6," "Ace-5," "Ace-4," "Ace-3" and "Ace-2."
12. Draw a line under that subsection.
13. Mark "split w/o double" vertically again along the left margin, and to the right of that, mark "Ace-Ace," "10-10," "9-9," "8-8," "7-7," "6-6," "5-5," "4-4," "3-3" and "2-2."
14. Draw a line under that subsection.
15. Mark "split with double" vertically again along the left margin, and to the right of that, mark "Ace-Ace," "10-10," "9-9," "8-8," "7-7," "6-6," "5-5," "4-4," "3-3" and "2-2."
16. Make photocopies of this sheet so that different strategies for different games can be plugged into separate sheets.
17. Refer to a book to get accurate numbers for the game you're playing.

Tips & Warnings

• Notice that you now have the infrastructure of the basic strategy chart. Fill in the instructions in the center that tell you how to play each hand. These numbers will be different depending on the number of decks you're playing against and the rules of the game. In other words, you'll need a separate basic strategy chart for each game.