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Welcome to our stratergy page where we will be having a look at the basic strategies of blackjack. We will be explaining:

1. Hitting & Standing
2. Doubling Down
3. Splitting Pairs
4. Surrendering & Insurance

Firstly when playing blackjack, we should always take in to account the dealers up card after the cards have been dealt to us. This will help in our decision to either Stand or Hit. If the dealer has a week hand we don't always have to take another card just because our hand is weak too. The dealer could just as easily bust when trying to beat our hand.

S = Stand, H = Hit

Being dealt an Ace in your hand is classed as a "soft hand" due to the fact that it is impossible to bust if you decide to take another card. An Ace can count as 1 or 11 towards your final hand and below is a guide to standing or hitting with a soft hand.

You can take advantage of a strong hand to try to offset the house advantage by doubling down. Check your casino rules as they vary from casino to casino. The first table below is that of the strong hand and the second table is the soft hand. You can see the difference between the two.

Y = Yes, N = No

On receiving pairs you have the chance to split them and maximize your chances of winning. When dealt any pair you should alwayssplit them. Most casinos allow you to split pairs and some allow double splits; ie. If you split a pair of Aces and you are dealt another Ace you can split again. A great piece of advice is to never split pairs of 10's or 5's and always split Aces. Splitting pairs increases your winning chances and is one of the best strategies to capitalize on in blackjack. The table below will guide you through all the pairs in a standard pack of cards and how to handle them in a game.

When it come to surrendering and insurance, experts in blackjack strategy recommend not using either of these options.