Blackjack

Four soldiers and a desk calculator

In 1956 four US Army mathematicians (Roger Baldwin, Wilbert Cantey, Herbert Maisel and James McDermott) published a paper called The Optimum Strategy in Blackjack. Working in their spare time with desk calculators at the Aberdeen Proving Ground, they ground through the numbers for every hand a player can hold against every card a dealer can show. Card players later nicknamed them the Four Horsemen, and their chart became known as basic strategy. A few years on, Ed Thorp reran the work on an MIT computer and published Beat the Dealer in 1962, and the game has been mathematically solved ever since. That is good news for you. Nobody has to guess what to do with 16 against a 10 anymore. The advice below comes straight from that math, and since Inkplay's table plays for chips with nothing real at stake, this is exactly the right place to drill the decisions until they are automatic.

Play the dealer's card, not just your own

The mistake almost every beginner makes is staring only at their own total. The dealer's up-card should drive nearly every decision, because the dealer plays by a fixed rule (keep hitting until reaching at least 17), and a fixed rule makes them predictable. Assume the hidden card is a ten, since tens, jacks, queens and kings make up nearly a third of the deck. A 6 showing means the dealer likely holds 16 and must hit it, which busts often. So against a weak 2 through 6, stand on a modest hand and let the dealer break. Against a 7 or higher, assume they will finish with a solid 17 or better, and keep hitting until you can actually compete.

The rules that carry most hands

You cannot bust with 11 or less, so always hit there. Standing would throw away a free card. On a hard 17 or more, stand, because the chance of improving is smaller than the chance of busting. The awkward middle, 12 through 16, is where the up-card decides it: stand against 2 through 6, hit against 7 through ace. One refinement is worth learning, because it is the most common spot in the game. With 12 against a dealer 2 or 3, take a card anyway. Only a ten busts you, and those dealer cards do not bust often enough to protect a 12. Aces make hits safer than they look. An ace counts as 1 or 11, whichever helps, so a soft hand like ace-6 (a soft 17) can never bust on one card. Hit it every time; standing on soft 17 wins nothing in the long run.

• Assume the dealer's hidden card is a ten. It makes their likely total easy to read.
• Never stand on 11 or under. There is nothing to lose by hitting.
• Stand on 12 to 16 only against a dealer 2 to 6, except hit 12 against a 2 or 3.
• Hit soft 17 or less. Stand on soft 19 and up.

Habits that cost chips

The classic bad plan is copying the dealer: hitting to 17 no matter what shows. It feels safe and it is one of the worst ways to play, because the dealer's edge comes from acting last. If you bust first, you lose even when the dealer busts a moment later. Their fixed rule only works with that advantage attached, so borrowing the rule without the advantage just donates chips. The second habit is freezing on 16 against a 10 because hitting feels scary. It is a bad hand either way, but the math says hit, and hands like this one are exactly why the 1956 paper mattered. The third is chasing a losing streak with bigger bets. The chips here are free and your best balance is saved, but the habit is worth practising anyway: bet steady, play the chart, and let the long run do the work. A useful drill is to play twenty hands while saying your reason out loud before each decision, dealer shows weak so I stand, dealer shows strong so I hit. When the reasons come faster than the cards, the chart has moved into your hands. Blackjack grew out of the French game vingt-et-un, and the American name reportedly came from an old casino bonus paid when an ace of spades landed with a black jack. The bonus vanished; the name stuck.