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GENERIC BASIC STRATEGY RULES

See Also Basic Strategy Tables
Hard Hands
With 17 or more, always stand.
With 12-16, hit against a dealer's upcard of 7 or more, otherwise stand.
(the only exception is to hit a hard 12 vs a dealer 2 or 3)
With 11 or less, always hit (unless doubling)
Soft Hands
With soft 19 or more, always stand.
With soft 18, hit against a dealer's 9 or more, otherwise stand (unless doubling).
With soft 17 or less, always hit (unless doubling)
Pair Splitting
Always split aces or 8s.
Never split 10s, 5s or 4s.
Split 9s against a dealer's 9 or less, except 7.
Split 7s against a dealer's 7 or less.
Split 6s against a dealer's 6 or less, except 2.
Split 2s and 3s against a dealer's 4-7.
Doubling Down (DD)
With soft 17 or 18 DD against a dealer's 3-6.
With soft 15 or 16 DD against a dealer's 4-6.
With soft 13 or 14 DD against a dealer's 5 and 6.
With 10 or 11, DD if total is more than dealer's upcard.
    i.e. DD except against A w/ 11, and 10 or A w/ 10.
With 9, DD against a dealer's 3-6.
Never DD with hard 8 or less.

Generic vs Optimal Strategy
Although the optimal basic strategy will vary depending on house rules such as:
Number of decks
Dealer Hits/Stands on soft 17
Double on (9), 10 and 11 only
Double allowed after split
One card only on split aces
Surrender allowed
The difference is roughly 0.03% so it is not worth memorizing multiple tables according to Knock-out Blackjack (1) .
House Edge
Average: 2% house advantage
Basic Strategy: 0.1-0.7% 
Rules vary from location to location:
Las Vegas downtown single deck .17%
Las Vegas strip 2 deck .20
Las Vegas strip 6 deck .36-.55
Reno single deck .43
Reno 2 decks      .75
Atlantic Cty/Foxwoods
     6-8 decks     .44

Ref: Basic Strategy Charts at www.blackjackinfo.com
(1) "Knock-Out Blackjack -- The easiest card counting system ever devised', O. Vancura, K. Fuchs, 1998
"Beat the Dealer", E. Thorp, 1966
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last updated 28 Jul 2002