Winning Blackjack with Different Hands

For players looking to rely on their skill rather than luck, there is no game better than blackjack. Yet with such a high element of skill comes the need for studying. And when it comes to becoming an expert in blackjack, the first step is being able to look at and understand the hands of both you and the dealer. That’s why in this guide, we’ll be looking at how to play and categorise every hand.

Understanding Blackjack Hands

Compared to other casino games, blackjack requires a lot more strategy. The basis of all blackjack strategies is understanding the hand that both you and the dealer have, especially if you want to move on to advanced blackjack strategies like card counting.

The first thing to know is that not all hands are created equally. If the total of your hand is 10, 11, or 19+ — you’ve got one of the best blackjack winning hands. That’s because these are either strong enough to stand and win most of the time, or are perfect for doubling and getting a huge win. And one thing you’ll notice about good hands is that they’re easy to play.

Chance of winning with blackjack best hands

** The probabilities are calculated against an average dealer’s card.

Blackjack Hand Chart

Blackjack is a game of maths. And with hundreds of possible situations, there’s a lot of maths involved in making sure that you play each and every hand correctly. Fortunately, in 2024 you don’t need to do the calculations yourself.

Blackjack hand charts show you exactly what to do in every situation — essentially acting as a cheat sheet when you’re unsure what to do next. For a great set of hand charts, we recommend you check the one we provided in our basic blackjack guide. If you already know all about them, check out our advanced blackjack strategy guide. Otherwise, if this is new to you, don’t stress over it, because in the next section, we’ll be covering how to read and use a blackjack chart for studying, and also how to use one at the tables.

How to Use the Chart

Blackjack charts are typically presented in three spreadsheets covering hard hands, soft hands, and pairs. Your total will be on the Y-Axis, with the dealer’s hand on the X-Axis. When playing, you can consult the relevant chart and find the point of intersection based on what you and the dealer have, and then find a single letter telling you what to do. H = Hit, S = Stand, and D = Double, although other symbols do exist where splitting is possible.

Ideally, you want to eventually memorise the chart.

Colin Jones on the fastest way to memorise blackjack basic strategy

There are no issues with using it when playing in Great Britain — and, generally speaking, you’ll have three options for how to consult it during a game.

• Use a physical chart: Physical charts are available for print in many sizes so that you can always have one in your pockets or at the table. The downside is that consulting them is very obvious, so if you’re after subtlety, this might not be for you.

• Download a chart to your phone: This way, whenever you have a tough decision, you will only need to fish out your phone.

• Have the chart in a separate tab: An exclusive for online casinos and Gamblizard personal favourite — just have the chart open in a separate tab. This way, you won’t need to unlock anything and the chart will already be loaded and available at the click of a button.

Playing with Tricky Starting Blackjack Hands

Though playing with good hands is easy, it’s a whole different story when you’ve got a bad one: those totalling in 16 & 15 are considered the worst. And while double 8s can be split, every other situation is more tricky. This is because, unlike the good hands, no one strategy fits all, and what you’ll need to do will largely depend on what the dealer is showing. Let’s have a look at some examples.

• You have a 10 and a 5 for a total of 15. In this situation, there are really only two options that make sense. If the dealer is showing a card with 6 or smaller, stand. But, if the dealer has 7 or higher, including an Ace, then you must hit until you reach 17.
• While the above is true for hard hands, once you have a soft one, things again get complicated. With an Ace and a 5, you want to hit when the dealer shows a 2, 3, or anything higher than a 7, including an Ace, and you want to double on all other hands. While a little more complex, the upside is that most soft hands are considered good.

There are a lot of situations like the above, and it can get a little overwhelming. Fortunately, with proper study of blackjack basic strategy and chart, even these situations can be relatively straightforward.

What are the Odds of Winning Consecutive Blackjack Hands?

Recently, there’s been a popular meme floating around saying if you have $100, you’re just 32 hands of blackjack away from reaching the wealth of Elon Musk.

@aj.bauer8 #blackjack #elonmusk ♬ sonido original – AJ BAUER

Video posted by AJ BAUER

Of course, most people know this is a joke. It did get us thinking, though. How many hands of blackjack to be a millionaire? What are the odds of winning 10 blackjack hands in a row? Or what is the record for most blackjack hands won in a row?

There are thoughts that just about every player has wondered at some point — but rather than just using this topic as small talk around the team, we decided to break out the calculator to give at least a rough answer to these questions. Unfortunately, there are no reliable records of the highest number of wins in a row. For everything else, have a look at our extremely simplified findings in this table:

So is it realistic to become a millionaire playing blackjack? Well, unless you have about $500,000 that you’re willing to risk, we’d say no. For reference, without card counting, an optimal strategy will give you a 42.22% chance of winning, 49.1% chance of losing, and 8.48% of pushing.