The strategy of gaining the upperhand in blackjack was developed way before the invention of computers but was never published. In the 1950s, a nearly faultless theory was figured out and published by 4 clerks who had plenty of free time to manually form all the possible combinations of hands that could be dealt in the game of blackjack.

The optimal strategy consists of charts most commonly for a single deck and double deck of cards. This chart, known as strategy card, redefined the way of play and it is still used at games of New Blackjack +Sidebets

The left side vertical column represents the hand being dealt to the player and the top horizontal column represents the hand of the dealer. The card numbers form a matrix and to know the correct play, you need to traverse to left from row indicating your card to the column indicating the dealer’s card. The contents of this column and row combination decide the correct play.

Each card has 4 standard options that a player can follow, “Hit”, “Stand”, “Double Down” and “Split a Pair”. There is also a fifth option “surrender” available at some casino tables.

Following the strategy card reduces the house advantage to as low as 0.5%. To simplify things further, let us take an example. If my hand totals up to 14 and the dealer has a 10 up card, the strategy card asks us to “hit”. In that case, an 8, 9, 10 or higher will bust you. Nevertheless, the probability of dealer getting bust is more if he hits a lower card and then again has to hit. Therefore, both the cases are possible where the player gets bust or the dealer exceeds 21 but the odds are in your favor if you decide according to the blackjack strategy.

The blackjack strategy is not a foolproof method to win each and every game, still it helps reduce the house edge and you stand to win more frequently following the blackjack strategy. On the contrary, many still believe that blackjack is game of guessing and card counting.