4-8 Deck Blackjack Strategy
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The blackjack strategy here is simple and relies on proven mathematical algorithms that are duly summed up in a simple list of actions to undertake. There are other variants you can explore, naturally. For example, you can find a reference sheet for a blackjack strategy 6 deck or look for another specific number of decks. The perfect blackjack strategy charts depend on slightly different versions of the game. Blackjack can be played with a single deck or with 4-8 decks. Most casinos nowadays have a dealer deal with one deck or most commonly with six decks. Blackjack Appendix 3C lists exceptions to the single deck, dealer hits on soft 17, basic strategy based on the exact composition of the player's hand. Boss Media Appendix 1 has a composition dependent basic strategy for single-deck, dealer stands on soft 17, blackjack. Hal Marcus, developer of the popular Blackjack 6-7-8 Strategy Cards, answers the question whether his unique Counter's Basic Strategy for 4-8 deck games can be used as is in 2-deck games. If you a Chicago area player or planning to visit, don't miss reading John Grochowski's report on the current state of blackjack playing conditions in this.
Strategy for Blackjack with 4-8 decks To use the basic strategy, look up your hand along the left vertical edge and the dealer’s up card along the top. In both cases an A stands for ace. From top to bottom are the hard totals, soft totals, and splittable hands.
WizardAdministrator
I was taking to a friend a few months ago and this topic came up. His point was “the ratio of the cards is the same in 1 deck vs 8 decks”. That is, off the top, 1 out of 13 cards is an Ace, etc, no matter the number of decks. Honestly I’ve had the same thought and didn’t have a great answer for him. I’ll read this and try to wrap my head around the math answer for why # decks affects house edge
That's true, the first card has a 1/13 of being any given rank. However, the second card has a 1/17 of being the same in single deck and 1/13.4 in an eight-deck game.
It does seem you do a lot more doubling down and splitting with one deck vs. 8 decks.
https://wizardofodds.com/games/blackjack/strategy/calculator/
I keep looking all over the internet for these handy dandy Basic Strategy Cards. I just found a couple in your post. But I probably need more for 2 decks, 4 decks, 6 decks, not to mention the changes in strategy based on the true count for the 5 different deck strategies.
It does seem you do a lot more doubling down and splitting with one deck vs. 8 decks.
Before my last Vegas trip, I printed out in color BS charts for 1,2,4-8 decks from WOO BS generator. Had versions with surrender and no surr. H17 and S17 for all but the single deck game. Laminated them double sided so each card has the surr and no surr charts. Total of 10 charts. Really handy. Obviously none of this captures true count adjustments just BS. I’d been meaning to do it for awhile.
That is one of the essences of a well-designed casino game -- the player doesn't see where the house has the advantage. In blackjack and most poker games it is a player positional disadvantage. The idea to remove the 10's in Spanish 21 was also a good one.
I get asked from time to time by the other side about how to significantly increase the house edge, like by 1%, in blackjack without changing the 3-2 payoff, mandating a side bet, charging a commission on wins, nor change the deck composition in a way the average player won't notice. Nothing good has ever come to mind.
I couldn't agree more with you about having a house edge that isn't obvious to the players. Not to brag but I like to think my biggest accomplishment with my game 'Cards vs Dice' is the fact that it took you > 5 minutes to determine the game's house edge. There were a couple of minutes where I swear you were convinced there wasn't a house edge & that I had lost my mind lol.
Second, it's always been my policy to teach to near the top. If you put everybody on the bell curve, I try to aim at the person about one standard deviation above average (meaning 84% are less intelligent and 16% are more). There are already plenty of advanced books for those 2 or 3 standard deviations above the norm and plenty of sources for those who need things simplified as much as possible. I aim for those in between.
I like this strategy. Might just have to borrow it for my 1st published book, whenever I get to complete it ;) So I'm assuming the target IQ level is 110-120 since you say 'aim at the person about one standard deviation' so I'm assuming 'about' means that they are almost or slightly above the 2nd standard deviation. I have trouble imagining this since I don't know my IQ to compare with. Your average human doesn't seem that intelligent to me but then again I don't care to teach the average person, but I also don't want only the brightest minds being able to contribute to my discussions since it could take forever to find someone that can contribute.
I like your solution but I find it hard for me to implement it, any suggestions on how to help? I know communication isn't my strong point but dumbing down my communication to its simplest form just doesn't seem to work either :/
... the reason the probability of getting the ace is higher in the single-deck game is the deck is richer in aces after you remove a 10 from it. The same is true if the first card is an ace; the remaining cards will be richer in tens in the single-deck game.
Furthermore, if the player does get a blackjack, the probability of the dealer’s getting one goes down as the number of decks goes down.
... The player wins an extra half unit with every winning blackjack.
this is well known, but is in effect without regard to who gets one first, so it doesn't seem like the entire answer.But isn't it just as likely that the dealer gets the first natural? I don't get how this applies until we know who gets the first .
this is well known, but is in effect without regard to who gets one first, so it doesn't seem like the entire answer.
I am not clear about the point that you are making here.
Consider a heads up game with a five-card deck composed of four tens and a single ace. Dealer and player will always stand because they will always have a 20 or BJ in the first two cards. Whenever dealer or player gets a BJ, they will get it first. There is only one BJ possible on each hand.
One fifth of the time, they will push with each having 20. 40% of the time, dealer will have BJ and 40% of the time, the player will have BJ. The player will win a full unit every five hands, on average.
Now take out a ten, and the player wins a full bet every 4 hands, on average.
I am not clear about the point that you are making here.
Consider a heads up game with a five-card deck composed of four tens and a single ace. Dealer and player will always stand because they will always have a 20 or BJ in the first two cards. Whenever dealer or player gets a BJ, they will get it first. There is only one BJ possible on each hand.
One fifth of the time, they will push with each having 20. 40% of the time, dealer will have BJ and 40% of the time, the player will have BJ. The player will win a full unit every five hands, on average.
Now take out a ten, and the player wins a full bet every 4 hands, on average.
OK, thanks, I guess the point you are making is that in a game rich in tens and in which BJ is possible once, though equally likely to go to player or dealer, it is always good for the player and sometimes 'really good'? Likewise fewer decks are good for the player, sometimes really good, and it averages out so you can make a statement about what the HE is for one deck, two, etc and compare them.
The Wizard can decide if he wants to try to clarify, it's not obvious what he means in this section
OK, thanks, I guess the point you are making is that in a game rich in tens and in which BJ is possible once, though equally likely to go to player or dealer, it is always good for the player and sometimes 'really good'?
Likewise fewer decks are good for the player, sometimes really good, and it averages out so you can make a statement about what the HE is for one deck, two, etc and compare them.
My point is this: In the case where the dealer gets the BJ, it does hurt the chances for the player to get BJ. In fact, it extinguishes any chance. I thought this might have been the point you were asking about.
But, the reverse is true, as well. If the player gets a BJ, the dealer is shut out. In a 8-deck shoe game, the dealers chances of getting a BJ is hardly affected by me getting a BJ. In the four-card game, the probability goes from 100% to 0%. These correlation affects are always stronger the smaller the number of cards in play.
Administrator
I couldn't agree more with you about having a house edge that isn't obvious to the players. Not to brag but I like to think my biggest accomplishment with my game 'Cards vs Dice' is the fact that it took you > 5 minutes to determine the game's house edge. There were a couple of minutes where I swear you were convinced there wasn't a house edge & that I had lost my mind lol.
Yes, I recall that, but not the details. Was it a player positional disadvantage as well?
On This Page
Introduction
To use the basic strategy, look up your hand along the left vertical edge and the dealer's up card along the top. In both cases an A stands for ace. From top to bottom are the hard totals, soft totals, and splittable hands. There are two charts depending on whether the dealer hits or stands on soft 17.
Other basic strategy rules.
- Never take insurance or 'even money.'
- If there is no row for splitting (fives and tens), then look up your hand as a hard total (10 or 20).
- If you can't split because of a limit on re-splitting, then look up your hand as a hard total, except aces. In the extremely unlikely event you have a pair of aces you can't re-split and drawing to split aces is allowed, then double against a 6, otherwise hit.
If you play a mixture of six-deck games, some where the dealer hits a soft 17, and some where he stands, and you only wish to memorize one strategy, I would recommend you memorize the one where the dealer stands on soft 17. The cost in errors due to playing the wrong strategy is 2.3 times higher playing a stand on soft 17 game, with the hit on 17 strategy, than vise versa.
Basic Strategy in Text
For the benefit of my blind readers, here is the above strategy in text form, when the dealer stands on soft 17 and surrender is allowed. To use the strategy, start at the top, and follow the first rule that applies.
Surrender
- Surrender hard 16 (but not a pair of 8s) vs. dealer 9, 10, or A, and hard 15 vs. dealer 10.
Split
- Always split aces and 8s.
- Never split 5s and 10s.
- Split 2s and 3s against a dealer 4-7, and against a 2 or 3 if DAS is allowed.
- Split 4s only if DAS is allowed and the dealer shows a 5 or 6.
- Split 6s against a dealer 3-6, and against a 2 if DAS is allowed.
- Split 7s against a dealer 2-7.
- Split 9s against a dealer 2-6 or 8-9.
Double
4-8 Deck Blackjack Strategy
- Double hard 9 vs. dealer 3-6.
- Double hard 10 except against a dealer 10 or A.
- Double hard 11 except against a dealer A.
- Double soft 13 or 14 vs. dealer 5-6.
- Double soft 15 or 16 vs. dealer 4-6.
- Double soft 17 or 18 vs. dealer 3-6.
Hit or Stand
- Always hit hard 11 or less.
- Stand on hard 12 against a dealer 4-6, otherwise hit.
- Stand on hard 13-16 against a dealer 2-6, otherwise hit.
- Always stand on hard 17 or more.
- Always hit soft 17 or less.
- Stand on soft 18 except hit against a dealer 9, 10, or A.
- Always stand on soft 19 or more.
As I've said many times, the above strategy will be fine under any set of rules. However, for you perfectionists out there, here are the modifications to make if the dealer hits a soft 17.
- Surrender 15, a pair of 8s, and 17 vs. dealer A.
- Double 11 vs. dealer A.
- Double soft 18 vs. dealer 2.
- Double soft 19 vs. dealer 6.
My thanks to Kelly for putting together the above text strategy.