Blackjack card values: what every hand is worth

The value of each card

Suits don't matter in blackjack. The king of hearts and the king of spades are the same card as far as the game is concerned. Only rank matters:

The middle row is the most important fact in the game. Sixteen of every fifty-two cards, a little under a third, are worth ten. That's why players talk about "assuming a ten" when guessing the dealer's hidden card or the next card off the shoe. You'll often be wrong, but ten is still the most likely single value, and nearly every line of the basic strategy chart is built around it.

How aces work

An ace counts as 11 unless that would push your hand over 21, in which case it counts as 1. You never have to choose. The total simply settles on the best value that doesn't bust.

Only one ace in a hand can ever count as 11, because two elevens already make 22. So ace + ace is 12, never 22 or 2, and ace + ace + 9 is 21.

Soft and hard hands

A hand with an ace currently counted as 11 is soft. It can't bust on the next card, because if the new card would take it over 21, the ace just drops to 1. A hand with no ace, or with an ace that has to count as 1, is hard.

The difference matters a lot. Hard 17 and soft 17 have the same number but call for completely different play. You should always stand on hard 17, yet soft 17 is too weak to stand on: you should hit it or, against a weak dealer card, double. The guide to soft hands walks through each one.

What counts as a blackjack

A blackjack, or "natural", is an ace plus any ten-value card as your first two cards: ace with a 10, jack, queen or king. It pays 3 to 2 at this table, so a 10-chip bet wins 15.

Any other 21 is just 21. Three or more cards adding up to 21 is a strong hand but not a blackjack, and it pays even money. Ace + ten made after splitting a pair also counts as an ordinary 21, because the hand didn't start that way. If both you and the dealer have a natural, it's a push and your bet comes back.

In a six-deck game you'll be dealt a blackjack roughly once in every 21 hands, about 4.7 percent of the time.

Busting

A hand that goes over 21 is bust and loses immediately. Your bet is collected before the dealer even turns over the hole card, so you lose even if the dealer later busts too. That one rule is where the house gets its edge. Every other rule in the game is roughly symmetrical between player and dealer.

How likely you are to bust depends on your hard total. With a hard 12, only a ten-value card busts you, about 31 percent of the time. With a hard 16, anything from 6 upward busts you, which is around 62 percent. With 11 or less you can't bust at all. That's why 11 is such a good hand to double down on.

Adding up fast

• Count ten-cards as "ten" in your head, not by name. King + 6 is "ten, sixteen", not "king and a six".
• Hold the ace as "soft" until it's forced down. Say "soft 15" for ace + 4, then just add each new card until the total passes 21, and take 10 off once.
• Know the dangerous range. Hard 12 to 16 is where most decisions are made and most money is lost. Recognise those totals at a glance.
• Let the game check you. The practice table shows your total on every hand, so you can check your mental arithmetic until it's automatic.

Next

Once totals feel automatic, read how to play blackjack for the full order of play, then learn the basic strategy chart.