1. Blackjack Hand Guide
2. Hard Hand Blackjack Drive
3. Blackjack Hands Odds
4. Hard Hand Blackjack Card Game

How to Play Hard Hands in Blackjack

I'm only going to include a few basic hints and tips for playing hard hands in blackjack, so that there will be something interesting to read in the sections on the specific hands.

The first thing you need to know is that you will always hit a hard 8 or less.

The next thing you need to know is that you will always stand on a hard 17 or better.

Blackjack Pro by NetEnt with a Hard 18 hand. In terms of hard hands, these five possibilities all provide a strong chance to beat the dealer, obviously the 17 has the least highest chance, and with a hard 21 a ‘can’t-lose’ hand. Hence, it is recommended you always stand if you get any of these hard totals, regardless of what the dealer has. A “hard” hand in blackjack means that you don’t have an Ace. With a “hard” hand you are stuck with a rigid hand that cannot be changed. If you are dealt two 5s you have 10. Basically, the strategy for hard hands is simple. Players should always hit on a hard 8 or less as our blackjack basic strategy guide states. On the other end, players should always stand when there is a hard 17 or higher due to the high risk of busting on a ten. The real strategy for hard hands happens for all the hands in between. The Hard 20 consists of two 10 value cards. It is a very strong hand in Blackjack. It is most valuable against a dealer’s 8 up card. The player wins 79.18% of their bet when they have a hard 20 against the dealers 8 up card.

That only leaves strategy for eight more possibilities; all other possibilities are covered by the two strategies above. (And to make learning the strategy even easier, the same strategy applies to any total of 13, 14, 15, or 16, which reduces the total number of possibilities to 5.)

Stiff Hands

Hard 12's through hard 16's are called 'stiff hands'. These hands are always a bummer because they're often not good enough to beat the dealer's hand, but they also have a good chance of busting.

Blackjack Hand Guide

Potential Double Down Hands

Hard Hand Blackjack Drive

A hard 9 through a hard 11 is a potentially good hand for doubling down. See the individual strategy pages for each total to figure out exactly what to do with one of these totals and why.

Blackjack Hands Odds

Hard Hand Blackjack Card Game