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Blackjack is played in several different ways. The basic idea is the same in all of them, but this site is 100% focused on table blackjack: a dealer, real cards, and standard casino rules. Every lesson, chart, and practice game here assumes that game.

Ways to play

• Table blackjack: the classic casino game. A dealer deals real cards at a half-moon table, from a handheld deck, a shoe, or a shuffling machine. This is the game we teach.
• Video blackjack: played on an electronic machine in a casino or betting outlet. The rules usually favor the house more; for example, a blackjack often pays only even money.
• Online blackjack: a computer program deals the cards using a random number generator.
• Live dealer blackjack: a real dealer with real cards, streamed online from a casino or a studio.
• Variants: games like Spanish 21, Double Exposure, and Blackjack Switch borrow blackjack's basic idea but change key rules, so the strategy on this site doesn't apply to them.

Video machines, online software games, and continuous shuffling machines reshuffle so often that card counting doesn't work. Online gambling is also legal only in some places.

Blackjack has one of the lowest house edges in the casino, but only if you play well and choose a table with good rules. This lesson shows where the house's edge comes from and what each table rule costs you.

What "house edge" means

The house edge is the share of each bet the casino expects to keep over the long run. A 0.5% house edge means losing about 50 cents for every $100 you bet, on average. Any single session can still go either way.

Players who use perfect basic strategy (the next lesson) lose less than 1% of what they bet over the long run. Most games with basic strategy have a house edge between 0.5% and 1%.

How often you win a hand

Even with perfect play, you lose more hands than you win. The game stays close because some wins pay more than your bet: blackjacks pay 3:2, and doubling or splitting at the right moments puts more money on the table when you're likely to win.

Blackjack payouts: 3:2 vs 6:5

A blackjack shows up about once every 21 hands:

Calculated exactly from a freshly shuffled shoe: 2 × (aces ÷ cards) × (10-value cards ÷ remaining cards).

That's why the payout matters so much. Some tables quietly pay less than 3:2:

Avoid 6:5 tables. A 6:5 payout costs you more than twice as much as the dealer hitting soft 17, no doubling after splits, no resplitting, no resplitting aces, and no hole card combined. See the table below.

Decks and the shoe

Basic strategy; dealer hits soft 17, double after split, only original bets lost to a dealer blackjack.

With everything else equal, fewer decks means a lower house edge. With fewer decks you get more blackjacks, the dealer busts more often, and doubling down pays off more.

Penetration and reshuffling

Casinos don't deal every card in the shoe. They stop and reshuffle while one or more decks are still left. How much of the shoe gets dealt before the reshuffle is called penetration. It becomes important once you start counting cards (Lesson 5).

Some casinos use a shuffling machine that puts cards back into the shoe as the game goes. Video and online blackjack usually deal every round from a freshly shuffled shoe, so card counting doesn't work there.

Rules that change the house edge

Each rule below makes the game better or worse for you. Negative is good for you.

Compared with 8 decks, dealer stands on soft 17, double on any first two cards, double after split, split to 4 hands, resplit aces, no surrender, blackjack pays 3:2. Negative is better for you.

A great table has 3:2 blackjack, dealer stands on soft 17, double after split, and late surrender. The fewer decks, the better.

Estimate your table's house edge

Pick the rules at a table to estimate its house edge. The default settings match the rules used in our practice games.

Why insurance is a bad bet

Insurance pays 2 to 1 if the dealer's hole card is a 10-value card. There are 16 ten-value cards (10, J, Q, K) out of 52, so, ignoring the cards already dealt, the hole card is a ten about 4 times in 13, which is less than one-third of the time.

Imagine 13 insurance bets of $5 each:

• 4 times the dealer has blackjack: you win 4 × $10 = +$40
• 9 times the dealer doesn't: you lose 9 × $5 = −$45

That's a net loss of $5 on $65 bet, or about 7.7% of every insurance bet. That's far worse than the main game.

Even money is the same bet. When you have blackjack against a dealer ace, even money guarantees $10 on a $10 bet. Turn it down, and 9 times out of 13 you're paid $15, while the other 4 times you push. On average that's about $10.38, which beats the guaranteed $10.

Card counters are the exception. When the remaining cards are unusually rich in tens, insurance can be worth taking. Lesson 5 covers this.

Dealer bust odds by upcard

The dealer's upcard tells you a lot about how the hand will probably end:

6 decks, dealer stands on soft 17, after the dealer has checked for blackjack. Bar scale: full width = 50%.

The dealer busts most often when showing a 4, 5, or 6, and least often when showing an ace. Basic strategy is built on this: against weak upcards you let the dealer take the risk, and against strong ones you have to improve your own hand.

Key takeaways

• Look for 3:2 blackjack, dealer stands on soft 17, double after split, and late surrender. Fewer decks is better.
• Never play 6:5.
• Skip insurance and even money unless you're counting cards.
• Rules only set the ceiling. Basic strategy is what gets you close to it. That's the next lesson.

Basic strategy is the best way to play each hand using only your cards and the dealer's upcard. It comes from working out the expected result of every possible play, and it doesn't involve counting cards. The house edge figures in the previous lesson assume you play this way. Any other play loses more on average.

How to read the chart

1. Find your hand on the left side of the chart.
   • Hard: hands with no ace, or where the ace has to count as 1.
   • Soft: an ace that counts as 11, like A,7 (soft 18).
   • Pairs: your first two cards have the same value.
2. Find the dealer's upcard along the top. The 10 column covers 10, J, Q, and K.
3. The cell where they meet is your play.

Some cells have two letters. The first is the best play, and the second is what to do when the table won't let you make it:

• Dh / Ds: double if you can, otherwise hit (Dh) or stand (Ds). You can usually double only on your first two cards.
• Rh / Rs / Rp: surrender if you can, otherwise hit, stand, or split. Surrender is only offered as your first decision, and not every casino offers it.

Chart: dealer stands on soft 17

Chart: dealer hits soft 17

Only a few plays change when the dealer hits soft 17:

• Double 11 against an ace instead of hitting.
• Double soft 18 (A,7) against a 2 instead of standing.
• Double soft 19 (A,8) against a 6 instead of standing.
• Surrender hard 15, hard 17, and a pair of 8s against an ace.

If you only learn one chart, learn the stands on soft 17 chart. Using it in a hits-soft-17 game costs much less than making the opposite mistake.

The strategy in words

When a hand is on the chart, the chart is all you need. The same strategy can also be written as a list of rules. Start at the top and use the first rule that fits your hand. These rules are for a game where the dealer stands on soft 17, with doubling after splits and surrender allowed.

1. Surrender

• Surrender hard 16 against a 9, 10, or ace, but not a pair of 8s.
• Surrender hard 15 against a 10.

2. Split

• Always split aces and 8s.
• Never split 5s or 10s. Play them as hard 10 and hard 20.
• Split 2s and 3s against 2 through 7.
• Split 4s against 5 or 6.
• Split 6s against 2 through 6.
• Split 7s against 2 through 7.
• Split 9s against 2 through 6, 8, and 9. Stand against 7, 10, or an ace.

3. Double down

• Double hard 9 against 3 through 6.
• Double hard 10 against everything except a 10 or an ace.
• Double hard 11 against everything except an ace.
• Double soft 13 and 14 (A,2 and A,3) against 5 or 6.
• Double soft 15 and 16 (A,4 and A,5) against 4 through 6.
• Double soft 17 and 18 (A,6 and A,7) against 3 through 6.

4. Hit or stand

• Hard 11 or less: always hit.
• Hard 12: stand against 4 through 6, otherwise hit.
• Hard 13 to 16: stand against 2 through 6, otherwise hit.
• Hard 17 or more: always stand.
• Soft 17 or less: always hit.
• Soft 18: stand, except hit against a 9, 10, or ace.
• Soft 19 or more: always stand.

And one more: never take insurance or even money. The odds lesson shows why.

Examples

Soft 18 against a 9: hit. Standing on 18 feels safe, but against a 9 it loses more on average than hitting. A soft hand can't bust on the next card, so taking one more card is a cheap way to try to improve.

Pair of 8s against a 10: split. Played together, the 8s make a hard 16, which is a weak hand against a 10. On average, two hands that each start with an 8 lose less than one 16.

Hard 16 against a 7: hit. Hitting will often bust you, but standing is worse. A dealer with a 7 showing busts much less often than one showing a 2 through 6.

Why the strategy looks the way it does

Most of the chart follows from the dealer bust odds in the odds lesson:

• Against a 2 through 6, the dealer busts often. Stand on your weak hands and let the dealer take the risk, and double more often, since you're likely to win.
• Against a 7 through ace, the dealer usually makes a strong hand. You need to improve a weak total, so you hit even when that risks busting.
• Soft hands can't bust on one card, so doubling on them against a weak upcard is cheap.

Variations

These charts assume the rules in our practice games. When a table is different, adjust like this:

• Variation: No doubling after a split. Don't split 2s or 3s against a 2 or 3, and don't split 6s against a 2; hit instead. Never split 4s; play them as hard 8.
• Variation: No surrender. Use the second letter in each R cell.
• Variation: One or two decks. These charts are for 4 to 8 decks. Single-deck and double-deck games have their own charts with a few differences.

Key takeaways

• Find your hand on the left and the dealer's upcard along the top. When doubling or surrender isn't allowed, use the second letter.
• Always split aces and 8s. Never split 5s or 10s.
• Stand on 12 through 16 against a weak dealer upcard (4 through 6 for a 12), and hit them against 7 through ace.
• Never take insurance.
• Learn the stands on soft 17 chart first. Only a few plays change when the dealer hits soft 17.

Card counting tells you when the cards left in the shoe favor you instead of the casino, so you can bet more at those times. Counters don't memorize every card. They keep one number in their head and update it as each card appears.

Learn basic strategy first. Counters still play basic strategy on the great majority of hands. Counting on top of a shaky strategy only loses money faster.

Why the remaining cards matter

When lots of tens and aces are left in the shoe, the game tilts toward you. When it's full of small cards, it tilts toward the dealer. High cards help you because:

• Blackjacks come more often. You and the dealer both get more of them, but only yours pay 3:2.
• Doubles work better. When you double on 9, 10, or 11, you're usually hoping for a ten.
• The dealer busts more. The dealer must hit 12 through 16, and a ten busts those hands. You get to choose whether to stand.
• Surrenders, splits, and insurance all become more valuable.

Small cards do the opposite. They let the dealer turn 12 through 16 into made hands without busting.

Here's roughly where a counter's extra value comes from:

Average conditions in a six-deck shoe.

The Hi-Lo count

Hi-Lo gives every card a value of +1, 0, or −1:

Each deck has as many +1 cards (2 through 6) as −1 cards (10s, face cards, and aces). If you count through an entire deck, you end back at 0. That makes Hi-Lo a balanced count.

The running count

Start at 0 after the shuffle. Add the value of every card you see. That total is the running count.

A positive running count means more small cards than big cards have been dealt, so the cards still in the shoe are rich in tens and aces. A negative count means the opposite.

A few habits make counting faster:

• Count every card you can see: your cards, other players' cards, and the dealer's hole card once it's turned over.
• Cancel pairs. A 5 and a king together are worth 0, so you can skip past them.
• Practice until it's automatic. The Card Counting Trainer deals cards at the speed you choose and checks your count.

The true count

A running count of +6 means a lot more with one deck left than with six. The true count adjusts for how many cards are left:

True count = running count ÷ decks left in the shoe

Here's the same running count at different points in a six-deck shoe:

You don't need exact division. Estimate how many decks are left, divide, and round. A rough estimate is good enough, and in most hands the right play is obvious anyway.

Some counting systems divide by half decks instead. In this lesson, Hi-Lo uses full decks.

Betting with the count

The higher the true count, the more you bet. A principle called the Kelly criterion says your bet should grow in proportion to your advantage. When the count is low or negative, you bet your minimum.

The ratio between your smallest and largest bet is your bet spread. With a 1 to 10 spread, your biggest bet is 10 times your smallest. A wider spread wins more over time, but it makes your bankroll swing harder and makes you easier to spot.

This simulation shows how spread and penetration (how much of the shoe is dealt before the shuffle) change a Hi-Lo counter's advantage:

Player advantage with Hi-Lo. Six decks, dealer stands on soft 17, surrender, double after split, resplit to four hands including aces, Illustrious 18 and Fab 4 plays. Bets raised only after a win and lowered only after a loss.

• A wider spread earns more.
• Deeper penetration earns more. The more of the shoe the dealer deals, the more often the count climbs high enough to matter.

In a six-deck game, 1 to 15 is about as aggressive as a spread should get. Raising your bet to more than double your last one is a quick way to draw attention.

Expect big swings

Even for a skilled counter, a realistic edge is only about 0.5% to 1.5%. The count is high enough to raise your bet only part of the time: roughly 10% to 35% of hands, depending on the rules, penetration, and strategy. In the short run your bankroll will rise and fall sharply, and it can take hundreds of hours of play for the edge to show. One popular rule of thumb is to keep a bankroll of 100 times your largest bet.

When insurance is worth it

The odds lesson showed why insurance is a bad bet for most players. It pays 2 to 1, so it only breaks even when more than one-third of the unseen cards are tens. Counters know when that's true:

Six decks. The insurance index is for the Hi-Lo true count.

Take insurance when the true count is +3 or higher, and skip it otherwise. Among the count-based changes to basic strategy, this one is worth the most. Lesson 6 covers the others.

Is card counting legal?

In the United States and the UK, counting cards in your head is not against the law. Using a device, or another person, to help you count is not allowed. But casinos are private businesses that don't like counters. Depending on where you play, a casino may:

• Ban you from blackjack or from the casino
• Shuffle early, or shuffle whenever you raise your bet
• Make you flat bet, or keep you from joining a shoe until the next shuffle
• Deal less of the shoe before shuffling

In New Jersey, Atlantic City casinos can't ban counters, so they rely on these other countermeasures instead.

Continuous shuffling machines and most online blackjack games shuffle so often that counting doesn't help.

Key takeaways

• Hi-Lo: +1 for 2 through 6, 0 for 7 through 9, −1 for 10s, face cards, and aces.
• The running count starts at 0 and adds each card's value.
• The true count is the running count divided by the decks left. Bet more when it's high.
• A wider bet spread and deeper penetration increase your edge, but big bet jumps attract attention.
• Take insurance at a true count of +3 or higher.
• Even done well, counting gives a small edge with big swings. It's legal, but casinos can ask you to leave.

This lesson builds on the Hi-Lo count from Lesson 5. It covers when counters change basic strategy, why penetration matters so much, how big a bankroll you need to ride out the swings, and what money management can and can't do.

The first two sections only matter if you count cards. The sections on risk of ruin and bankroll apply to every player.

Strategy deviations

Basic strategy is the best play for a freshly shuffled shoe. Once you know the true count, a few plays change. At high counts the unseen cards are rich in tens, so standing, doubling, splitting, and insurance all get better. At low counts they get worse.

Each change has an index number. Compare it to the true count:

• True count at or above the index: make the play in the table.
• Below the index: play it the other way.

For example, 12 against a dealer 3 has an index of +2. At a true count of +2 or higher, stand. Below +2, hit, which is what basic strategy says.

The Illustrious 18

These are the most valuable index plays for Hi-Lo, listed in order of value. If you can't learn them all, start at the top and work down.

Hi-Lo true count, in order of value.

A negative index means basic strategy already makes the play at a true count of 0, but you switch at low counts. For example, stand on 12 against a 5 unless the true count falls below −2, then hit.

The Fab 4 surrenders

If the table offers late surrender, add these four count-based surrenders:

Only where late surrender is offered.

Do you need more than 22?

Knowing just these 22 plays gives you about 80% to 85% of the value of knowing every index number in a six-deck game. The simulation below shows how little the full list adds:

Player advantage with Hi-Lo. Six decks, dealer stands on soft 17, surrender, double after split, resplit to four hands including aces. Bets raised only after a win and lowered only after a loss.

Penetration

Penetration is how much of the shoe the dealer deals before shuffling. The deeper the penetration, the more often the count climbs high enough to raise your bet. Dealing 4.5 of 6 decks is the norm.

Hi-Lo with a 1 to 10 bet spread and the Illustrious 18 + Fab 4. Six decks, dealer stands on soft 17, surrender, double after split.

With the same bet spread, dealing one more deck before the shuffle can more than double a counter's edge. Casinos know this, and cutting penetration is one of their standard countermeasures against counters. With a continuous shuffling machine, there's effectively no penetration at all.

Risk of ruin

Risk of ruin is the chance of losing your whole bankroll before you're done playing. It depends on how many hands you plan to play and how many betting units you bring. One unit is your average bet, so your number of units is your bankroll divided by your average bet.

This table shows how many units a basic strategy player needs:

Betting units needed by a basic strategy player (simulated). Six decks, dealer stands on soft 17, double after split, resplit to three hands, no surrender; 0.41% house edge.

To play 1,000 hands at $25 a hand with a 1% chance of going broke, you need 99 units: 99 × $25 = $2,475.

Two things stand out:

• More hands need more units.
• Cutting your risk is expensive. Going from a 10% to a 1% chance of going broke takes roughly half again as many units.

This table comes from a simulation, since there's no general formula that covers these situations. Counters bet with a spread, which makes swings bigger. That's why the rule of thumb from Lesson 5 calls for 100 times your largest bet.

Managing your bankroll

Betting systems don't change the math

Your expected loss is the total amount you bet × the house edge. How you break those bets up doesn't matter:

100 hands at $10 is $1,000 in total bets. At an estimated 0.36% house edge (our practice game rules, from the house edge estimator), the expected loss is about $3.60, however you split up those bets.

Raising your bet after a loss, pressing after a win, or any other betting pattern changes how bumpy the ride is, not the average result. Never pay for a betting system.

Pick a style that fits your goal

• Want the smallest swings? Flat bet: bet the same amount every hand.
• Counting cards? Bet in proportion to your advantage. The Kelly criterion is the math behind this: bet a fraction of your bankroll that grows with your edge, and bet nothing when you have no edge. Many players bet only a fraction of the Kelly amount, such as half, to cut their risk of ruin and protect against overestimating their edge.
• Whatever you choose, decide your bet before the hand and always make the best play once the cards are out.

Key takeaways

• Index plays change basic strategy based on the true count. The Illustrious 18 and Fab 4 give most of the value.
• Deeper penetration raises a counter's edge sharply, which is why casinos cut it.
• Risk of ruin depends on your units and how long you play. Bring more units for longer sessions.
• Betting systems can't beat the house edge. Expected loss is total bet × house edge.
• Counters size bets to their edge and often use a fraction of the Kelly amount.

The seven lessons before this one cover everything you need to sit down and play well. This page is where to go next: the free references worth bookmarking, and the books that the numbers on this site ultimately come from.

Nothing here is required reading. If you have worked through the lessons and practised with the trainers, you already know more than most people at the table.

Free references

These are the sites we check our own figures against. All of them are free, and none of them are affiliate links.

• Blackjack · WikipediaThe standard rules, the common variations, and a short history of the game. A good place to check a rule you saw at a table.
• Card counting · WikipediaHow counting systems work, why balanced counts need a true count, and the countermeasures casinos use against counters.
• Blackjack · Wizard of OddsThe most reliable blackjack reference on the web, and where most of the figures on this site come from: what each rule is worth, the strategy charts for every shoe size, Hi-Lo in full, and the appendices behind all of it.
• How to Play Blackjack · Bicycle CardsA short, plain rundown of the rules from a playing card maker. Useful if you want the basics on one page.

For the mathematically inclined

The references above tell you what the right play is. This one tells you why, and it is where to go if you want the simulations and the arguments behind the numbers rather than the conclusions.

• Blackjack in Color · Norm WattenbergerA free book of charts, and the clearest picture anywhere of what actually drives a counter’s results: penetration, bet spread, risk of ruin, and how long a losing stretch can run before the edge shows up.

Reading it is not necessary to play well. It is necessary if you want to check anyone's claims for yourself, including ours. Every figure on this site assumes a specific rule set, and the whole point of a source like this is that it makes you ask which one.

Telling good information from bad

A word on what you will find elsewhere. Blackjack attracts more bad information than almost any other casino game, so it is worth knowing the warning signs. Be sceptical of anything that sells a betting system, promises to turn a losing game into a winning one without counting, or talks about being "due" for a win. No betting pattern changes the house edge, because each hand is paid at fixed odds regardless of what you bet before it. If a page will not tell you the exact rules a figure assumes, the figure is not worth much.

Books

Card counting has a real literature, and most of it is still in print. These are the ones that matter, roughly in the order they were written, which is also roughly the order they build on each other.

Heads up: some links on this page are affiliate links, which means we may earn a commission if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. It never changes what we recommend, and there are no ads, no tracking, and no third-party scripts anywhere on this site.

• Beat the Dealer · Edward O. ThorpThe book that started it all, and the first published proof that blackjack could be beaten. Read it for the story and the reasoning; the specific systems have been improved on since.
• Playing Blackjack as a Business · Lawrence RevereA classic from the era when counting went mainstream, known for its colour-coded strategy charts.
• The Theory of Blackjack · Peter A. GriffinThe mathematical foundation underneath every modern count. Heavy going, and the reason the numbers in the other books hold up.
• The World’s Greatest Blackjack Book · Lance Humble and Carl CooperA complete course in one volume: the rules, basic strategy, and the Hi-Opt I count, written to be worked through rather than dipped into. One of the most readable introductions to counting.

Where to start

If you only read one, read Beat the Dealer. It is short, it is the origin of everything else here, and it explains the reasoning rather than handing you a system to memorise.

If you want to actually learn to count rather than read about counting, The World's Greatest Blackjack Book is the one to work through. It takes you from the rules to a full system in one volume, and it is written to be practised with rather than skimmed.

Playing Blackjack as a Business is worth having for its charts, and for a picture of the era when counting went from a mathematical curiosity to something casinos actually worried about.

The Theory of Blackjack is the one to read if you want to know why the numbers are what they are, rather than taking them on trust. It is a maths book, and it reads like one.

What to do next

• Print a strategy chart for the exact rules of the table you play, and keep drilling it in the Basic Strategy Trainer.
• Keep the count without losing it in the Card Counting Trainer, then do it again with a full table of players.
• Set up a game of your own with Lesson 8: Play at Home.

A home game is the cheapest way to get comfortable before you ever sit at a casino table. You deal at your own pace, nobody minds if you check a chart, and a bad session costs nothing. This page covers how to run one properly, and what to buy if you want it to feel like the real thing.

You need almost nothing to start. A deck of cards and something to bet with is a game. Everything below is about making it feel like a casino, which matters more than it sounds: the point of practising at home is that the habits carry over.

Run it like a casino

The reason to copy casino procedure is that it is the procedure you will be playing under later. Deal any other way and you practise the wrong habits.

• One person deals, and the dealer does not bet. The dealer plays a fixed rule, not a hunch: hit until 17, then stand. Decide before you start whether they hit or stand on soft 17, and write it down. That single rule is worth about 0.2% to the house.
• Bets go down before any card comes out. Once the first card is dealt, no bet changes.
• Deal face up. Casinos with shoes deal players' cards face up so nobody touches them. It is faster, it settles arguments, and it lets everyone at the table see the cards, which is the whole basis of counting.
• The dealer takes one card face down, the hole card, and only turns it over once every player has finished.
• Say your action, do not just gesture. Hit, stand, double, split. Then move the chips.
• Pay blackjacks 3 to 2. A 6 to 5 game costs the player about 1.4% and there is no reason to inflict it on yourself at home.
• Settle from the dealer's left to right, the same order you dealt.

Write your table rules on a card and leave it out: number of decks, whether the dealer hits soft 17, the blackjack payout, whether doubling after a split is allowed, whether surrender is on, and how many times a hand may be split. Those are exactly the rules the strategy chart on this site takes, so you can print a chart that matches your own table.

Deal a shoe, not a hand

If you want your home game to teach you anything about counting, deal from a shoe of four or more decks and use a cut card. A hand-held single deck plays differently, gets shuffled constantly, and gives you none of the practice at holding a count across many hands.

Set the cut card around three quarters of the way into the shoe. When it comes out, finish the hand and reshuffle. That is your penetration, and it is the single thing that decides whether counting is worth anything at that table.

What to buy

Heads up: some links on this page are affiliate links, which means we may earn a commission if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. It never changes what we recommend, and there are no ads, no tracking, and no third-party scripts anywhere on this site.

A reasonable first setup

If you want one answer rather than a list: a six-deck shoe, a discard tray, two colours of plastic bridge-size cards, a felt layout, and a 300-chip clay set. That gets you a table that plays exactly like the shoe games this site teaches, for less than a bad night at a real one.

Add a folding table later if the game sticks. It is the most expensive item here and the least necessary.

Then practise properly

A home game is good for procedure and pace. It is slow for drilling, because you deal maybe fifty hands an hour and you need thousands.

• Drill the chart in the Basic Strategy Trainer, which grades every decision.
• Hold a count through a full table in the Card Counting Trainer.
• Play a full shoe with simulated players in Play Blackjack, with the count and hints on until you no longer need them.