Double Deck Blackjack Basic Strategy

1. Double Deck Blackjack Basic Strategy Chart
2. Double Deck Blackjack Basic Strategy Games
3. Double Deck Blackjack Basic Strategy For Beginners
4. Double Deck Blackjack Basic Strategy
5. Blackjack Double Deck Basic Strategy Card
6. Double Deck Blackjack Basic Strategy Tactics

Learn how to read a blackjack strategy chart and find examples of a 2 deck black jack strategy charts to use while playing online blackjack games. Appendix 3c:Composition dependent exceptions to single deck basic strategy where the dealer hits a soft 17. Appendix 4:Details on the standard deviation in blackjack. Appendix 5:Infinite deck expected return according to player hand and dealer up card.

Blackjack is a diverse casino game with multiple variants, rules, and a different number of decks in the shoe depending on where you play. In this guide, we will look at how to play the two deck Blackjack strategy.

As with any Blackjack system, the two deck Blackjack strategy comes with quite a few variables depending on the casino you are playing at. You may also see two deck Blackjack referred to as ‘Double Deck Blackjack’, and needless to say, you play Blackjack on a table with two decks of 52 cards (104 cards) in the shoe.

Every casino scrutinises its Blackjack games, and it is this due diligence that helps the gaming team decide which rules to apply to Blackjack tables that make it to their casino floor or an onlinecasino’s Blackjack section.

As ‘2 Deck Blackjack’ has a lower house edge compared to 4, 6, and 8-deck games, many casinos either avoid this variation, add high minimum bets, and/or apply less liberal rules. The other solution is to not include 2 deck Blackjack tables at all.

You will find out later on in this guide how difficult it is to find double deck Blackjack games, and when you do, you will need to make sure you are ready to take on some of the restrictive rules casinos tend to add to this variant.

Luckily all 2 deck Blackjack tables come with several basic strategy charts to prepare you for the varying rules applied to double deck games.

Below we will walk you through the easy to learn steps you need to take to choose the correct basic strategy chart so you can quickly learn how to play 2 deck Blackjack tables whether you find them at a land-based casino or onlinecasino.

We will cover the following topics in this guide:

Double Deck Blackjack Basic Strategy Chart

• Rules that influence Two deck blackjack strategy
• Using Table Rules To Apply The Correct Basic Strategy Charts
• Two Deck Basic Strategy Charts In Action,
• Where can you play 2 deck Blackjack?
• Play Blackjack at mBitcasino

Rules That Influence Two Deck Blackjack Strategy

Every Blackjack strategy that you apply to your session whether you are playing an 8 deck, 6 deck, 4 deck, or 2 deck Blackjack strategy, you should always be using ‘basic strategy’. This is the key ingrediant to not only playing winning blackjack, but to reducing your losses by playing ‘perfect Blackjack‘.

To figure out which basic strategy charts you should use, you need to understand the different rules applied to Blackjack tables.

Dealer Rules

Nearly all ‘Two Deck Blackjack‘ games use the rule ‘dealer stands on 17’ (H17) referring to hard 17 and not a soft 17. For the benefit of those that do not know, soft 17 is any hand that totals 17 using an Ace as one of the cards. That Ace can count as 1 or 11. For example, A-6, A-4-2, or A-3-3 are all soft 17 hands.

Soft 17 counts as an 11 on Blackjack tables that use the H17 rule, and as such, the dealer is perfectly within his or her rights to hit the 11 total. On the other hand, if the table rules state that the dealer must ‘stand on all 17s’ or ‘dealer stands on soft 17’ (S17), then you are in luck because this rules works in your favour.

In our ‘12 Pro Strategies on how to win at Blackjack’ guide, we mention that when the ‘dealer stands on soft 17’ this increases your house edge by 0.22%. All that being said, you are unlikely to find a 2 deck Blackjack table with this rule. For that matter, very few 4-deck, 6-deck, or 8-deck tables include the S17 rule.

When you are looking at basic strategy charts, the first clue to which chart you should use is the dealer rules:

• Dealer stands of hard 17 = H17
• Dealer stands on soft 17 = S17

Splitting

When it comes to choosing basic strategy charts, you only need to know whether you can double down after splits.

• Doubling Down After Splits Allowed (DAS)
• No Doubling Down After Splits (NDAS)

Doubling Down & Surrender

There are a few other blackjack rules you may need to adjust your basic strategy to. You may find specific basic strategy charts for 2 deck blackjack strategy or your Double Deck Blackjack, H17, NDAS basic strategy chart will include adjustments/alternatives for the below situations.

Make sure that before you play, you understand how these adjustments affect your double-deck game, or any game of blackjack for that matter.

• DOA = Double Down Allowed On Any First Two Cards
• D10 = Double Down Only On 10 or 11 Totals
• RSA = Re-Splitting Aces Allowed
• ESR = Early Surrender
• LSR = Late Surrender

House Edge

This is not so much a rule, but we thoght we’d include this as an interesting fact. The fewer decks in play on a Blackjack table the lower the house edge which is why single-deck Blackjack is so popular.

When you add just 1 addiitonal deck of cards making the game double deck Blackjack, the addition of the extra deck subtracts 0.34% from the house edge.

Here’s how additional decks of cards affect the house edge:

• 2-deck blackjack: subtract 0.34% from the house edge
• 3-deck blackjack: subtract 0.45% from the house edge
• 4-deck blackjack: subtract 0.5% from the house edge
• 5-deck blackjack: subtract 0.53% from the house edge
• 6-deck blackjack: subtract 0.55% from the house edge
• 7-deck blackjack: subtract 0.56% from the house edge
• 8-deck blackjack: subtract 0.57% from the house edge

As 2 deck blackjack has a lower house edge compared to 3+ deck blackjack games, usually the casino will pull back that additional house edge by adding less liberal rules such as no splits on Aces or double down on 10 or 11 only. These rules can then even up the double deck versus 6-deck or 8-deck tables.

Another tactic used is to still allow liberal rules on double deck Blackjack tables, but increase the minimum bet.

Using this theory, the casino is banking on the long run outcome of the house edge working in its favour. With the higher losses from lost bets with a high minimum amount, the table will make as much as its 6-deck and 8-deck games with a lower house edge.

Blackjack Pays 6-5

Some casinos see the threat of the lower house edge of 2 deck Blackjack games as so high that they apply the Blackjack pays 6-5 rule. This rule increaes the house edge more than any other rule – 1.4% to be precise which is a sizeable chunk!

No matter what the variation of Blackjack is, unless there is something special about the rules, just walk away from any Blackjack table with the 6-5 Blackjack pays rule.

The only exception that we can think of is Double Exposure Blackjack but even then, most casinos will use 8 decks for this game to make up for the added advantage of seeing both dealer’s cards, while also restricting other rules such as double downs, DAS, and H17 rules.

Using Table Rules To Apply The Correct Basic Strategy Charts

The only way to play perfectly sound mathematical double-deck Blackjack is to use basic strategy charts. Players that do not play or learn basic strategy potentially hand over around 2% to 3% back to the house. That’s a significant amount when you consider most Blackjack games have a house edge of 99.5%!

In order to choose which basic strategy chart you use, you need to get answers to the following questions:

• Does the dealer stand on soft 17? (H17 or S17)
• Is Doubling down is allowed on any 2 cards?
• Is doubling down after splits permitted?
• Is surrender allowed?

Once you know the answers to these questions, you can apply the correct basic strategy rules to your game.

Examples of Basic Strategy Charts To Choose:

• Double Deck Blackjack, S17, DAS
• Double Deck Blackjack, S17, NDAS
• Double Deck Blackjack, H17, DAS
• Double Deck Blackjack, H17, NDAS

Two Deck Basic Strategy Charts In Action

Double Deck Blackjack Basic Strategy Games

Just to give you an idea of how a basic strategy chart work, we will give you a couple scenrios. You can then find two deck blackack basic strategy charts here at Wizard of Odds to compare.

Basic Strategy Contingency Rules & Legend

Before you begin, make sure you understand the meaning of each letter and combination of letters on a basic strategy chart. You will also see that there are contingency rules in place for games that include additional rules on top of the S17, H17 DAS/NDAS rules.

• H – Hit
• S- Stand
• D – Double
• Dh – Double if allowed, otherwise Hit
• Ds – Double if allowed, otherwise Stand
• P – Split
• Su – Surrender
• Suh = Surrender if allowed; otherwise hit
• Sus = Surrender if allowed; otherwise stand

Double Deck Blackjack, S17, DAS

In this scenario your hand is an A-7 and the dealer’s upcard is a 9. On the basic strategy card for a table with the above rules it states you should act using the following sequences when your hand is an A-7:

• Double on dealer upcards 3 through to 6
• Stand on dealer upcards 2, 7, or 8
• Hit on dealer upcards 9, 10, or A

The correct move here is to hit.

Double Deck Blackjack, H17, DAS

You switch tables and now the dealer rules are ‘dealer stands on 17’ and doubling down after splits is allowed. Your hand turns out to be 4-4 while the dealer’s upcard is a 5.

There is only one move here accroding to the two deck blackjack H17 DAS basic strategy chart, and that is to split.

Double Deck Blackjack, S17, NDAS

Now in this scenario your hand is a A-2 and the dealer’s upcard is a 6. Now this is where basic strategy charts allow for a contingency plan. On this table, let’s assume the D10 (Double Down Only On 10 or 11 Totals) is in action.3

You refer to the basic strategy chart it says:

• Double Down if allowed, otherwise hit (Dh)

As you cannot double down on a 3 total or any total (DOA), the correct move in this situations is to ‘Hit’.

Where can you play 2 deck Blackjack?

We had a good look around to see where you can find 2 deck Blackjack games in gambling hot sports such as Las Vegas, at online casinos by checking which software providers offer operators 2 deck Blackjack tables, and we also looked at live dealer casinos.

Here is what we found:

Land-Based Casinos

In places like Las Vegas, there are only a handful of casinos that host 2 deck Blackjack. The lowest minimum bet in Vegas is at Aliante which is $5 while the next in line are the Bally’s and 4 Queens casinos with a $25 minimum bet, and Aria, Caesar’s Palace, and Bellagio offer double deck Blackjack with a $100 minimum bet.

The reason for the higher than normal minimum bet at many of these casinos is that 2 deck Blackjack has a lower house edge versus the more common 6-deck and 8-deck games.

Virtual RNG Operated Online Casino 2 Deck Blackjack Games

As for online casinos, to date, most software providers avoid developing 2 deck Blackjack games. As such, the only notable onlineBlackjack developer to release 2 deck Blackjack tables is Real Time Gaming (RTG). These are all virtual RNG games that are set by default to 2 decks but most operators change this to 4 decks because of the higher house edge.

Live Casino 2 Deck Blackjack Games

It took a lot of research to find out exactly how many decks each live casino platform offers with their live dealer Blackjack games, and there are no live Blackjack tables from any of the top live casino platforms that offer 2 deck Blackjack.

Play Blackjack at mBitcasino

At mBitcasino, you have the choice of multiple ways to play blackjack. For virtual Blackjack tables, check out our virtual blackjack section.

Double Deck Blackjack Basic Strategy For Beginners

Games from BGaming include 6-Deck Blackjack Surrender (99.404%) RTP), 6-Deck Multihand Blackjack (99.24% RTP), 6-Deck Multihand Blackjack Pro (99.4% RTP), and 8-Deck Double Exposure (99.3% RTP), and 8-Deck Pontoon (99.503% RTP). There is also 1 virtual table game from Amatic which is 6-Deck Blackjack 21. You can also play 5-Deck Blackjack (3-hand) by Habanero!

There is also a selection of live Blackjack tables from eZugi while the largest number live Blackjack games with the largest variation of tables are from our Evolution live casino games. We recommend the immense fun of Party BJ and a whole new way to Blackjack as Evolution removes 64 cards which are all 9s and 10s from its 8-deck Power Blackjack novelty way to play live Blackjack table games!

Most people recognize that unlike many casino games, blackjack is a game of strategy. It’s immediately obvious when you sit down to play a little blackjack; players have to make a large number of decisions on almost every hand, and the choices you make often make the difference between winning and losing.

Blackjack strategy can be broken down into two major components: basic strategy and card counting. Basic strategy comprises all of the playing decisions a player should make in order to keep the house edge as low as possible. In other words, a basic strategy chart would tell you the mathematically best play in every possible situation you might encounter during the course of play.

Every good blackjack strategy starts with a full understanding of basic strategy. Without that foundation, other, more advanced strategies – namely, card counting strategies – will fail, as players will simply make too many basic mistakes to overcome. On the other hand, learning just basic strategy will allow you to go into any good blackjack game getting excellent odds, sometimes good enough that you’ll show a profit with the help of comps and other rewards programs. With that in mind, it’s always better to focus on learning basic strategy first, until you feel completely comfortable with it.

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Blackjack Basic Strategy

A full basic strategy is quite complex since there are countless situations you could face during a blackjack hand that must be accounted for. There are several factors the player must take into account on each hand:

• The rules of the blackjack game they are playing;
• The score of their hand;
• The dealer’s up card;
• Whether they have the option to split and/or double.

The rules are particularly important because even small changes in the rules being used can noticeably change proper basic strategy. For instance, the right plays against a dealer that must stand on all 17s are not the right plays against a dealer who hits on soft 17. The number of decks, the ability to surrender (as well as when surrendering is offered) and other factors can also affect basic strategy.

With this in mind, it is very hard to suggest a single basic strategy that will work in any situation, especially in the scope of this article. Not only is basic strategy rather complex, but there are also countless versions of the rules which affect what basic strategy you should choose. Full basic strategy charts are available at my casinos (which don’t mind you playing basic strategy, since the casino will still hold a small edge), as well as in many great blackjack books and on some gambling websites.

Simplified Blackjack Strategy

On the other hand, it is fairly easy to suggest a simplified strategy that can help you get started in just about any typical blackjack game. This easy to memorize strategy won’t get you exactly the same odds as a full basic strategy chart, but you won’t be giving much up; the difference in the house edge until typical rules should be .2% or less when compared to perfect, optimal play. To give credit where it is due, this strategy is heavily based on one suggested at wizardofodds.com, an excellent gambling information site. Simply follow the few rules below, and you’ll avoid ever making any major blackjack mistakes!

1. Double down if you have a 10 or 11 and the dealer has an up card that is worth less than your hand. Also double down with 9 if the dealer up card is a 3, 4, 5 or 6. In all cases, if you cannot double down, hit instead.
2. With all other hands of 11 or less, hit.
3. With hard hands of 17-21, always stand.
4. With hard hands of 12-16, stand if the dealer is showing a six or lower, except hit hard 12 against the dealer’s 2 or 3. Hit if the dealer is showing a 7 or higher.
5. With soft hands of 15 or lower, always hit.
6. With soft hands of 19 or higher, always stand.
7. With soft hands of 16-18, hit against a seven or higher, and double down if the dealer is showing a six or lower. If you cannot double down, hit instead.
8. Always split eights or aces.
9. Never split fours, fives, or tens.
10. With all other pairs, split if the dealer is showing a six or lower, otherwise, play the hand according to the rules above, depending on your hand’s value.
11. Never take insurance or “even money” on blackjacks – it is a sucker bet for the basic strategy player.

There you go! Eleven simple rules that will have you playing blackjack like a pro – or at least, close to it. This is a perfect strategy for anyone looking to quickly learn how to play blackjack very well, without taking the time to memorize an entire basic strategy. In addition, the simplicity of this system means you’re not likely to make mistakes at the table because you forget the correct play.

Card Counting

Many players aren’t content with simply minimizing the house edge. Instead, they want to have the edge for themselves! In blackjack, this is actually possible thanks to card counting.

Double Deck Blackjack Basic Strategy

Card counting works by tracking which cards have come out of the shoe. Because there are a limited number of cards available, it is often the case that the remaining cards in the shoe don’t actually resemble a random assortment. There may, for instance, be a case where very few tens come out on the first few hands of a new shoe. This tells us that the remaining shoe is very rich in tens, which is great for the player.

In general, tens and aces are the best cards for the player to have remaining in the deck, while low cards are the worst for the player. Card counters take advantage of this fact by wagering more money when they know that the deck is rich in cards that are good for the player. They also make other adjustments, such as taking insurance (normally a sucker bet) when the deck is very rich in tens, and occasionally changing their basic strategy plays based on the cards that have been seen so far. However, it is critical to have a complete understanding of basic strategy before moving on to card counting, since counting relies on your ability to make the right plays along with keeping track of the cards that have been dealt. For more information, check out our full article on card counting!

Bad Blackjack Strategy

One final word of warning: it’s often the case that you’ll get bad “advice” from other players at the blackjack table, which contradicts what you’ve read here or seen on a basic strategy chart. Most of the time, the other players will be well-intentioned, but simply don’t have a deep knowledge of blackjack. Often, these players use strategies like always assuming the dealer has a ten in the hole, which – while often pointing the player in the right direction – causes the player to lose more money than with basic strategy.

Luckily, if you use basic strategy, you won’t be making any outlandish plays, which should keep anyone at the table from getting too angry at you or commenting on your play too often. Blackjack players are often a superstitious lot, and while nobody has any idea which card is coming next, many players will still get mad at a player who takes a card that would have busted the dealer, causing the dealer to win the hand instead. If that ever happens to you, don’t let it bother you; be confident that you’ve been playing proper blackjack strategy, and that your results will prove that in the long run.

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