Basic strategy is a table of situations based on the players total card points and the dealers exposed card and the actions players must take in these situations. It tells when it is the right moment to stand, to split, to double and so on. Basic strategy varies depending on the blackjack variation and the house rules, which can be either beneficial or detrimental to the player. Here we list some possible house rules of both categories:

Beneficial House Rules

• Early Surrender: the ability to give up before the dealer checks for blackjack, forfeiting half of the wager.
• Normal (or Late) Surender: surrender after the dealer checks for blackjack.
• Doubles on any two-card hands except blackjack.
• Doubles after splitting.
• Resplitting Aces
• Drawing more than one card against a split Ace.
• Charlies: automatic winning with 5 or more cards hand where the total is less or equal to 21

Detrimental House Rules

The most advantageous version of blackjack is the older one, where cards are dealt from a multi-deck shoe and the dealer stands on soft 17. This variation is only played at high minimum limit tables and is slowly disappearing from casinos.