Should I take insurance in blackjack?

No. Insurance pays 2:1 but wins only when the dealer has blackjack. With eight decks, that happens about 31% of the time when the dealer shows an ace, which gives insurance a house edge of about 7.5%.

Does card counting work online?

Not at RNG blackjack, which shuffles before every hand. At live tables, eight-deck shoes shrink the edge a count can give, and the bet swings needed to profit are easy for a casino to spot.

What does 'dealer stands on soft 17' mean?

A soft 17 is a 17 that counts an ace as 11, such as ace-6. Tables where the dealer stands on it have a house edge about 0.2% lower than tables where the dealer hits it.

Does blackjack count towards casino bonuses?

At some casinos only. 12Play doesn't count blackjack towards turnover, and BK8, Maxim88, UWIN33 and 12Play don't count RNG games such as computer blackjack (checked 2 Nov 2026).

How to Play Blackjack: Rules, Strategy Chart and Odds

Q: What is the house edge in blackjack?

About 0.5% to 0.7% if you follow basic strategy on common multi-deck rules, with blackjack paying 3:2. Mistakes, 6:5 payouts and side bets all raise it.

Blackjack has one of the lowest house edges in the casino: about 0.5% to 0.7% if you follow basic strategy on common multi-deck rules, with blackjack paying 3:2. That’s an average loss of about RM5 to RM7 per RM1,000 bet, against about RM10.60 on baccarat’s banker bet.

Few players get there. Playing by feel, taking insurance or choosing a 6:5 table can multiply the edge several times. This guide covers the rules, a full strategy chart and the bets to avoid. 21+ only.

How to play blackjack

You play your hand against the dealer’s. If you finish closer to 21 than the dealer without going over, you win.

Card values: 2 to 10 count face value, jacks, queens and kings count 10, and an ace counts 1 or 11.
The deal: you get two cards face up. The dealer gets one card face up and a second card, dealt face down or after you act, depending on the table.
Blackjack: an ace and a 10-value card as your first two cards. Standard tables pay 3:2 (RM150 on a RM100 bet), but some pay only 6:5 (RM120).
The dealer has no choices: the dealer draws to 16 and stands on 17. The table states whether the dealer hits or stands on a soft 17.
Ties push: if you and the dealer finish level, your bet is returned.

Each hand gives you up to six options:

Option	What it means
Hit	Take another card
Stand	Keep your total
Double	Double your bet and take exactly one more card
Split	Turn a pair into two hands, with a second bet equal to the first
Surrender	Give up half your bet and end the hand (not every table offers it)
Insurance	A side bet that the dealer has blackjack, offered when the dealer shows an ace

Basic strategy chart

Basic strategy is the best play for every combination of your hand and the dealer’s up card, worked out by computer simulation. This chart is for common multi-deck rules: four to eight decks, dealer stands on soft 17, doubling after a split allowed, and no surrender.

Find your hand in the left column and the dealer’s up card along the top. H = hit, S = stand, D = double (hit if you can’t), Ds = double (stand if you can’t), P = split.

Hard totals

Your hand	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	A
5–8	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H
9	H	D	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
10	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	H	H
11	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	H
12	H	H	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
13–16	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
17+	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S

Soft totals (an ace counted as 11)

Your hand	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	A
A,2–A,3	H	H	H	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
A,4–A,5	H	H	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
A,6	H	D	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
A,7	S	Ds	Ds	Ds	Ds	S	S	H	H	H
A,8–A,9	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S

Pairs

Your pair	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	A
2s, 3s	P	P	P	P	P	P	H	H	H	H
4s	H	H	H	P	P	H	H	H	H	H
5s	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	H	H
6s	P	P	P	P	P	H	H	H	H	H
7s	P	P	P	P	P	P	H	H	H	H
8s	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P
9s	P	P	P	P	P	S	P	P	S	S
10s	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S
Aces	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P

The chart assumes the dealer checks for blackjack before you play. Three rule differences change it:

No doubling after a split: split 2s and 3s only against 4 to 7, split 6s only against 3 to 6, and never split 4s.
Dealer hits soft 17: a few plays change, such as doubling 11 against an ace.
No hole card, where the dealer’s second card comes after you act: a few doubles and splits against a dealer’s 10 or ace change.

The game’s help screen says which rules your table uses.

What the house edge depends on

Small rule changes move the house edge, and a few move it a lot.

Rule or bet	Effect on the house edge
Blackjack pays 6:5 instead of 3:2	Adds about 1.4%
Dealer hits soft 17	Adds about 0.2%
No doubling after a split	Adds about 0.1%
Late surrender offered	Lowers it by under 0.1%
More decks in the shoe	Raises it slightly
Insurance	About 7.5% on the insurance bet itself
Side bets such as Perfect Pairs and 21+3	Usually several percent, depending on the paytable

A 6:5 table more than triples the edge of a good 3:2 game, from about 0.5% to about 1.9%. If a table pays 6:5, find another one.

Insurance and even money

When the dealer shows an ace, you can bet up to half your stake that the dealer has blackjack. Insurance pays 2:1.

With eight decks, 128 of the 415 cards left after the dealer’s ace are worth 10, before counting your own cards. So insurance wins about 31% of the time, and a 2:1 payout on a 31% chance gives a house edge of about 7.5%.

“Even money”, offered when you hold blackjack against a dealer’s ace, is the same bet in another form. Decline both.

Card counting: why it rarely works online

Card counting tracks the high and low cards dealt from a shoe and raises bets when more 10s and aces remain. It’s a real technique, but online it rarely pays.

RNG blackjack shuffles before every hand, so there’s nothing to count.
Live tables usually deal from eight-deck shoes, which dilute the effect of each card.
Profiting needs big bet swings, such as jumping from RM10 to RM500 when the count is good. That pattern is easy for a casino to spot.

For most players, sticking to the chart is worth far more than counting.

Live blackjack vs RNG blackjack

Live and RNG blackjack follow the same basic rules but play very differently.

Live blackjack uses a real dealer and a shoe of cards, at a slower pace. Many live tables also let you “bet behind” on another player’s hand.
RNG blackjack is software that shuffles every hand. It’s faster, so you play more hands per hour, and some bonuses don’t count it: BK8, Maxim88, UWIN33 and 12Play exclude RNG games.

Blackjack and bonus terms

Blackjack’s low edge makes it a cheap way to clear a bonus where it counts, but not every casino counts it (checked 2 Nov 2026):

12Play doesn’t count blackjack towards turnover.
GOD55’s live bonus excludes Evolution, Playtech, Allbet and Motivation tables.
BK8 counts live tables except Sexy Casino and Allbet, but not RNG table games such as computer blackjack.
96M and We1Win don’t list blackjack among the exclusions on their live bonuses.

Where it counts, RM5,000 in blackjack bets at 0.5% to 0.7% costs about RM25 to RM35 on average. Mistakes push that up quickly. Compare live bonuses in our live casino guide and on our bonus hub.

Tips for playing blackjack

Follow the chart on every hand. Keep it open while you play.
Avoid 6:5 tables. Look for 3:2 on blackjack in the table rules.
Skip insurance and side bets.
Check the rules screen for the number of decks and the soft 17 rule.
Set a budget and a time limit before you start.

Casino games have a built-in house edge, so over time you should expect to lose more than you win. Online casinos are not licensed in Malaysia: read our guide, is online gambling legal in Malaysia?

Sources

Wizard of Odds: blackjack house edge and rule sets (6:5 payout)
Wizard of Odds: house edge of casino games
Insurance odds are calculated for eight decks. Bonus terms come from each casino’s own pages, linked from its review (checked 2 Nov 2026).

How to play blackjack: rules, basic strategy chart and the real odds