Since most of the blackjack games we'll find in casinos today would be multiple deck games, much of the strategy we become familiar with are those for multi-deck games. Transitioning your blackjack strategy from multi-deck to single deck blackjack won't take a lot but it would require some time to get used to. Some people might have made it a habit to play certain moves in a multiple deck game, but those will not really work that well if you switch to a single deck game.
We'll discuss basic blackjack strategy for hard hands, soft hands, and splitting pairs. We'll show what piece of blackjack strategy was usually done in a multiple deck game and the difference made when we switch off to a single deck game. Let's begin with basic strategy for the hard hands in single deck blackjack.
One of the biggest benefits of a single deck game is the probability of getting more good cards when doubling down. Therefore, what we need to do is to double down on a total of 11 regardless of what the dealer's up card shows. In multiple deck games you can only double from two to ten.
With single deck games, we can double down on any nine versus the dealer's up card being two to six. It used to be against the dealer's three to six in multi-deck versions.
We double down on our eight in a single deck game versus the dealer's five or six up card. It used to be that we could only hit with this total against any up card.
Here are our strategy adjustments for soft hands:
With an eight and an ace we double down against the dealer's six up card. We stand against any dealer up card for multi-deck games.
With a seven and an ace, stand against the dealer's ace, that is, if the dealer would have to stand on all 17s.
With a six and an ace, double against the dealer's two to six up card. Double versus three to six in multi-deck games.
With an ace and a three or ace and a two double against the dealer's four, five, or six up card. It is just five and six for multiple deck games.
Here is our strategy adjustment when dealing with blackjack pairs:
Pair of twos: If doubling after a split is allowed then split this versus the dealer's two to seven. If not, split versus dealer's three to seven. Pair of threes: If doubling after a split is allowed then split versus dealer's two to eight. If not, then just split versus dealer's four to seven. Pair of fours: If doubling after a split is allowed then split versus dealer's four, five, or six. Don't split if doubling after a split is not allowed. Pair of six: If doubling after split is allowed, split if the up card is from two to seven. If it isn't allowed then split versus dealer's two to six. Pair of sevens: If doubling after split is allowed then split versus dealer's two to eight. If not, then split versus dealer's two to seven only.
These are your strategy adjustments for single deck blackjack since the strategy for multi-deck games don't actually apply to the situation with a single deck.