Blackjack soft hands chart and hard-hand comparison

What makes a hand soft?

A hand is soft when at least one ace can count as 11 without taking the total above 21. A,6 is soft 17. Add a 10 and the ace must count as 1, producing hard 17.

That is why the blackjack chart has a soft-hands section beside its hard totals: the same total can call for a different action when one card cannot bust it.

Soft 18 needs context

A,7 can stand, hit or double depending on the dealer’s card and table rules. In the default chart, double against 3 through 6 if allowed, stand against 2, 7 or 8, and hit against 9, 10 or an ace.

Do not confuse dealer and player rules

S17 and H17 describe what the dealer does with soft 17. They do not instruct the player to stand or hit on every soft 17. The player still uses the chart; see dealer rules for the dealer’s side.

Pairs come first

A,A is a pair decision while splitting is legal. If splitting is unavailable and drawing is allowed, evaluate the remaining soft total and the relevant double restriction.

Soft-hand basic strategy chart

The table uses the default 4–8 deck S17, double-after-split and late-surrender rules. H = hit, S = stand, Dh = double otherwise hit, Ds = double otherwise stand. A,A belongs to the pair chart when a split is allowed.

Soft 16, soft 17 and soft hands against 10

A,5 is soft 16: double against 4–6 in the default chart, otherwise hit. A,6 is soft 17: double against 3–6, otherwise hit. Against a dealer 10, hit soft 13 through soft 18 and stand on soft 19 or higher in these S17 rules.

Hard 17 stands, while soft 17 often hits or doubles. With a soft hand, the ace can drop from 11 to 1 after a large card; with hard 17, that protection is absent. For hard-total decisions use the hard hands and hit or stand chart.