European Blackjack strategy
European Blackjack game is one of the most popular blackjack variations played across Europe. It is also the most common played blackjack game in European casinos, and on the internet.
In European blackjack, the dealer takes their second card or the hole card after the the players have finished their hands. Basic blackjack strategy chart for European Blackjack is perfect for Microgaming casinos.
Click for information on history, how to play, terminology/glossary, table layout and blackjack card counting.
Blackjack Player's Choices
Players now choose from one of the following strategies: hit, stand, pair splitting, doubling down, even money or surrendering.
Hit: Players indicate to the dealer that they want to be dealt another card. This can be indicated either by making a beckoning motion with a finger or tapping the table with their finger, behind their pile of cards. If, after asking for a hit, the players go over 21, they need to give in their cards and their wager is lost.
Stand: Players indicate that they wish to stay with the cards that they were dealt. Hands can be waved over the cards or the cards are turned in a horizontal direction.
Pair Splitting: If players are dealt a pair as their first two cards, they can split these pairs into two separate hands. Each card is then used as a start to a separate hand and players place another, second bet that is equal to the first bet. In Classic Blackjack, players can only split pairs of equal denominations – meaning that a Jack and a 10 cannot be split just because they have the same face value. Also, players can only split once per hand.
Peter A. Griffin (1937–1998) was a mathematician, author and blackjack expert and is one of the original seven members of the Blackjack Hall of Fame. He authored The Theory of Blackjack, considered a classic analysis of the mathematics behind the game of casino 21.
Griffin was a native of New Jersey, one of three children, with a brother, poet...