Blackjack Coach! · Strategies
Basic strategy is not one chart. Free doubles, a missing shoe of 10s, or a one-card start change the best play — so each mode in Blackjack Coach! has its own coach. Screens from the 1.0 launch build (submitted to the App Store).
Virtual chips only. No real-money gambling and no prizes of real-world value. 18+.
01 · Chart zones
Every chart — in every mode — is built from the same three zones. Coach Academy lesson 3 teaches them with the live coach.
No ace counted as 11 (10-8 is hard 18). Against dealer 2–6 you mostly stand on 12–16; against 7 or higher you hit until 17.
An ace counted as 11 (A-6 is soft 17). You can hit harder — the ace flips to 1 instead of busting — and many soft hands double against weak dealer cards.
Always split aces and eights; never split fives or tens. Everything else depends on the dealer's up-card. The coach shows the pair line first when you can split.
The coach pill names the play and the zone in one line — “Spanish strategy: double hard 11” — and the Hand Debrief grades each decision afterwards. Soft and hard totals are labelled on the felt. Ask Coach (Coach+) explains any line in plain English.
02 · Mode by mode
Vegas-common rules · Perfect Pairs & 21+3
Side bets: Perfect Pairs (perfect 25:1, colored 12:1, mixed 6:1) and 21+3 (your two cards + dealer up-card as a three-card poker hand).
Free doubles/splits · dealer 22 pushes
Side bets: Push 22 (11:1 when the dealer totals exactly 22) and Pot of Gold (pays on your free-double lammer count).
No 10s · Match the Dealer · late surrender & rescue
Side bets: Match the Dealer Up and Down — your card matching the dealer's rank pays 4:1, or 9:1 suited.
One-card start · multi-double · Push 22
Side bets: Push 22 (11:1 when the dealer totals exactly 22).
03 · Charts
All four Blackjack Coach! modes — Classic, Free Bet, Spanish 21, and Double Down Madness. Tap a mode, then a cell. Full walkthrough on the basic strategy guide.
No ace counted as 11. Rows are your total; columns are the dealer up-card.
| Your hand | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | T | A |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 | ||||||||||
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| 8 |
6 decks, dealer hits soft 17, double after split, no late surrender. Double shown when allowed; otherwise hit or stand.
04 · Quick drill
Same idea as the Hold'em Coach preflop drill — pick a mode, a spot appears, you choose the play, the coach grades you against that mode’s chart.
Your move · Classic
Hard 16 vs T
What does basic strategy play?
Hit Hard 16 vs dealer T — Hit
Answer to start a streak.
FAQ
Yes — each mode uses the basic-strategy chart for its dealt rules in the app (Classic: six decks, dealer hits soft 17, double after split). Free Bet, Spanish 21 and Double Down Madness change the maths, so their charts differ on purpose. The in-app Strategy Reference chart shows the full grid for the mode you are playing.
Charts assume doubling is available. When your stack or the hand state doesn't allow it, the app falls back to the chart's hit/stand line for that cell and the debrief grades against what was actually available.
No. Perfect Pairs, 21+3, Push 22, Pot of Gold and Match the Dealer are entertainment bets with a steep house edge (the Academy says so plainly). The coach only grades the main hand's Hit / Stand / Double / Split / Surrender decisions.
Live hints, the debrief comparison and Daily Stars all assume the coach is on. Check Settings → Coach in the app for hint options, and practise chart-first in Coach Academy.
