As a Blackjack player, your weapon against the casino is in the rules that allow you to get paid 3 to 2 for your Blackjack, double down, and split in certain conditions. When you consistently take advantage of these rules and conditions, you are employing the best strategy available to the player who does not wish to learn to count cards.
Game rules and conditions vary somewhat from casino to casino and from table to table so some rules don't fit 100% of the time. For example, some single deck games don't permit doubling with a 9. However, as a smart player you will want to have at your disposal a set of playing rules that will work for you the vast majority of the time, under most rules and conditions available to you, in a flexible manner.
The following rules are a very good basic strategy for you to follow when playing Blackjack. You will find some other basic strategies that vary somewhat. Those strategies may be optomized for a particular type of game where this set of rules is pretty generic. This is a solid, and well researched set of rules base upon millions of hands of play. Memorize this strategy, and use it when playing and you'll have a very tiny house edge of about 1%.
BEWARE!!! There are some strategies out there that will ask you to sometimes not split your 8's, and to limit your double down opportunities. These strategies ARE NOT SOUND. Avoid them!
Never take insurance.
Splitting
Always split Ace's and 8's
Never split 10's, 5's, or 4's
Split 9's against 9 or less, except 7
Split 7's against 7 or less
Split 6's against 6 or less, except 2
Split 2's and 3's against 4 through 7
Doubling
With soft 17 or 18, double against 3 through 6
With soft 15 or 16, double against 4 through 6
With soft 13 or 14, double against 5 or 6
With 10 or 11, double if more than dealer's up-card
With 9, double against 3 through 6
Never double with 8 or less
Hard Hands (no ace, or ace counted as one)
With 17, stand
With 12 through 16, hit against a 7 or more, else stand.
The only exception to the above is to hit 12 against a 2 or 3
With 11 or less, hit unless doubling.
Soft Hands (ace in hand which may be valued at one or 11)
With soft 19 or more, always stand
With soft 18, hit against 9 or more
With soft 17 or less, hit.
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