Blackjack: The Four Moves and a Basic Strategy Chart

Most table games ask you to pick a spot and wait. Blackjack asks you to decide. Every hand puts a choice in your thumb, and the right choice is known, which is why blackjack has the lowest edge when you play it by the chart.

Blackjack basics: the hand and the four moves

Aim for a total nearer 21 than the dealer’s, staying under the limit. Number cards are worth their face value, tens and faces are worth 10, and an ace is 1 or 11.

1. Hit: take another card.
2. Stand: keep what you hold.
3. Double: raise your bet to twice its size, draw one card only, and stand.
4. Split: with a matching first pair, play two hands by adding a second bet.

A blackjack is an ace dealt together with any ten-value card as the opening pair. The usual payout is 3 to 2, so a ₱100 bet earns ₱150 profit. Tables paying 6 to 5 cost you far more, so read the payout before you sit.

Basic strategy in one small chart

This chart is for the common rules where the dealer stands on 17. Your table’s rules screen may differ.

Quick check: if you are tempted to stand on 12 against a 10 because you fear busting, remember the chart says hit. It loses less over time.

What the strategy buys you

Playing by the chart keeps the edge near 0.5 percent, which is about ₱5 per ₱1,000 staked. Playing on instinct can push it above 2 percent, or ₱20 per ₱1,000. Card counting is no use against a software shuffle, and many tables reshuffle every hand.

Blackjack titles in the lobby

Checking GG Panalo’s lobby on 2026-11-05 found a JILI Blackjack and a Rich88 Single Black Jack among card and table titles. Both are software versions, and the Live tab that day held only TOPBET’s Color Game, so no dealer seat exists.

Rules change between titles: number of decks, whether the dealer takes soft 17, and the blackjack payout. JILI publishes no RTP, so open each game’s info screen and read its numbers, not mine.

Before the first hand

Choose a bet size you can lose twenty times in a row, and leave when your peso limit is reached. The login details before your first hand, the register path for a new hand, the download and app questions answered and the casino GCash rule for card tables cover the practical steps.

For the other tables, see baccarat for hands with no decisions, roulette wheel cost and dragon tiger one-card rounds, then compare costs on the house edge for blackjack and others. The live casino lineup has the full list.