European Blackjack Strategy

Outside North America the dealer usually takes no hole card. You play your whole hand, then the dealer draws. Three rules cover what happens to your doubles and splits when the dealer then turns a blackjack, and only one of the three changes basic strategy.

Peek, OBO, and ENHC are three rules, and one changes your play

Under Peek, the US game and the default on this site, the dealer takes a hole card at once and checks it for blackjack before you act when an ace or a ten shows. You never double or split into a dealer blackjack. Under OBO (“original bets only”, common in the UK) the dealer takes no hole card, but a dealer blackjack takes only your first bet and returns your doubles and splits. The money at risk is the same as under Peek. OBO is mathematically identical to the Peek game. If your table plays OBO, use the standard peek strategy chart and every number on this site as they are. Under full-loss ENHC, played in most of Europe, Australia, and much of Asia, a dealer blackjack collects everything on the table, the original bet and every double and split wager. ENHC is the only one of the three that changes anything.

What ENHC changes, and why

Under ENHC every extra chip you put out against a ten or an ace can go to a blackjack nobody has checked for. Basic strategy stops raising into that risk. Hard 11 hits instead of doubling against a ten.

Aces do not split against an ace. Eights do not split against tens and aces, and several doubles against the dealer's strongest upcards become hits. You give up a little profit on the double to keep the second bet out of a blackjack's reach, and against a ten or an ace that trade pays. Our chart explorer has an ENHC toggle that recomputes every cell from the EV engine. Turn it on to see which cells change.

How we measured it

Our engine plays the full-loss game as dealt. You get no hole card until you finish, and a dealer blackjack collects every raised bet. At the standard European ruleset (six decks, dealer stands on soft 17, double on 9 through 11 only, DAS) it measures a house edge of 0.62%. The betting calculator prices ENHC tables for all eight counting systems, and the practice table deals the same rules. The common European Double Restriction (hard 9 through 11) and the Reno variant (10 and 11) each have their own rule setting.

European tables rarely offer surrender, so our ENHC numbers leave it out. The tables on the floor match.