Blackjack card values are simple once you’ve seen them laid out: number cards count their face value, jacks, queens and kings count 10, and an ace is worth 1 or 11, whichever helps you more. The free checker above adds up any hand and tells you whether it’s soft, hard, bust or a blackjack.
Suits don’t matter at all. A king of hearts and a ten of clubs are the same card in blackjack.
Blackjack card values at a glance
| Card | Value |
|---|---|
| 2 to 9 | Face value |
| 10, Jack, Queen, King | 10 |
| Ace | 11, or 1 if 11 would bust you |
That means 16 of the 52 cards in a deck are worth 10. Nearly a third. It’s why you assume the dealer’s hidden card is a ten when you’re deciding what to do, and why a dealer showing a 6 is in trouble: they’re likely to have 16 and have to hit.
Soft and hard hands
A hand is soft when an ace is counting as 11. Ace and 6 is soft 17. You can always take another card safely, because if it would take you over 21 the ace drops to 1. Draw a 9 to that soft 17 and you have hard 16: ace, 6 and 9 is 1 + 6 + 9.
A hard hand has no ace, or has its aces counted as 1. Hard 16 against a dealer 10 is the worst hand in the game, and the blackjack strategy chart shows what to do with it.
Two aces are soft 12, not 22. Only one ace can ever count as 11, because two would already be 22.
Blackjack vs 21
A blackjack, or natural, is an ace and a ten-value card as your first two cards. It usually pays 3 to 2 and beats any other 21. Three or more cards adding up to 21 are just 21. You’ll get a natural about once every 21 hands with a six-deck shoe.
The checker also shows the Hi-Lo count of the cards you enter: 2 to 6 count +1, 7 to 9 count 0, and tens and aces count −1. That’s the system the card counting trainer teaches. When you’re ready to play a full hand, try the blackjack trainer.
Knowing the values is step one. The house still has an edge; set a limit before you play. BeGambleAware.org is free and confidential if it stops being fun.