The dealer's hand is not a strategy decision
When you sit down to deal blackjack, the first thing to internalise is that you are not playing the game. You are running a procedure. A player can hit, stand, double, or split based on judgement, a chart, or a hunch. The dealer has no such latitude. The house rules dictate exactly when you take a card and when you stop, and every player at the table is watching to make sure you follow those rules without hesitation.
That is the real purpose of a dealer cheat sheet: not to teach you how to win, but to make the dealing sequence automatic so your attention stays on the money, the cards, and the pace of the game. The fewer decisions you make from memory, the fewer errors you will make under pressure.
The objective and the table layout
Blackjack is a comparing card game. Each player plays against your hand, not against one another. The objective is a hand total closer to 21 than the dealer's without exceeding 21. A hand that exceeds 21 is a bust and loses immediately, regardless of what the dealer later draws.
Before any card is dealt, learn the physical layout you are working with. The felt in front of you has spaces for the shoe or deck, the discard tray, the chip rack, and a printed area for your own cards. In front of each player is a betting circle. Some tables also print the table rules directly on the felt: blackjack pays a stated multiple of the wager, the dealer stands or hits on a stated total, and insurance pays a stated multiple. Read that printed text before you deal the first hand. It is the only rule sheet that matters for the table you are on.
From buy-in to first card
A round begins with players placing wagers in their betting circles. If a player buys chips from you, the procedure is fixed: take the cash, spread it on the felt beside the chip rack, call out the amount, and cut out the equivalent chips before moving the cash into the drop box. Never put the cash into the drop box before the chips are on the table. The sequence protects both you and the player from a dispute about the amount.
Once all wagers are placed, start dealing from your left, giving each player one card face up, then yourself one card face up. Deal a second card to each player face up, then your own second card face down. That down card is the hole card. At tables where the dealer peeks for blackjack, you check the hole card only when your upcard is an ace or a ten-value card. At other tables, you do not check at all.
Reading the upcard and checking for blackjack
Your upcard drives the entire hand. If it is an ace, offer insurance before checking your hole card. Insurance is a side bet that your hole card is a ten-value card, and it is settled before any other play. The printed table rules state what insurance pays. Some players take it; most do not. Your job is to offer it clearly and settle it correctly, not to comment on whether it is a good bet.
If your upcard is an ace or a ten-value card, check the hole card according to house procedure. If you have a blackjack, turn the hole card face up immediately. The round ends for every player who does not also have a blackjack; those players lose their wagers. Players who also have a blackjack push. If you do not have blackjack, leave the hole card down and proceed with player decisions.
The decision points you run, in order
Starting from your left, each player acts in turn. Your job is to interpret the hand signal and execute it without ambiguity. A tap on the felt means hit; a horizontal wave means stand; placing an additional wager beside the original and holding up one finger means double down; placing a matching wager and holding up two fingers means split. Verbal calls exist, but hand signals are the record. If a signal is unclear, stop and ask the player to repeat it. Never assume.
A player who doubles receives exactly one card, placed sideways. A player who splits separates the two cards into two hands and receives a second card on the first hand, plays that hand to completion, then plays the second. Some rule sets allow re-splitting and doubling after a split; the table rules state which options are live. When a player busts, collect the wager and the cards immediately, before the next player acts. A busted hand is dead, even if your own hand later busts.
The dealer's fixed drawing rule
Once every player has acted, you reveal your hole card and play your hand according to the printed rule. The most common rule is that the dealer hits on any total of 16 or lower and stands on any total of 17 or higher. The critical distinction is between a hard 17 and a soft 17. A hard 17 contains no ace counted as 11. A soft 17 contains an ace counted as 11, such as ace-6. At some tables the dealer stands on all 17s; at others the dealer hits soft 17. The felt or the house procedures state which applies. This single rule changes how often you draw and how the hand resolves, so it is the first line any dealer should memorise at a new table.
There is no choice in this. You do not look at the players' totals and decide whether to take a card. You follow the printed rule every time, even when drawing will bust you and every player at the table is groaning. The groan is part of the job.
Settling the hand
When your hand is complete, settle each player's wager in turn, starting from your right this time. Compare totals. A player total higher than yours wins and is paid at the multiple printed on the felt, typically even money for a standard win. A player total lower than yours loses. Equal totals push, and the wager stays on the table. A player blackjack is paid at the printed multiple unless you also have blackjack, in which case it pushes.
Pay and collect in a consistent order. Move cards from the player's right to left, and chips from the rack to the felt in clear, countable stacks. A player who disputes a payout should be shown the cards and the printed rule, not argued with.
Bet types and how their edges differ
The dealer handles several bet types during a hand, and they carry materially different house advantages. The main wager is the player's hand against yours. Insurance is a side bet on your hole card. Some tables offer additional side bets printed on the felt, such as pair or suited-combination wagers. Each is a separate wager with its own mathematical edge, and none of them changes how you deal the main hand.
| Bet type | What it is | How it is settled | Edge relative to the main bet |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main wager | The player's hand against the dealer's hand | Compare totals after the dealer completes the hand | Baseline edge, depends on the exact table rules |
| Insurance | Side bet that the dealer's hole card is a ten-value card | Settled immediately when the dealer has an ace up | Higher edge than the main wager |
| Side bets | Printed wagers on combinations such as pairs or suited cards | Settled according to the pay table printed on the felt | Typically the highest edge on the table |
The main wager's edge is not a single number across all tables. It shifts with the rule set: whether the dealer hits soft 17, how many decks are in the shoe, whether doubling after a split is allowed, and what blackjack pays. A cheat sheet that lists one house edge for blackjack is incomplete. The correct statement is that the edge on the main bet is the complement of the game's RTP under the specific rules printed at that table, and that side bets and insurance carry higher edges than the main wager.
Procedural mistakes that break a hand
Most dealing errors are not about arithmetic. They are about sequence and exposure. The first is taking a player's wager before the hand is fully resolved. Collecting a busted hand is correct; collecting a losing hand before you have completed your own draw is not. The second is mishandling the hole card. Exposing it early, or checking it at the wrong moment, can void a hand or force a misdeal. The third is paying or collecting the wrong amount because the chips were not cut clearly. Cut every payout in view of the table camera and the player, and count it aloud if there is any doubt.
One more: do not let a player's impatience change your pace. A dealer who rushes the draw will eventually hit a hand that should have stood, or stand on a hand that should have hit. The printed rule is the only authority at the table, and it does not change because a player is losing.
What a strategy chart does and does not do
Players often bring a basic-strategy chart to the table, and some ask the dealer what the chart says. A strategy chart tells a player how to play a given hand against a given upcard to minimise the expected loss under a specific rule set. It is not a universal answer key. The correct chart depends on the number of decks, whether the dealer hits soft 17, and which doubling and splitting options are live. A chart built for one rule set can recommend the wrong play at a table with different rules.
Your cheat sheet as a dealer is different. It is a sequence list, not a strategy list: the order of dealing, the fixed drawing rule, the settlement order, and the payout multiples. Keep those four things in front of you until they are automatic, and the rest of the table will run itself.
FAQ
Does the dealer ever make a playing decision in blackjack?
No. The dealer follows a fixed drawing rule printed on the table or set out in house procedures. The only variation is whether the dealer hits or stands on a soft 17, and that is determined by the table rules before the first card is dealt, not by the dealer's judgement during the hand.
What is the difference between a hard 17 and a soft 17 for a dealer?
A hard 17 contains no ace counted as 11, so its total cannot change. A soft 17 contains an ace counted as 11, such as ace-6, and can be counted as 7 instead. At tables where the dealer hits soft 17, the dealer draws another card; where the dealer stands on all 17s, the hand ends immediately.
Why do different blackjack tables have different house edges?
The house edge on the main wager shifts with the rule set in use. The number of decks, whether the dealer hits soft 17, whether doubling after a split is allowed, and the payout multiple for a blackjack all change the expected rate of loss. The edge is the complement of the RTP for that specific rule set, so no single number applies to every table.
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