Any blackjack online player, whether amateur or professional, will tell you the best way to put yourself in a position to win without learning to count is to memorize the situation chart. You know the one, we’ve talked about it at length before and you can find it, usually laminated, at every casino gift shop around the world. What they forget to mention is for those of us who can’t memorize as easily as others, the idea of retaining the decisions on all 270 variations on these charts is nearly impossible. These people, and you may be one of them, need something a little easier to bite into at first.
Well, folks, here’s your baby step. Instead of 270, let’s chop that by about 90% and give you far fewer rules to remember. Because when it comes down to it, if you can remember these basic strategy rules, you’ll be ready to take a stab and the tables (just avoid the side bets and be aware that no matter how well you play, the dealer will always have the odds in his favor).
As you may already know, there are two different types of hands – hard hands and soft hands – that are determined by whether your hand contains an ace.
If you’re playing a hard hand, you want to: always stand on a hand of 17 or more, always take a hit against a dealer’s 7 or higher, hit 12 if the dealer has a 2 or 3, always hit any hand with a value less than 12, double an 11 against anything but an ace and double a 10 against anything but an Ace or 10 (value). And when in doubt, stand.
If you’re playing a blackjack soft hand, you want to: stand, every time, on a hand value of 19 or 20, also hit anything against a dealer’s 7 or higher, double anything in your hand against a five or six, stand on 18 against a 7, and double 17 or 18 against a 3. And when in doubt, hit (unless you’re already looking at five cards, then add them up first 
Finally, you’ll want to remember just a few rules if you’re playing pairs. In that situation, first and most important, always split eights and aces (you might already have heard that phrase). Also, it might be tempting to split 10’s, but don’t, stand on them. And finally, double down on a pair of fives if the dealer’s hand is 10 or less.