If you have a "hard" total (a hand without an Ace or where the Ace counts as 1) of 17 or more, you should always stand. Insurance is a bad bet for the player. A core assumption in basic strategy is to treat the dealer's hole card as a 10-value card. This simple heuristic is a powerful guide for your strategy. When your first two cards total 11, you should almost always double down (unless the dealer shows an Ace It carries a significant house advantage and should always be avoided.

Keep Your Phone Use to a Minimum: Using your phone while at a table game is considered rude and slows things dow Losing is part of the game