House Edge Calculator
Set the table rules and instantly see the house edge under perfect basic strategy — plus whether the table is worth your time.
Table Rules
Number of decks
Fewer decks favor the player.
Dealer on soft 17
Standing (S17) is better for you than hitting (H17).
Blackjack payout
3:2 is standard. 6:5 is the worst common rule — avoid it.
Double after split
Doubling down on a freshly split hand.
Surrender
Give up half your bet on a bad hand.
Doubling allowed on
Which starting totals you may double.
Resplit aces
Splitting aces again after an ace lands.
Solid, standard rules. Perfectly fine to play.
What's affecting your edge
- 6 decks (baseline)+0.64%
- Total house edge0.64%
Green reduces the house edge (good for you); red increases it.
How this works
The house edge is the casino's long-run advantage as a percent of your original bet, assuming you play perfect basic strategy. We start from a measured baseline for the number of decks, then add the documented effect of each rule you change. Figures are sourced from the Wizard of Odds and are accurate to roughly ±0.1% — a high-quality estimate for comparing tables, not a guaranteed exact figure.
Want the reasoning behind each rule? Read our Table Selection Guide.
What the house edge actually means
The house edge is the casino's long-run advantage expressed as a percentage of the money you put into action, assuming you play every hand correctly. A 0.5% edge means that across a very large number of hands, the house keeps about fifty cents of every hundred dollars wagered.
Two things people commonly get wrong about it. It is a percentage of total action, not of what you sit down with — a player betting $25 a hand for three hours puts several thousand dollars through the table regardless of what the chips in front of them do. And it is a long-run average: it says nothing whatsoever about tonight. Session outcomes are dominated by variance, not by edge.
The figure this calculator gives assumes correct basic strategy. Playing by instinct costs considerably more than any rule variation on this page, which is worth keeping in perspective before hunting for a better table.
Which rules matter most
The rules are not equally important, and the ordering surprises people. The blackjack payout dominates everything else: a table paying 6:5 instead of 3:2 adds roughly 1.39% to the house edge, which is more than every other common rule variation put together. No amount of favourable deck count or surrender availability compensates for it.
After that, in rough order: whether the dealer hits or stands on soft 17, the number of decks, whether doubling after a split is permitted, and whether surrender is offered. Deck count matters less than most players assume once the payout is right.
A practical way to use this: set the calculator to the rules on the placard before you sit down. If the number comes out meaningfully above what a nearby table offers, the walk is worth it.