Player's Hard 5 vs Dealer's 2 — Best move (Basic Strategy)
You have Hard 5 and the dealer shows 2. The optimal basic strategy move under common U.S. casino rules is below.
The hand
2 and 3 is hard 5. Ace and 4 is soft 15 because the ace can count as 11 without busting; it is a different chart lookup. Use the cards and their correct total when choosing a practice question.
Best Move by Ruleset
Best move: HIT. These examples use six decks, H17 (dealer hits soft 17), DAS (double after split allowed), doubling on any initial two cards, no surrender, 3:2 blackjack and U.S. dealer-peek rules. The example is an initial, unsplit 2-and-3 hand against a dealer 2.
Why hitting is the chart decision
With a total of 5, one additional card cannot take the hand over 21. Check the new total after the draw and use the appropriate hard or soft decision for the resulting hand.
Quick Checklist / TL;DR
- 2 and 3 totals hard 5.
- Ace and 4 totals soft 15.
- Hard 5 versus dealer 2: hit under the documented rules.
Common Mistakes
- Counting an ace as 1 when it can count as 11 without busting.
- Using the hard-5 row for ace and 4.