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The dealer’s upcard is what forms the foundation of blackjack strategy. Most of your decisions to hit, stand, split, or double down should be made after looking at the dealer’s upcard. Beginning with hitting and standing, here is a look at what you should do based on the dealer’s upcard:

Dealer Upcard of 2 or 3: hit until you have a score of 13.
Dealer Upcard of 4-6: hit until you have a score of 12.
Dealer Upcard of 7-A: hit until you have a score of 17.

As you can see, online blackjack strategy for hitting and standing is pretty straightforward. Much like hitting and standing, doubling down is fairly easy to remember, and these situations are optimal for doubling down:

You have a score of 9: double down if the dealer has 3-6.
You have a score of 10: double down if the dealer has 2-9.
You have a score of 11: double down if the dealer has 2-10.

Your most complicated decisions will come when deciding what hands to split based on the dealer’s upcard. That being said, you should never split 5’s and 10’s regardless of what the dealer holds; hands that you should always split include aces and 8’s. The other hands all depend on the dealer’s upcard, and here is a look at what you should do in each situation:

9's - Split when the dealer's upcard is 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 8.
7's - Split when the dealer’s upcard is 7 or lower.
6's - Split when the dealer’s upcard is 4, 5, or 6.
4's - Split when the dealer's upcard is 5 or 6.
2's and 3's - Split when the dealer's upcard is 4, 5, 6, or 7.

One other good piece of online blackjack strategy to remember is watching out for certain rule variations because they can give the house a much bigger edge. For example, if you’re playing at a table that only pays out 6:5 on winning blackjacks, you are giving the house a bigger advantage than at tables where blackjack payments are 3:2. In short, know the different rule variations and how they can affect the house advantage.