Blackjack Articles

Mastering The Five Card Charlie

If you ever play at a blackjack table with the Five Card Charlie option, you’re going to need to know how to properly utilize it. The Five Card Charlie rule is fairly simple: If you have 5 cards in front of you, and you haven’t gone bust, you win. There’s no need to compare the total of your hand to the dealer’s, there’s no push possible. You simply win if you reach the five-card mark!

You’ll mainly be following basic strategy, with a few important exceptions. You’re going to be more aggressive hitting soft hands, and you’re going to be more willing to hit with borderline hands when you’re close to the Five Card Charlie. To be more specific:

Stand on a hard 17 – 21: No need to get silly. If you have a made hand, you should see if it’s going to work out rather than risk the small odds that you might pull a tiny card for the instant win.
If you have three or four cards to the Charlie, always hit on your total 4 – 12: Since these combinations are usually safe to hit anyway, and with the added clearly you should.
If you hold a four-card hard 13, 14, or 15, take a hit and go for the Charlie: These are the hands where you need to go for the instant win. They’re pretty awful and they usually don’t stand up to the dealer’s hand. Odds say you’re better off going for the Charlie!
If you hold a four-card 16, stand on a dealer 4, 5, or 6 and hit on everything else: The bad dealer hands are worth seeing if he’ll bust. But go for the Charlie every other time.
Hit every soft hand if you’re holding 4 cards: Even if you have a 4 card soft 21, you can avoid a push by hitting! The instant win is always best!
Hit a soft 18 against a dealer 2 – 8 if you’re holding 3 cards (stand if you’ve only got 2 cards), and always hit the soft 18 against a dealer 9, T, or A: The 18 is a special case. Following the rules above is optimal.
Always hit a soft 12 through 17: The Charlie is worth shooting for with these low soft totals, no matter how many cards you have in hand.
Otherwise, follow basic strategy: If the situation doesn’t fit any of the above rules, just play your basic game.

These guidelines are the optimal way to take advantage of the Five Card Charlie rule. Properly played, it should give you an additional 1.5 percent advantage over the house. However most tables that have this rule compensate for this advantage with some player-unfriendly rule, so be careful!

By Bill Ricardi
Blackjack Expert