Dear Mark: I sometimes forget to bring my basic strategy card for blackjack to the casino. Do you have any simplified rules to follow that will cut the edge on the game? Gary Z.

For starters, Gary, find a casino that offers some decent rules that are favorable to the player, such as these eight:  single deck game, early and late surrender, the ability to double down on any two cards, doubling after splits, multiple pair splitting and the re-splitting of aces, deep deck penetration, and dealers that stand on a soft 17.

Next, memorizing these few simple rules below will enable you to knock the house edge down to less than one percent.

If your hand is a 12 through 16 and the dealer’s up card is between 2 and 6, stand. If it’s 7 through ace, hit. If you have a 17 or more, regardless of what the dealer up card is, stand. The only exception to this would be a soft 17; here you always hit.

If you have 10 or 11, double if the dealer has a 2-9 showing.

If you have a soft 13 -18, double if the rules allow when the dealer is showing a 5 or 6.

Always split eights and aces.

Never take insurance.

Finally, if you have a pair of deuces, threes, sixes, sevens or nines, split if the dealer is showing a 2-7. One exception; stand on your nines if the dealer has a deuce.

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