Last updated: 7 October 2026 · By Power.Win Editorial Team
Quick Answer: Online casinos use both rules, and a dealer who hits soft 17 costs you about $0.22 more per $100 wagered than one who stands. That’s 0.22% more house edge, with nothing else about the game changed. Power.Win’s docs say its classic blackjack dealer stands on soft 17, the cheaper rule.
You sit down at an online blackjack table and the rules panel says “dealer hits soft 17.” It reads like fine print, but it’s a price tag, and the price is small enough to ignore and large enough to add up.
Under the H17 rule the house edge rises by about 0.22 percentage points. The rest of this page puts that figure in dollars, shows how it moves with the other rules, and gives you a fast way to check the rule before you bet. It also covers what Power.Win’s documentation says about its own blackjack tables.
Does the dealer hit on soft 17?
Both rules exist online: some tables make the dealer hit soft 17 (H17) and others make the dealer stand (S17), and hitting costs you about $0.22 more per $100 wagered.
A soft 17 is any 17 that counts an ace as 11, such as ace-six. The game’s printed rules fix which rule applies, so you can read it before your first bet; no dealer chooses it mid-hand. Our what is a soft 17 page covers every hand and the full drawing script.
H17 vs S17: what does the rule cost you per $100?
Hitting soft 17 costs you about $0.22 for every $100 you wager, or 0.22% of your stake, compared with the same game where the dealer stands. Depending on the other rules, the gap runs from about $0.19 to $0.22 per $100.
The 0.22% figure comes from the Wizard of Odds rule-variation table, which prices each rule against standard U.S. rules: eight decks, dealer stands on soft 17, double after split allowed. The site’s simulation tables put the gap at $0.19 to $0.21 under six-deck rules. Per $100 wagered, three rule sets read like this:
| Rule set | Soft 17 rule | Expected loss per $100 | Extra cost of H17 per $100 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard U.S. rules, 8 decks | S17 is the baseline | not priced here | +$0.22 |
| 6 decks, double after split, surrender, resplit aces | S17 / H17 | $0.281 / $0.473 | +$0.19 |
| 6 decks, no double after split, no surrender, no resplit aces | S17 / H17 | $0.573 / $0.787 | +$0.21 |
Every row has the same pattern: the dealer who hits is worth a few cents per $100 to the house. The reason is that a soft 17 can’t bust on its next card. A dealer who stands is stuck with a 17 that beats only your 16 or lower.
A dealer who hits gets a free shot at 18 through 21, and can simply draw again if the card lands low. Across millions of hands the extra 18s to 21s outweigh the extra busts.
The figure is measured against your original bet. Money you add by doubling or splitting isn’t counted in the $100.
Small in dollars can still be large in proportion. In the six-deck row with double after split, surrender and resplit aces, the expected loss rises from $0.28 to $0.47 per $100, an increase of about 68%.
How much is that over a session?
Take 100 hands at a flat $10, which puts $1,000 through the table. Under the six-deck rules in the middle row, your expected loss is $2.81 at an S17 table and $4.73 at an H17 table, a gap of $1.92.
The 0.22% eight-deck figure scales the same way. This is what H17 adds at other stakes:
| Total wagered | Example | Extra expected cost of H17 at 0.22% |
|---|---|---|
| $100 | 10 hands at $10 | $0.22 |
| $1,000 | 100 hands at $10 | $2.20 |
| $5,000 | 100 hands at $50 | $11.00 |
| $10,000 | 400 hands at $25 | $22.00 |
None of these is a prediction for one session. A single hand has a standard deviation of about 1.14 bets, so 100 hands at $10 carry one standard deviation of roughly $114 either way.
The $4.73 expected loss is a long-run average, and the $1.92 gap between the rules sits well inside that swing.
Only three rules on the same Wizard of Odds table cost more than this one: a blackjack that pays 7:5 (0.45%), 6:5 (1.39%) or even money (2.27%). The other six on that table, from splitting limits to doubling restrictions, each cost less than 0.22%. A 6:5 blackjack alone is more than six times the soft 17 rule.
Our guide to online blackjack rules walks through the rules themselves and what the favourable ones do to the edge, and our RTP, house edge and variance explainer covers why a few cents per $100 still counts over thousands of hands.
How do you tell which rule a table uses?
Read the rules panel or the felt text before your first bet. “Dealer stands on all 17s” means S17, and “dealer hits soft 17” or “H17” means the dealer draws on ace-six. It takes about ten seconds.
Look for these wordings, in this order:
- “Dealer must stand on all 17s” or “S17”: the dealer stops on soft 17.
- “Dealer hits soft 17” or “H17”: the dealer draws a card on ace-six.
- “Dealer draws to 16 and stands on 17”: usually S17, but if you want to be certain, look for the word “soft” elsewhere in the rules.
If a rules panel doesn’t mention soft 17 at all, don’t assume. A game that hits soft 17 normally says so, but a panel that stays quiet leaves you guessing, and guessing wrong costs the $0.22 per $100 above.
Any soft 17, such as ace-six, ace-two-four, ace-three-three or ace-ace-five, is where H17 and S17 play differently; every other dealer total plays the same under both rules.
Live tables follow the same logic with a human dealer: each table posts its own rule, so two tables in one lobby can differ. Check the table you’re sitting at, not the lobby page.
How does the soft 17 rule change basic strategy?
H17 moves only a handful of basic-strategy decisions, mostly toward doubling more often. The rest of the chart is identical, so you don’t need two charts, just two columns on the one you already use.
Two examples from the Wizard of Odds strategy notes:
- Hard 11 against a dealer ace: hit when the dealer stands on soft 17, double when the dealer hits it.
- Soft 19 (ace-eight) against a dealer 6: stand under S17, double under H17.
Playing these hands the S17 way at an H17 table adds a small mistake on top of the 0.22%, so it pays to read the rule first. Our blackjack basic strategy explained page has the full chart; it isn’t reproduced here. Correct strategy narrows the house edge but never removes it, under either rule.
What soft 17 rule do Power.Win’s blackjack tables use?
Power.Win’s docs FAQ says its classic blackjack dealer stands on soft 17, which is the cheaper rule for you. Its seven third-party blackjack titles in the public game feed, one live-dealer and six computer-dealt, each set their own dealer rule.
Here’s what that looks like across the blackjack options on the site:
| Table | What it is | Soft 17 rule | Where to read it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blackjack Original | PWR Original, provably fair | Docs FAQ: “dealer stands on soft 17”; game page: “Dealer stands on 17” | Power.Win docs |
| Third-party computer-dealt blackjack (6 titles) | Certified by the provider | Set by each game | The game’s own rules panel |
| Third-party live-dealer blackjack (1 title) | Streamed dealer, certified by the provider | Set by the table | The table’s own rules |
The Blackjack Original also pays 3:2 on a natural and lets you play one, two or three hands per round, each with its own bet. The documentation describes a standard 52-card deck, so the eight-deck and six-deck rows above are general-rules benchmarks, not a description of any Power.Win table.
The docs FAQ says the dealer stands on soft 17, so the $0.22 per $100 from the cost table doesn’t apply to it. The game page says only “Dealer stands on 17,” so the game’s own rules panel is still the place to confirm.
Third-party tables are different, and that’s the useful part of the comparison. If one of them hits soft 17, you’re paying about $0.22 more per $100 than at a table where the dealer stands, other rules being equal. The rule is shown in the game, not on this page, so read it there.
Keep the two kinds of fairness apart. Power.Win’s documentation says provably fair applies to its Original games, so you can recompute any Blackjack Original hand from the seeds. Third-party games are certified by their own providers, which tells you about the game in general and not about one hand.
Those are separate claims, and the soft 17 rule is a third question that applies to every table. Browse them on the Power.Win blackjack lobby.
Power.Win isn’t available to players in the United States: section 5.2 of its Terms and Conditions lists the United States of America among the countries whose players aren’t eligible to deposit or play real-money games. Read this page as an explanation of how this works, not as an invitation to sign up.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do dealers have to hit until 17?
Yes. The dealer draws on any total of 16 or less and stands on a hard 17 or more. Soft 17 is the only total where the table’s rule decides, which is why H17 and S17 differ by about 0.22%.
Do you hit on 17 when the dealer shows a 10?
Never on a hard 17, which stands against every dealer card. A soft 17 such as ace-six is different: basic strategy hits it against a dealer 10, because the ace means one card can’t bust you.
What does a dealer do on a soft 18 or 19?
The dealer stands. Both common rules, H17 and S17, have the dealer stand on soft 18 and higher, so the rule covers soft 17 only. A game with a different dealer rule says so in its rules panel.
Which is better for you, H17 or S17?
S17 is better for you. Compared with the same game where the dealer hits, it saves about $0.22 per $100 wagered, or $2.20 over 100 hands at $10 each.
Sources
- Wizard of Odds, Blackjack basics, Rule Variations table and online-casino game list. Effect of each rule on the player’s expected return against standard U.S. rules (8 decks, dealer stands on soft 17, double after split): dealer hits on soft 17 -0.22%; blackjack pays 6:5 -1.39%. Online games list both soft 17 rules. Read 7 October 2026.
- Wizard of Odds, Blackjack Appendix 4, variance and covariance summary table. Expected value and variance for 6-deck rule sets under S17 and H17. Read 7 October 2026.
- Wizard of Odds, Blackjack strategy page and Ask the Wizard, basic strategy (specific hands). The hands that change under H17: double hard 11 against an ace; double soft 19 against a 6. Read 7 October 2026.
- Power.Win Docs, Blackjack guide and Games and Fairness FAQ. Dealer stands on 17 (guide) and on soft 17 (FAQ, classic blackjack), natural pays 3:2, one to three hands per round, standard 52-card deck, provably fair. Read 8 October 2026.
- Power.Win Docs, Provably Fair. Provably fair covers the Original games only; third-party games are certified by their respective providers, a separate claim. Read 7 October 2026.
Take the Lead, Gamble Responsibly
Knowing the soft 17 rule tells you what a table costs. It doesn’t turn blackjack into income, and the house edge sits on every hand you play, whichever rule the dealer follows. Set a limit for the session before you sit down, and walk away when you hit it.
Power.Win’s responsible gambling tools include deposit limits, wagering limits and self-exclusion. If gambling stops feeling like a choice, that page also lists independent support services.
By the Power.Win Editorial Team.