Should I Always Split Pairs in Blackjack?

This piece is meant to be used as a companion to the article Blackjack: Basic Strategy, where the basic technique of playing hard and soft hands was considered. It did not deal with the strategy of playing pairs, however. When you have two of the same card, you have the option of ‘splitting’, where you separate the cards and are dealt a new hand on each in addition. You must also place an extra bet on the second hand, and each one is played individually, allowing you to possibly win (or lose) two bets instead of just one. Some pairs play exactly the same is every situation while others can vary depending on what card the dealer is showing. For example, a pair of aces or a pair of eights should always be split. This is because as individual cards when paired with tens, aces and eights are quite strong making 21 and 18 respectively. Additionally, hands of 12 (two aces) and 16 (two eights) are awkward and tend to bust frequently. On the opposite end of the spectrum is a hand of two tens, which you should always stand on. This is because 20 is already a very strong hand, and you will most likely end up with one or two weaker hands if you split it up.

Unfortunately, the rules outside of aces, eights, and tens get a little trickier. With almost all pairs, you split if the dealer has a two through six showing, and you stand if the dealer has a seven through ten showing. If you just do this, you are on your way to playing optimal blackjack, but there are a few caveats to remember. For one, a pair of fives plays exactly like a regular ten – double down if the dealer has anything besides a ten or an ace showing. Secondly, if you are dealt two deuces, threes, or sevens for your starting hand, you should split when the dealer shows a seven in addition to the when he has a two, three, four, five, or six. When you have two nines showing, you should split on all cards except for a seven (where the dealer will have to stand on 17, losing to your 18), a ten (you are most likely going to lose to 20 anyway and it is better to lose only one bet instead of two), and an ace (same reason as 10).

The above rules cover all pairs except for the somewhat strange play of two fours, which give you a total of eight. From the earlier rules, you should remember that you always hit when you have an eight, regardless of what card the dealer is showing. With an eight, you are hoping to make an 18, which is a reasonably strong hand to play. A pair of fours only plays differently if the dealer is showing a five or a six. This is because the dealer is most likely to bust on those cards (any card seven or higher will cause him to bust), and by splitting your fours, you give yourself two chances to win when if he busts. Hopefully you now understand the basics of splitting your cards at blackjack. If these rules are confusing, remember that you can ask the dealer for advice or purchase a strategy card at most casinos.

Playing Blackjack in the Casino

Many people go to play blackjack in the land based casino and the really enjoy themselves. Playing blackjack in an online kasino is very different but we will come to that later. Playing Blackjack in a casino instead of a casino en ligne is a lot of fun. When you go to sit down with friends at a multi player table you can have alot of fun playing in the Casino. Chatting with the dealer and your friends about the cards you hit or dont hit is always fun, like in poker.
If you go play in a online casino this element of social behaviour is not present ofcourse. But there are other great advantage. In the beste online casino you dont have to pay for your drinks. And the Best thing about it that you can play it from your home and get a online casino bonus.

How to Become a Professional Blackjack Player

By counting cards, the savvy player can actually gain an advantage over the house in blackjack. Some go on to become lifetime professionals, while others exploit the window of opportunity for a short time in order to strike big; the real-life story behind the recent movie 21 is an excellent example of this phenomenon. It should be noted, however, that these situations are rare and that card counting is a difficult way to make a living. For one, the methodology is quite challenging to master. Furthermore, casinos have the right to ban players from their premises, and such a fate befalls most card counters who win significant amounts of money. Finally, even a good counter will have large bankroll swings and will only show a profit after many grueling hours of counting and playing. One can hope to gain an advantage of only about 1% over the casino using card counting. Hence, patrons will generally get more enjoyment out of blackjack by using basic strategy and hoping for a little luck as opposed to attempting to implement card-counting strategies into their game.

Despite what the name implies, card counting is basically keeping score at the blackjack table. Typical counting strategies involve assigning point values to the cards and using the current score to determine the composition of the remaining deck. For instance, in the simple Hi-Lo system, 2-6 are assigned a value of 1 while 10s, face cards, and aces are assigned a value of -1. The player wants to know when the remaining cards are high in aces, tens, and face cards, which are beneficial to the player, or when there are a lot of low cards, which are better for the dealer. A high proportion of tens and aces means that the player will receive more blackjacks and that the dealer will bust more. There are more complicated counting systems to account for game variations, but these are much more difficult to both memorize and use in practice.

For the most part, card counters use regular basic strategy while playing, only varying when the deck becomes particularly skewed in one direction. Once the deck is favorable, the player must then increase his/her bet size in order to maximize potential profit, but when the deck is favoring the dealer, the player must scale his/her bets back. It is also possible to not bet at all during these times; this strategy is known as ‘wonging’ after its creator, Stanford Wong. However, doing so can mark a player as a card counter, resulting in banishment from that casino.

Card counting may seem easy, glamorous, and exciting, but for the average player it will be none of these, and even for an experienced counter, it is a tough way to make a living. While mathematically and theoretically interesting, card counting is best left to Hollywood and the small population of dedicated professional gamblers out there.

Should I Always Split Pairs in Blackjack?

This piece is meant to be used as a companion to the article Blackjack: Basic Strategy, where the basic technique of playing hard and soft hands was considered. It did not deal with the strategy of playing pairs, however. When you have two of the same card, you have the option of ‘splitting’, where you separate the cards and are dealt a new hand on each in addition. You must also place an extra bet on the second hand, and each one is played individually, allowing you to possibly win (or lose) two bets instead of just one. Some pairs play exactly the same is every situation while others can vary depending on what card the dealer is showing. For example, a pair of aces or a pair of eights should always be split. This is because as individual cards when paired with tens, aces and eights are quite strong making 21 and 18 respectively. Additionally, hands of 12 (two aces) and 16 (two eights) are awkward and tend to bust frequently. On the opposite end of the spectrum is a hand of two tens, which you should always stand on. This is because 20 is already a very strong hand, and you will most likely end up with one or two weaker hands if you split it up.

Unfortunately, the rules outside of aces, eights, and tens get a little trickier. With almost all pairs, you split if the dealer has a two through six showing, and you stand if the dealer has a seven through ten showing. If you just do this, you are on your way to playing optimal blackjack, but there are a few caveats to remember. For one, a pair of fives plays exactly like a regular ten – double down if the dealer has anything besides a ten or an ace showing. Secondly, if you are dealt two deuces, threes, or sevens for your starting hand, you should split when the dealer shows a seven in addition to the when he has a two, three, four, five, or six. When you have two nines showing, you should split on all cards except for a seven (where the dealer will have to stand on 17, losing to your 18), a ten (you are most likely going to lose to 20 anyway and it is better to lose only one bet instead of two), and an ace (same reason as 10).

The above rules cover all pairs except for the somewhat strange play of two fours, which give you a total of eight. From the earlier rules, you should remember that you always hit when you have an eight, regardless of what card the dealer is showing. With an eight, you are hoping to make an 18, which is a reasonably strong hand to play. A pair of fours only plays differently if the dealer is showing a five or a six. This is because the dealer is most likely to bust on those cards (any card seven or higher will cause him to bust), and by splitting your fours, you give yourself two chances to win when if he busts. Hopefully you now understand the basics of splitting your cards at blackjack. If these rules are confusing, remember that you can ask the dealer for advice or purchase a strategy card at most casinos.

Blackjack: Basic Strategy

Strategy in blackjack is basically comprised of knowing the correct decision to make depending on the hand you are holding in light of the dealer’s hand. This is different than poker, where you need to base your decisions for each individual hand on a variety of different factors. Professional blackjack players and many hobbyists are able to mechanically respond to every situation that can occur at the blackjack table, reducing the house’s edge to less than 1% (making incorrect decisions increases the house’s edge from this baseline). What should please you is that this basic strategy is quite easy to learn and even a first-time player can sit down and make the optimal decision on close to every hand. Many casinos even offer blackjack strategy cards for sale in their gift shops!

 Before delving into the basic strategy of blackjack, a quick distinction must be made between “hard” and “soft” hands. A soft hand is any hand in which an ace is counted as 11 points; it is impossible to bust a soft hand because the ace can revert into a one point card. This turns the hand into a hard hand. Hand decisions can change depending on whether you are holding a hard or a soft hand. Here, we will mainly be talking about hitting and standing; splitting and doubling down are covered in their respective articles.

The decisions on all hands are based on a balance between the likelihood of busting, the likelihood of the dealer busting, and the likelihood of the dealer having a better hand than you when the hand is finished. When playing blackjack, there is always the underlying assumption that the dealer’s face down card is a ten; though this will not always be the case, it is what optimal strategy is based on. Remember, the dealer must hit on a hand total of 16 or less and stand on 17 or higher. If you are holding a hard total of 17-20, you always stand regardless of what the dealer is showing (a 21 results in a blackjack). If you have a 12-16 and the dealer is showing a card between two and six, you stand because you are trying to allow the dealer to bust. However, if the dealer has a seven through ten or an ace, you need to hit because you are assuming that he can beat you without even adding another card to his total. With hands totaling five, six, seven, or eight, you should always hit, and you almost always hit on a nine as well. Whenever you hold a total of 10 or 11, you should double down unless the dealer is showing an ace or a 10 (with eleven always double down unless the dealer has an ace). Doubling down is covered further in another article.

Soft hands are a little trickier and the fine details will be covered elsewhere. However, if you keep these few rules in mind, you should be fine the next time you sit down to play blackjack. If you have a soft 19 or 20, you always stand regardless of what the dealer is showing. With a soft 17 or 18 (so if you have an ace and a six or seven), you hit against the dealer if he has a nine, ten, or ace, stand against a two, seven, or eight, and double against a three, four, five, or six. With the lower soft hands, you will be hitting on anything because you cannot bust and the risk of lowering your hand is outweighed by the risk of making a stronger hand. When the dealer shows a five or six, you should double down on your bet with any soft hand besides 19 or 20 because the dealer has the greatest chance of busting with a five or six showing.

Pair cards can be split – splitting strategy will be covered elsewhere.