Dear Mark, I find this one of the
trickiest hands in blackjack: To double down,
or not, when you have an 11 against an Ace. Your opinion on this hand would be
appreciated. Tom C.
To double
or hit an
11 against an Ace can cause disagreement even amongst many pros. I recommend playing
this hand differently depending on the number of decks in play. With a multiple-deck
game, you would just hit
your 11 against an ace, whereas when playing single
deck, you would double
down. Reason being, you are more likely to get a decent card on a single
deck game than one using multiple decks.
For instance, say you have a two-card 11, an eight
and a three. In a single
deck game, without considering depletion, there
are 50 remaining cards, and 16 of them, or 32 percent,
are 10-value cards that will give you a 21 on your
double
down. With an 8-deck game, there are 414 remaining
cards, and 128 of them, or 30.9 percent, are the
favorable 10-cards.
Of course, sometimes my logic fills the mailbag
with disagreement, so if you have a differing opinion,
please let me know what your take is on this hand
and why.
