Dear Mark,
Every basic strategy card, blackjack book, and yes,
you, recommend splitting eights against a dealer
10. Well, fear gets the better of me, and I depart
from correct play and just hit instead of splitting
the pair. So what should I do about a hand that
always seems to haunt me? Hit, split or play the
hunch? Scott N.
You're
right, Scott, eights against a 10 is a phantasmal hand
that stalks most players like Marley's ghost.
As my readers know, blackjack is a game where the proper
hit, stand, splitting and doubling decisions are necessary
in order to cut the house edge down to a minimum. These
proper decisions are called basic strategy and have
been arrived at by computer simulations of millions
of hands.
But fallacious logic
tells you that splitting this hand creates two losers.
Seems every time you split those eights you get,
at best, two 10s. Then the dealer always has a nine
or 10 in the hole, and bang, the jingling you hear
is not Marley's forged chains but all your money
falling into the dealer's tray.
So what happens to the average player? He starts
deviating from basic strategy because FEAR sets
in. The FEAR is actually False Evidence Appearing
Real. FEAR camouflages the logic of computer studies.
But according to basic strategy, the proper move
is to split 8s if the game you're playing doesn't
allow surrender. Why? Because you will lose more
money in the long run if you hit instead of splitting.
Mathematically, when you just hit the hand, you
will lose $51 for every $100 wagered. However, if
you split, you will lose $44 for every $100 bet.
A seven dollar difference for every hundred dollars
wagered.
Granted, Scott, it's a character builder to come
out of pocket with additional money, but the key
behind basic strategy is: Win more money not necessarily
more hands.
