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.
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