The fact is -- if he
does have another 10 in the hole, you are dead meat,
is not a strong enough argument for the fact that
chances are he doesn’t have another 10 in the
hole.
Even a cursory examination
of blackjack math tells us that the 10s make up
a mere 16 cards out of 52 cards. Therefore it is
far more likely that the dealer has anywhere from
a 2 through a 7 than he does a 10. Those 8s against
a 10 are a losing hand, but splitting always loses
you less in the long run.
Of course, blackjack has its nevers as well. For
example, never split a pair of 10s or 5s. A hand
of 20 is the third most powerful hand for the player,
behind a blackjack and a multiple-card 21. The chances
of getting two 10s on your split 10s are not good
since you have taken two of the 10s you need out
of the deck or shoe to make that original 20. You’ll
likely get a hand that is a loser -- perhaps, two
losers -- if you always split your 10s. This applies
even against an otherwise weak dealer upcard such
as 5 or 6. Also, should you split 10s, you will
be branded a moron by all the people playing with
you at the table, and some will say it so loud that
everyone in the casino will know what you’ve
done.
Splitting 5s is also
a no-no. A total of 10 is a great hand to double
down on when the dealer is showing 2 through 9 because
your two 5s have increased the percentage of 10s
in the remaining pack.
Always hit your stiff
hands, 12-13-14-15-16 against a dealer’s upcard
of 7 or higher. Never hit your stiffs of 13-14-15-16
against a dealer’s stiff upcard ( 2-3-4-5-6).
Always hit your 12 against a dealer’s 2 or
3, but never hit it against a dealer’s 4 through
6. Always double your 11 when the dealer is showing
a 2 through 10. But sometimes double your 11 against
a dealer ace as well. That would be in single-deck
games.
You always split your
pair of 2s against a dealer’s 3 through 7,
but you sometimes split them against a dealer’s
2. When is that sometimes? In single-deck games
you don’t split 2s against a dealer’s
2. In multiple-deck games you do. But there’s
a big “but” in the ointment, as disgusting
as that clause sounds, because if the single-deck
game allows doubling after pair splitting, then
you do split those 2s against a 2; and if the multiple-deck
game doesn’t allow doubling after splitting,
then you don’t split those 2s against a dealer’s
upcard of 2 or 3. Confusing? Sometimes.
Sometimes you split
a pair of 4s and sometimes you don’t. When
is which? Well, if you can double after splitting
pairs, then when the dealer shows a 5 or 6, you
split those 4s in both single and multiple-deck
games. But when you can’t double after splitting,
you simply hit your two 4s (an 8 after all) against
all dealer upcards in a multiple-deck game, but
you double down on that 8 against a dealer’s
5 or 6 in a single-deck game.
Never take insurance
in multiple-deck games. However, sometimes you can
make a good insurance bet during the first round
of play in single-deck games even if you are not
a card counter. Look around and see if there are
any 10s in the hands of the players to the right
and left of you. If they have none and you also
have none, insurance becomes a good bet as seven
non-10 cards have been removed from the deck (the
dealer’s ace counts too). That means of the
45 remaining unseen cards, 16 of them are 10s. Always
insure your hand in such a case. That bet now has
the edge for the player.
Because of the nature
of blackjack, with each discrete rule change a change
in some of the decisions in given situations is
called for -- far too many to encompass in this
article. Suffice it to say that blackjack has more
sometimes than any other casino table game. The
blackjack fanatic will memorize all the changes
in hand playing depending on the rule changes in
order to reduce the casino edge fractionally more
than the fraction it has already been reduced to
by using one Basic Strategy for all blackjack games.
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