Black Jack Advanced Strategy

A couple situation scenarios you may have seen at the online black jack tables or been faced with yourself and wondered, despite what the chart says, what you should do. Just because the card recommends one thing doesn’t mean you always have to follow it to the letter. Learning the game is one thing, but trusting your instinct shouldn’t be thrown completely out of the equation. Anyway, let’s take a look at them.

First, what do you do if your first two cards total 16 and the dealer is showing 10 (face card, 10, whatever), also keeping in mind your hand isn’t comprised of two eights or an Ace and a five. The basic strategy says to hit, do you? The idea of being that close to 21 and getting a card that won’t bust you is right on the edge there, it could go either way. But yes, you follow the play book and hit. Statistically, you have a better chance of improving your hand vs. the combined probability of either busting or straight losing to the dealer if you stand. This won’t matter how many decks you’re playing with, the best move is still to hit.

And second on the black jack strategie list, what if you do have a pair of eights dealt to you, and the dealer shows an Ace, what do you do? The play book calls for a split, but is that the right call for most people? First, you don’t take insurance, but that’s not limited to this scenario, you should never take insurance. OK, now on to the decision at hand, do you split? The rules recommend this because of the increased likelihood of improving your 16 to at least 18 for each split, thus improving your chances to not only win, but to make more money on the hand overall.

I honestly could go either way here, but I’m not a fan. In fact, I’d almost be tempted to surrender. The 14-16 area is a death sentence against an Ace as far as I’m concerned, and there’s no guarantee, especially in an eight-deck game, that you’ll do any better by doubling your blackjack money. Most people holding a card in their hand will follow it, but if you’re looking or advice, at least peek at the other cards on the table…if you see a handful of face cards, splitting might not be the right move that time.