Split In Blackjack

A pair of 4's is a hard total of 8, which gives you a good chance of catching an 18 for your finishing total, which is a reasonable hand. If the dealer has a 5 or a 6, she has a great chance of busting. You're hoping to catch a couple of totals of 14 when you split.

• Rules Of Blackjack
• Hit Or Split Blackjack
• Blackjack Splitting Strategy
• When Can You Split In Blackjack

So you got a J-Q hand in front of you. The dealer shows 5 and you are thinking to yourself: yes, I know people say that splitting tens is a mistake, but he has 5 and there are good chances his hole card is 10 to 15 and bust; so I'll just split this one time. You split and get 7 and 4, so you stand. The dealer gets 2 and K to 17 and you see your money go down the drain.

A pair of 4's is a hard total of 8, which gives you a good chance of catching an 18 for your finishing total, which is a reasonable hand. If the dealer has a 5 or a 6, she has a great chance of busting. You're hoping to catch a couple of totals of 14 when you split, which will win if the dealer busts. Blackjack Strategy for Splitting Pairs. Blackjack is considered to be one of the most complicated games to play, so many professional players share their gaming experience and knowledge to help others. This is how was the basic blackjack.

So let's see how many mistakes where done in this play and how much it cost you. First, counting dealers hole card as 10 is one of the common blackjack myths. The odds that he will get a 10 value card are much lower than 50%, 31% to be exact, so making this assumption is a big mistake.

Second, there is a reason why splitting 10s is a bad move. Before we get into statistics and odds, let's see how much money it cost you in this particular situation. The answer is not 2, not 3, but 4! Times your original bet. If your bet was $10, then you lost $20 instead of winning $20. Of course that's just one extreme example to show how costly it can be.

Some Help from Steve Kerr

In a fascinating way, Steve Kerr used the Splitting 10s rule to explain Draymond Green his mistake. So we will go the opposite way. Check the video here: Draymond takes the ball and drives to the basket. The defender goes to Steph. But, instead of going for an easy dunk, Draymond passes the ball to Steph. You can see how it ended. Back to the future slot machine.

Draymond choose to pass on sure 2 points for possible 3. Steph is shooting 50%+ from 3 point range. That means that Draymond traded 2 points for 1.5 points.

Splitting 10s is exactly the same. You trade almost certainly winning hand for a chance to get bigger payout. The only difference is that your odds of getting blackjack on your split hands is much lower than Steph hitting that 3-pointer.

Kerr lets us know what he think of this bad decision pic.twitter.com/RV3kkI2thF

— BBALLBREAKDOWN (@bballbreakdown) January 9, 2018

Splitting Tens vs. Standing Odds

As we explained in our article on Blackjack Split strategy, there are two main situations in which you should split. First one, is to avoid/improve weak hands, such as 8s. This also referred as defensive split. The second reason is to take full advantage of a strong hand, such as splitting 9s vs. dealers 4 for example. As you can see, splitting 10 value cards doesn't fall under any of the two. You will just be exchanging one winning hand to two solid hands and as they say, one bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. In this case, it's worth much more.

To make it simple: There is not a single situation in a regular blackjack game when splitting tens will give you higher return than standing with 20. Whatever the dealer has, 4, 5, 6, it doesn't matter. If you split, you will be lowering your winning odds.

Dealer's 6 is the closest situation, but even there, the expected return for splitting is 143%, while standing will get you 177%. That means that you will win $77 instead of $43 on every $100 wagered on this type of hands. On other dealer up cards the gap is even bigger.

When You Should Split Tens?

As with every rule, there are some exceptions, two to be exact:

Double Exposure Blackjack (Face Up): In this blackjack variation both dealer's cards are exposed which gives us additional information on whether we should split, double, stand and so forth. In Face up blackjack you should split tens vs. dealer's 13, 14, 15 and 16.

Card Counting: If you count cards, then you should split 10s when the deck is rich in 10s. On true count of +5 you should split vs. dealer's 5 and 6.

Bottom line: unless you are playing Double Exposure or counting cards, never split 10s. We promise that if you stick to this rule, in the end of day you will have more chips in front of you, which is pretty much the point.

If you've ever played blackjack, you already know that if you get two identical cards in a hand, you can split them into two separate hands. This action is referred to as a 'split'. These two hands are then treated as two separate players. Each of them may be split again (in case of getting another identical card) or doubled.

The basic strategy for blackjack clearly defines the situations when the player should split cards in blackjack and when to play without splitting them. This knowledge is absolutely crucial for most professional players because it reduces the house edge and in addition, gives the player a substantial chance of winning.

Generally speaking, according to the optimal strategy, there are three options for a hand consisting of two identical cards:

• Always split pairs
• Never split pairs
• Play by dealer's card

Always Split Pairs In Blackjack

Remembering when it's always good to split in blackjack is easy. This rule only applies to two pairs – aces and eights. There is a very simple reason for splitting aces. The maximum value of two aces is 12 (11 + 1). The only card to make a blackjack from 12 is 9. A much more likely scenario occurs when the player gets another card with a value of 10. This case may result either in bust (exceeded 21) or a 12 (1 + 1 + 10).

The logic behind splitting eights is very similar. The value of a pair of eights is only 16, which is a very unfortunate sum in blackjack. It is too low for winning and too high for a hit because more than two-thirds of the cards in the deck will get you over 21.

Some casinos allow a so-called resplit – splitting of a pair that has already been split. The same rule applies here, too. If possible, always resplit both eights and aces.

Never Split Pairs in Blackjack

Although it may seem illogical, it is true that a player should never split a pair of cards with a value of 10. Why? The total value is 20, which is very good and the only thing that trumps such a pair is getting an ace. The probability of this happening is, however, very small and the player is more likely to get two lower-value hands.

The next pair that should never be split is a pair of fives. By splitting them you only get a worse starting position with two weak hands. In addition, a sum of 10 is advantageous, especially if the dealer's face card has the same or lower value.

Play by the dealer's card

The remaining pairs are split depending on the dealer's face card to maximize the mathematical probability of winning. The following rules apply:

Generally speaking, according to the optimal strategy, there are three options for a hand consisting of two identical cards:

• Always split pairs
• Never split pairs
• Play by dealer's card

Always Split Pairs In Blackjack

Remembering when it's always good to split in blackjack is easy. This rule only applies to two pairs – aces and eights. There is a very simple reason for splitting aces. The maximum value of two aces is 12 (11 + 1). The only card to make a blackjack from 12 is 9. A much more likely scenario occurs when the player gets another card with a value of 10. This case may result either in bust (exceeded 21) or a 12 (1 + 1 + 10).

The logic behind splitting eights is very similar. The value of a pair of eights is only 16, which is a very unfortunate sum in blackjack. It is too low for winning and too high for a hit because more than two-thirds of the cards in the deck will get you over 21.

Some casinos allow a so-called resplit – splitting of a pair that has already been split. The same rule applies here, too. If possible, always resplit both eights and aces.

Never Split Pairs in Blackjack

Although it may seem illogical, it is true that a player should never split a pair of cards with a value of 10. Why? The total value is 20, which is very good and the only thing that trumps such a pair is getting an ace. The probability of this happening is, however, very small and the player is more likely to get two lower-value hands.

The next pair that should never be split is a pair of fives. By splitting them you only get a worse starting position with two weak hands. In addition, a sum of 10 is advantageous, especially if the dealer's face card has the same or lower value.

Play by the dealer's card

The remaining pairs are split depending on the dealer's face card to maximize the mathematical probability of winning. The following rules apply:

• 2, 3 and 7 – always split if the dealer's face card is 7 or lower
• 4 – split only if the dealer's face card is 5 or 6
• 6 – split only if the dealer's face card is 6 or lower
• 9 – always split except when dealer's face card is 7, 10 or ace

Rules Of Blackjack

To remember this strategy better, follow the table below.

Pompeii slot machine download. Legend:

Splitting pairs for card counters

As usual with blackjack, players using card counting techniques may in some cases deviate from the optimal strategy. Most often we see this in case of insurance that is otherwise considered disadvantageous – a sucker bet. However, this is also the case with the splitting rules. In some cases, card counters shouldn't split a pair of aces or should split a pair of tens.

Hit Or Split Blackjack

First, we will show how card counting can affect the player's decision. If the card count is high and positive (e.g. +5, +6 or more), it is obviously advantageous to split the aces because the player knows that the deck contains more cards worth 10 which means a greater chance of blackjack.

The player will not split aces if the value is negative. In this case, the deck contains fewer cards with a value lower than 10. At the same time, the dealer should have a high card, i.e. a card with a value of 8, 9 or 10. We'll show an example.

Blackjack Splitting Strategy

Let's say the player has two aces and his count is -5. The dealer has a card with a value of 10. The player splits the pair according to the optimal strategy, and the next cards he gets are 3 and 5. After splitting, it is no longer possible to play, so he has to face the dealer's card with a value of 10 and hands worth only 14 and 16, respectively. That is not a very pleasant situation. In such a case, it is better not to split the aces and rather draw another card, because regardless of what the player gets, he can't bust.

When Can You Split In Blackjack

The same logic can also be applied to the decision whether to split cards worth 10. Generally, we should never split these cards, but there is an exception that applies if the count is negative and the dealer has a low card (e.g. 4, 5 or 6). The player thus has a higher chance of getting at least 20 on one of the hands, which is very hard to beat with a low card.