Blackjack Playing Options

Virtually all casinos allow the player the option of splitting the first two cards if these cards have the same value (eg. 7 and 7, 10 and 10 or Q and K).

By splitting a pair, the player is changing one initial hand into two separate hands. In order to do this, the player usually doubles his initial bet. If, after splitting, he receives another card of like value, most casinos will allow him to split again, up to a total of four splits. Of course, each split requires adding an additional wager.

A player may ask for as many draw cards (hits) as he wants on a split hand. The exception to this rule occurs with split aces. In this case, nearly every casino allows only one additional draw card to each split ace. Probably the most frustrating hand in blackjack is to split a pair of Aces and then receive another Ace, for a hand totaling 12. This outcome turns one of the most promising hands into one of the most dismal.

Splitting pairs may be advantageous to a player for two reasons. First, it offers the option of turning a weak hand into two potentially stronger ones. It is always advantageous to split an 8 with 8, as a hand valued at 16 is the weakest possible hand.

Two hands with starting totals of 8 each are better starting hands than one hand totaling 16.

Another reason a player will split pairs is to exploit a dealer’s weakness as revealed by his up-card. A hand of 9 with 9 will be split versus a dealer’s up-card of 6. With an up-card of 6, the dealer has a potential stiff hand, a hand to which the dealer must draw, but which can be busted with a draw if the hole card is a 6 through 10. To take advantage of the dealer’s weakness, a player would split the 9,9 to get more money on the table.