| Now, basic strategy says to split those puppies, but do you know why? It's because if you stand with 14, you'll win the hand just 9 times out of 25. But if you split, you'll win each of your two new hands 12 times out of 25. You're still a loser, but a much smaller loser than by not splitting. So, what else can you do? Here's what. Offer one of your 7s to the guy next to you. That's right. Just say, "I got enough money out there already; you wanna' play one of my 7s?" He'll probably look at your hand and think to himself, "H'mm, what do I do when I have a pair of 7s against a 3? I split'em." The hand looks more like a winner than a loser, so don't be surprised if he takes you up on it. So if he does, you've unloaded a little more of your negative liability from a bad hand by losing just one bet 13 times out of 25 rather than two. How many pairs can you do this with? Technically, there are quite a few, but not too many will look very attractive to somebody else. Below is a list of pair splits that are all losers, but don't look too bad. You'll save further money beyond basic strategy if the guy next to you is nice enough to take one of them off your hands. 2/2 vs. 2 or 3 3/3 vs. 2 or 3 6/6 vs. 2 or 3 7/7 vs. 2 or 3 You can also gain something extra from pair splits by going the other way around. Suppose the player next to you has 3/3 against a 6 and splits them. On his first 3 he catches an 8 and doubles down, buying an ugly deuce. On his other 3 he catches a third 3, and now seems hesitant to stick yet a fourth bet out there. Since one 3 against a dealer's 6 is an outright moneymaker, you should quickly toss a bet over there and offer to absorb the cost of splitting that third 3! In fact, you should do this whenever somebody seems hesitant to split with the following pairs that all win more often than they lose.There were three of us at a six-deck blackjack table. I was at third base. The player between us had a pair of 4s against the dealer's 6. He looked over to his friend at first base as he started to shove a second bet out and said, "Should I?" "Of course!" came the answer. So the player completed his motion and then held out two fingers, indicating a split. "No, no!" objected first base, "Double it!". Play came to a grinding halt and then center field asked my opinion. "I'll go halves with you either way," I replied. Why did I answer the way I did? It's because the player is the favorite with that hand no matter how he plays it. Both doubling and splitting will make a profit. More specifically, of the three feasible ways to play it, here's how they rank (the following hierarchy assumes you can double after splitting a pair, which you can in most shoe games. If you can't, then just never split a pair of 4s). Splitting makes the most money Just hitting makes the next most Doubling makes the least of the three. That's why you can watch somebody play this hand any way he pleases and he'll usually gloat back at you afterwards with a "See, I knew what I was doing" sneer. The point, however, is that splitting is the optimal play because over half the time you'll end up doubling down at least once. Sadly though, not all blackjack mistakes merely reduce your profit on a moneymaking hand. Some goof-ups actually turn you from a favorite into an underdog on the hand. Want a common example? How about when you have this? A/3 against 2 If you play this hand right and just hit, you're a favorite to win it. But if like many players you decide it's a good double, you become the underdog -- and for twice as much money! The thing of it is, not all small soft hands against small up-cards are good doubles. And very few players can tell the good from the bad. The closer to 6 the dealer's up-card and the side card next to your Ace get, the better the double. The closer to a deuce they both get, the worse. Another mistake that most players make is when they have: |
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