Why Do You Always Split 8s In Blackjack
Why Do Blackjack Basic Strategy Players Always Split 8s? Splitting 8s is very much a move that basic strategy players swear. This is because two hands starting with an 8 each isn’t nearly so bad a start to a new blackjack round as a hard total of 16. Meanwhile, if you split the 5s, you will be left with two hands that can easily become stiff (all 10s, all 9s, all 8s and all 7s will make a stiff hand). Also, the opportunity for those two hands to be doubled down will require another 5 or a 6 (for a total value of 10-11), and two 5s have already been drawn out of the deck. Aug 21, 2019 You shouldn't always split them, if surrender is available, take it against a 10 value or an ace. The reason you split them is that 2 hands that start with 8. Are better then one hand that starts with 16. In some cases it's not that you will win by splitting them, but that in the long run you will lose less.
Jan 22, 2020 Also, it is an excellent strategy always to split your pair of 8s and re-split if you get dealt with the second pair. Do remember that you triple original bet. When it comes to splitting 10s, it will depend on the particular blackjack game rules, because of there different 10-value cards. “If you’re playing blackjack for $10 a hand and you are dealt two eights and the dealer has a king showing, the book says to split. So you split and you put another $10 up there. Now, there’re gonna give you a card on each eight, which means you have one eight with a card for $10, and another eight with another card for $10.
Posted byWhy Do You Always Split 8s In Blackjack
Among my recent emails from players, I have several on the topic of splitting tens. One player mentioned that he seems to win more often than not when splitting tens against a dealer 5 or 6, so he was wondering if the play could be justified. Actually, his basic assertion is correct. You will win more often than not when splitting tens in those situations. But, winning more than 50% of the time is only part of the story.
When the dealer has a 5 or 6 up, he will bust more than 40% of the time. That’s why basic strategy against those dealer upcards becomes quite a bit more aggressive. You should double 9, 10, and 11. Among soft totals, you should double A2 through A7. So, if you are dealt a pat 20, why not split the pair and get more money on the table while the dealer is weak?
Like all of basic strategy, this decision comes down to which action makes you the most money in the long run. Your single hand of a pat 20 is worth more than double what a single hand starting with a ten is worth.
Splitting Tens costs you money.
Assume we are playing a 6 deck, H17 game and we are dealt a pair of 10s against a dealer 6. Our initial bet is $10.
If we stand with 20, we’ll win our $10 bet 78% of the time. We’ll push with a dealer 20 about 11% of the time, and lose to a dealer 21 another 11% of the time. On average, we’ll win $6.77 by standing.
Why Should You Always Split 8's In Blackjack
If we instead split the tens (only once) and put a $10 bet on each hand, what happens? On average, each of these hands is still a winner, but the average win on each hand is only $2.78. Our total expected win on both hands combined is just $5.56, which is more than $1 less than the value if we had just stood on the 20. Despite having twice as much money bet in a favorable situation, we are now expected to win less overall.
If it’s bad to split tens just once, it is of course worse to resplit them. If your strategy is to split tens and resplit up to the usual three times allowed, your total bet will be either $20, $30 or $40. Over all of these possibilities, your expected profit drops further yet to a grand total of only $4.51, more than $2 less than the value of your initial single $10 bet on a pat 20.
What about card counters?
Despite the risk of confusing basic strategy players, I can’t talk about splitting tens without addressing what happens if you count cards. Because card counters have extra information about the remaining cards to be dealt, they are able to identify occasions when splitting tens does become the mathematically correct play. In our example game, the Hi-Lo index number for splitting tens against a dealer 6 is +4. (For indexes for other specific games, see our Advanced Blackjack Strategy cards.) When the true count is at +4 or higher, the value of multiple hands surpasses the value of the pat 20.
Having said that, even if the true count indicates that the play is warranted it may still be a bad idea to split tens. Because the act of splitting tens draws so much attention, most card counters choose to ignore the index for splitting tens, and just keep the pat 20 regardless of the count. In some casinos, the dealer is required to announce to the pit when a player splits tens. Pit bosses know that only two kinds of players split tens… Those that don’t know any better, and those that know full-well what they are doing. If you are a card counter, you had better be sure the pit thinks you are completely harmless before you split tens. If they already view you with any suspicion, this move will confirm it.
In any case, I want to be perfectly clear about one point…
Basic strategy players shouldn’t split tens. Period.
Just don’t do it. It may seem fun, and it may be exciting. But splitting tens is just giving the casino extra money. They don’t need any extra. Stand with your 20.
To find the hand values for this article, I used MGP’s free Blackjack Combinatorial Analyzer software for Windows, available at this site. If you want to explore alternative strategies and research the expected value, it is a powerful tool.