Rules

The Tens-and-Fives Rule

No Comments 21 September 2009

If you are familiar with Blackjack, you must know that you can split pairs and construct two hands. Different people may have different rules, but there are certain pairs that should be handled using a particular way. With a pair of Aces, the simple rule would be to always split. With a pair of 10s or 5s, the rule is entirely different.

You should never, ever, split a pair of 10s because the hand is already strong as it is. Why risk a possibly winning hand only to go after uncertain probabilities. Your 10s may turn into two Blackjacks, but the odds of that happening is relatively small. Stand your ground with the pair of 10s and you will most likely win against the dealer.

A pair of 5s should also never be split but for different reasons. With pair of 5s, splitting will cause you to have two starting cards with no strength at all. If you hit an Ace with one of those two 5s, you will be stuck with a soft 16; a very dilemmatic situation don’t you think? Since the pair of 5s total up as 10, it would be best to just work with it and have another card. 10 is not a bad number, and any card above 8 will construct a strong hand for sure.

With the tens-and-fives rule in mind, you can make better decisions when receiving either a pair of 10s or 5s as a starting hand and increase your chance of winning against the dealer.

Terms

Splitting Aces

No Comments 11 September 2009

In poker or several other card games, starting with a pair of Aces can be the best thing you would really love. In Blackjack, getting a pair of Aces is really that good. Pair of Aces will only construct a soft twelve; it is not a very strong hand at all. No matter what the dealer’s open card is, splitting your Aces is always the best way to go.

When in pair, Aces are not a strong hand at all. Once you split the two Aces, you will have a fantastically good starting hand that can easily construct 21 with any of the 10s or face cards. You need to be advised that you may only take a single card for each Ace, and lower cards can still turn your great starting card into a mediocre hand.

If you are not so sure about splitting your Aces, or if you just don’t want to risk more money, you can always start from the soft twelve and hit. Even if you get a 9 or above, you can use the Aces as 1 and try again for a stronger hand. Don’t push your luck though; once you get a hand strong enough you should just stand and hope for the best.

Don’t forget to pay attention to the dealer’s open card. Make predictions of what the dealer’s hand would be and see if the relative strength of your hand is good enough. You will be surprised by how often the split Aces can turn into two strong hands.


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