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Splitting Pairs
In the strategic card game of Blackjack, splitting pairs is an important and often overlooked strategy. When you’re looking into splitting pairs as a strategy, you should be familiar with the general rules of Blackjack as well as the best and worst times to split pairs. Whether you play Blackjack in a land-based casino or at an Internet casino, splitting pairs is a helpful strategy that was designed to allow players to reduce the house advantage. Unfortunately, not many players understand how best to take advantage of splitting pairs.
You should first have a basic understanding of the rules of Blackjack. The game of Blackjack is a popular casino card game where the object is to beat the dealer - not the other players - by coming as close to 21 as possible without going over (busting). In Blackjack play, each player, including the dealer, is dealt two cards to start. The points assigned to each card are face value for number cards, ten points for face cards, and one or eleven for aces. After the initial deal, your options are hit (receive another card), stand (keep the cards you have), double down (double your bet amount and receive just one more card) and split. The split option is available when you are dealt any pair. Splitting pairs means to create two hands and move on each one. When you split, you must pay the amount of the original bet on the new hand to continue.
There is a basic strategy for splitting pairs that you should be aware of. It is never a good idea to start splitting pairs every time you are dealt a pair, or to decide on a split based on “intuition.” If you follow the strategy for splitting pairs, you will win more often. Perhaps the best time to split is when you are dealt two aces. This doubles your chances for receiving a hand that totals 21. Other good times to split should be determined according to both the cards in your hand and the dealer’s up card. For example, if you are dealt two nines and the dealer’s up card is a six, by splitting pairs in this case you will have a better chance at beating the dealer, particularly when the house rules state the dealer must hit on sixteen and stand on seventeen. When the dealer’s up card is a six, he stands a good chance of busting, which means both your hands automatically win as long as they don’t total over 21.
Conversely, there are some instances in which you should never split. If you are dealt two ten-value cards, you should stand instead of splitting pairs because the odds are good that your 20 hand will beat the dealer. The dealer can only win if he receives 20 or 21 (in casino play, the dealer always wins in the case of a tie). Also, you should never split a pair of fives, because having 10 points to start is a strong hand with a good chance of getting 20 or 21 if the next card you draw is a face card or an ace. Eights should always be split because a 16 is the weakest Blackjack hand with the lowest odds of winning. Learning the rules for splitting pairs can be very advantageous in playing casino Blackjack!
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