Splitting Eights

Standard 56-card deck (Photo credit: Wikipedia)








 

Splitting 8's when the dealer has a 10 or face card as their up card?

Should a player split 8's against the dealers up card of a 10 when late surrender is offered? 

Basic strategy says that you should always split aces and eights but it also tells you that you should surrender your hand when you have hand that is a total of 16 against a dealers 10/face card, so what about two eights? 

I often get this exact question, "Should I split my 8's or surrender when the dealer is showing an up card of 10/Face card".  

Yes, you still want to split your eights against even if late surrender is offered.

Even when you base the math on a two-deck game, that does not allow double after splitting, these being less favorable house rules than most, the expected value of splitting 8's,  against a 10 is -0.480673, but it is still a shade better than the -0.5 by surrendering..

It's pretty close, mathematically but you should split your eight's, even when the casino offers late surrender or does not allow double after split.

Late Surrender-  Late Surrender is when the house offers you as a player the choice to fold your hand, at the cost of half of the original bet. You must make that after the dealer has checked for blackjack and the decision to surrender is made prior to taking any other action on the hand. For example, once you draw a third card, or split, or double down, surrender is no longer an option.

Related articles

• Surrendering your bet

Rules that Blackjack Dealers Use

Here is an article written by Udemy on the rules that a dealer must play by when you are playing blackjack.

This is a good read for those just learning to play blackjack and some refreshers for those who haven't played in a while.

http://www.udemy.com/blog/blackjack-dealer-rules/

Related articles

• Discover The Blackjack Strategy Chart

Insider Info: Players Hand Probabilities

Player Hand Probabilites

Listed below are the probabilities of the player's starting hand

1) Blackjack – 4.8% (winning hand)

2) Point totals of  17 – 20 – 30.0% (automatic stand)

3) Point totals of 12 – 16 – 38.7%  (decision hands)

4) Point totals of 4 – 11 – 26.5% (must hit)

Notes from a dealer:

One of the more common questions or complaints that I hear every day,from players, is "How come you are always giving me 13 or 14?"

When playing blackjack the probability of the players starting hands  (First 2 Cards) being a point total of 13  or 14, is almost 40%.  There is a mathematical reason the player often feels they are always being dealt 13, because nearly half of the time, they are!

Conversely, I also hear many times a day, "how come you never give me a blackjack"---or---"I have only had 2 blackjacks all day today".  

The odds of the player being dealt a blackjack is 4.8%. 

At less than 5% of your hands, it is easy to see why players feel like Blackjacks don't come around very often and probably the reason why, right after a player is dealt one,  The first word The dealer hears is "Finally".

www.CardroomInsider.com 

Insider Info: Dealer Hand Probabilities

Blackjack Hand Probabilites

Listed below are the probabilities for the dealers hand in blackjack:

1) Blackjack or 21 – 12.2% chance
2) 20 points – 17.6% chance
3) 19 points – 13.5% chance
4) 18 points – 13.8% chance
5) 17 points – 14.6% chance
6) Dealer Busts – 28.3% chance

Before any cards are flipped the odds that a dealer will not bust is 71.7%.  

That's where the buster bet percentages come into play. 

Blackjack Dealer Hand Probabilities
Www.Cardroom.Insider.com