Blackjack: Yes or No?

20 August 2024

By Frank Scoblete

Blackjack is a game where you get to make plenty of decisions on how you play your hands against every dealer’s up-card. This hand tells you to stand; that hand tells you to double-down and do you take insurance against the dealer’s ace when you have blackjack?

There are just so many, many decisions to make. And guess what? There are right decisions and wrong decisions too.

Okay, what’s coming up is a small quiz to test you on what you should do with certain hands. It is not an exhausted list as it doesn’t take into account card counting or changing your strategy based on the count of the cards.

Here goes:

1. You have 8/8 as your opening hand against any dealer up-card? What do you do? Answer is to always split these two cards.

2. You have a blackjack and the dealer is showing an ace. What happens next? Do you take insurance? Answer: No, you don’t. Taking insurance will cost you money.

3. You have a two-card 11 against the dealer’s 10; what gives? Answer: You should always double your hand if the dealer is showing a 2 through 10.

4. You have two aces versus any of the dealer’s up-card, what do you do? Answer: Split them in all cases.

5. You have two 10s and the dealer is showing a 6, what do you do then? Should you split them and take advantage of the dealer’s weak hand? Answer: Just leave your hand as it is. Splitting will cost you more money.

6. You have a two-card hand that adds up to a 12 and the dealer is showing a 2, what gives? Hit your hand. This sometimes seems wrong but it is not. This often seems crazy but it is the correct strategy.

7. You have a 16 versus the dealer’s face-card or a 10 (standing there all alone), what’s the right move? Come on, hit the 16; you will lose less money doing this. You might think this is the wrong move but it isn’t.

8. You have a 6/6 against the dealer’s 7, what’s the right move? Hit them.

9. You have a 7/7 and the dealer is showing a 10, what is the proper play? Hit the two sevens. Do not split. Do not double down.

10. You have an ace/2 and the dealer is showing an ace, come on, what is the play? Hit your ace 2.

Now let’s take a look at the current blackjack games that are available to the average casino player and decide if they are good or bad.:

Dealer stands on all 17s? Good.

Dealer hits soft 17? Bad.

Blackjack pays 6 to 5? Bad.

Playing a continuous shuffle machine? Bad.

Player can double down on any first two cards? Good.

Player can double after splitting pairs? Good.

Player can split any pair? Good (but not all the time).

All the best in and out of the casinos!

Frank Scoblete’s books are available from Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Kindle, e-books, libraries, and bookstores.