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5 Blackjack Hands You Are Playing Wrong
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Everyone that plays blackjack in a serious way wants to improve their ability. One way to do that is to correct any flaws in basic blackjack strategy. With our help you can identify 5 blackjack hands that you are probably playing wrong. Here’s the list.
Pair of 9s Vs. Dealer 9
Many players see an 18 and are conditioned to stand. They believe it to be a strong hand, and they are right. 18 will win a lot of hands in blackjack, but not enough to sustain you. You must do better if you want to show a consistent profit.
If you have a pair of 9s and choose to stand against the dealer’s 9, you are likely facing a 19. How does that 18 look now? The proper play is to split the 9s as you would with most pairs. When you split this hand you will win 9 ½ out of 20 hands. You will win less than that when you choose to stand.
Hitting and standing and splitting in blackjack is not subjective. It is governed by basic strategy. No matter what you may think, there is a right way and a wrong way to play this hand. Don’t leave it up to a hunch that you may get lucky. When you split you will be starting with a 9 on each hand, and that gives you an impressive chance to win.
12 vs. Dealer 3
The tendency of many blackjack players here is to stand on the 12 and hope for the dealer to bust. While the 3 is not the best card for the dealer, it is not as bad as others. The right play for you in this situation is to hit the hand.
There are a lot of cards that will get you in the range of 17-21. Having that total against the dealer’s 3 is much more appealing. The fact is that a 3 for the dealer gives him a lot of outs. He can draw to a good total. On the other hand, only the ten through King of each suit will bust your hand.
This is one of those hands that showcases the importance of decision making in blackjack. Being able to act on your hand in a manner of your choosing is one of the contributing factors to lowering the house edge against you.
Hard 16 Against the Dealer 10
We are not speaking here of a 16 that is made up of a pair of 8s. We will get to that in a moment. There is no way around the ugliness of this hand. It is one of the 5 blackjack hands you are playing wrong for a reason. In this position you are almost certainly beaten, but there is an out. It is called surrender.
Surrender at the blackjack table is an option that is not always found today at online and live casinos. Surrender gives you the option to forfeit half of your original bet and withdraw from the hand. You can call it defeat with honor if you choose.
Surrender is the most cost-effective situation in this hand. It is the action that will cause you to lose the least money overall. With surrender you are losing 50%. When you choose to play the hand, you will lose a little more than 50% of the time.
But what about when surrender is not an option? In that case you will have to hit the hand. The exception to this rule is to stand when your 16 is made up of three or more cards. A few of the smaller cards have been taken from the deck.
Soft 18 vs. Dealer 9 or 10
Here we are again with that dilemma of standing on any total of 18. Try to think about it like this. If the only hand you would receive from now on in blackjack was an 18, you would lose. A lot. The fact is that 18 is just not good enough to win in blackjack on a consistent basis. In fact, the average winning hand is just over 18.
When you hit this hand you will win 9 out of 20 hands on average. That is better than the alternative of standing. One of the reasons players can be hesitant to hit this hand is that losing with an 18 is no fun. Yes, sometimes you are going to hit and stay at 18. The dealer will win. Just buck up and accept that losses do not change the need to make the right decisions.
Pair of 8s Vs. Dealer 10
We have seen so many players choose to stand on this hand. Or they hit it like they would with a hard 16. The reason they do this is simple. They are afraid to split the hand and lose two bets instead of one. To change this way of thinking is hard, but start with the fact that this is the worst starting hand and position in all of blackjack.
The good news is that splitting gives you an out. If you are fortunate enough to draw a 10 on your 8, you have now improved your chance of winning to 38%. You have to take advantage of your outs in blackjack. Every one of them is a second chance to beat the casino.
You have to change the way you think about the game if you want to be a big winner in blackjack. You can start to improve your game by changing the 5 blackjack hands you are probably playing wrong. To play blackjack for real money we recommend that you try one of the recommended & trusted casinos or play our free blackjack game. You can read the Casino Max review, Miami Club review , High Country casino review, Cherry Jackpot casino review, or Roaring 21 review to name a few.
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