Maximizing Your Blackjack Strategy: The Four Choices You Have After Receiving Two Cards

After receiving your two cards, you may have four choices to make before proceeding to play your hand: split pairs, double down, surrender, and take insurance. Let’s go through each of these options.

Splitting Pairs

If you have two cards of the same value (two sixes, two tens, a king and a jack, and so on), you may split the cards into two separate hands. In order to do this, you must place an equal bet on each of your hands.

In essence, you’re cloning yourself and becoming two players. So, you just place a second pile of chips in the betting circle right next to your initial pile, in the same amount. If you’re playing a single- or double-deck game, you’ll also have to turn over your cards to prove you have a pair.

After you’ve split your pair and doubled your wager, you now have two hands. Both hands are treated separately, meaning you play one hand out before proceeding to the next hand.

It’s very important to know when to split pairs and when to leave them together. The strategy of splitting pairs will be covered later in this chapter.

Double Down

Before you decide to hit or stand, you may double down if you believe that your hand has a much better chance of beating the dealer’s hand. Some casinos allow you to double down only if your first two cards total 9, 10, or 11. Other casinos will allow you to double down on any total for your first two cards. The best way to find out the casino’s rules is to ask the dealer.

Doubling down is adding to your initial wager. You may double the amount of your wager or you may “double down for less.” The dealer then deals you a third card. You cannot stand on the two and you cannot take another hit.

For example, let’s say that you wager $25, you get an eight and a two (a total of ten), and the dealer has a six showing, so you decide to double down. You put a $25 chip next to your initial wager (doubling down) and you receive one card.

By deciding to double down, you feel your hand has enough chance to beat the dealer’s hand that you want to increase your potential winnings. By letting you double your bet, the house gives you just a single additional card, not the usual unlimited hits or the option to stand on two cards.

Doubling down can be a very BLACKJACK powerful tool for the players, and will be covered in more detail in later articles.

Surrender

Surrendering can also be a powerful tool for players. Unfortunately, most casinos don’t offer this option. If you do find a casino that offers it, you have a better advantage than if you were playing at a casino that doesn’t offer it.

If you don’t like your two cards, simply tell the dealer “surrender” and turn in your hand, forfeiting half of your bet. In other words, you’re dropping out and keeping half your bet, rather than risk losing all of it.

The reason for surrendering is that you don’t think you have much chance of beating the dealer. This can help the smart player save a lot of money when Lady Luck is turned the other way.

Insurance

When the dealer’s face-up card is an ace, he offers the players a chance to take insurance. This means that you’re allowed to insure your hand against the possibility of the dealer having a natural twenty-one with his two cards.

To take insurance, you must place a bet on the insurance line equal to half of your wager. This is a side bet. You’re betting that the dealer has a blackjack. If the dealer makes the natural, your bet pays off at two to one.

In actuality, this is a very bad bet and should generally be avoided. When the dealer has an ace, he has a very good chance of getting a pat hand, that is, 17, 18, 19, 20 or 21. (It’s called a pat hand because the dealer stands pat.)

So if the dealer has a good hand but not a blackjack, you lose your insurance bet and probably your initial wager as well. This is bad.

The only time you should make this bet is if you’re counting cards and are almost sure the dealer has a ten-value card underneath his ace.

If you make an insurance bet and the dealer has a natural, then you win twice the amount of your insurance bet but lose your initial wager. Therefore, you’d push on this hand. (A push is when you don’t win or lose money on a hand.)

Never take insurance. It’s a sucker’s bet.

Playing the Game

Each player in turn, starting from the dealer’s left, gets to finish out his hand. If a player decides to stand, to not try to get closer to a total of twenty-one, then play passes to the next player.

If a player decides to take a hit, the dealer gives him or her an additional card until he or she decides to stand or busts (goes over twenty-one). If that happens, the dealer removes his or her wager and cards.

If you’re playing single- or double-deck blackjack, you must turn over your cards immediately if you bust. After a player busts, the dealer removes the used cards and places them in a discard rack face down.

Once all the players get their chance to play their hands, the dealer gets his turn. By always making the players play out their hands first, the casino gains its advantage over the players. Even if the dealer busts his hand, any player who busted still loses because he or she busted first.

The dealer flips over his face-down card and determines whether to hit his hand or to stand. The dealer doesn’t have a choice: he must follow strict rules. The dealer must take a card if he has less than seventeen and must stand if he has seventeen or higher.

Some casinos require the dealer to hit his hand if he has a soft seventeen (one of his cards is an ace). It’s better for the players if the casino requires the dealer to stand on all seventeens. If a dealer is required to hit a soft seventeen, then there’s a chance he can improve his hand (get closer to twenty-one) but no risk of busting, because the ace would then be worth only one.

After the dealer finishes out his hand, he makes a sweep of the players’ hands from his right to left. He evaluates each player’s hand against his, then takes the bet if the player has a lower count, pays off the player if he or she has a higher count, or gives a push sign (indicating a tie or standoff), meaning that neither wins the bet.

The usual push sign is for the dealer to pat the table in front of the player’s wager. Then, after taking care of all the bets, the dealer ends the hand by removing all the used cards and placing them in a discard rack face down.

Understanding Blackjack Payouts: Even Money and 3:2 Explained

Payouts in blackjack are simple. If you win, you get paid even money or the amount you bet plus your bet remains. The only exception to this rule is when you win with blackjack. You get paid three to two if you win with blackjack or your bet plus half your bet.

For example, if you win with eighteen and you have $25 bet, then you win $25 and your original $25 chip remains in the betting circle. If you win with a natural or blackjack and you have a $25 bet, then you win $37.50 and your $25 chip remains in the betting circle.

If you win after doubling down, then you win the total amount of money you wagered. For example, if you initially bet $25 and then doubled down (adding $25), then after you received one additional card you won with a total of twenty, you’d receive $50 plus your two $25 chips would still remain on the table. If you doubled down with only $10 on your initial $25 bet, you’d win $35 and your $35 bet would stay down.

Conclusion

That’s all there is to learn about the rules of blackjack. However, it’s applying the basic blackjack strategy that seems to confuse players and keeps them from minimizing the house advantage. To become a good blackjack player, you must be able to use proper basic blackjack strategy. You may get lucky and win without using the basic blackjack strategy, but over time the player who uses a good strategy will win more than the player who doesn’t.