Blackjack Basic Strategy for Splitting Pairs of Fives

How to Play a Pair of 5's in Blackjack

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Hard hands: Hard 8 or less - Hard 9 - Hard 10 - Hard 11 - Hard 12 - Hard 13 - 16 - Hard 17 to 21

Soft hands: Soft 13 - 14 - Soft 15 - 16 - Soft 17 - Soft 18 - Soft 19 to 21

Splitting pairs: Aces - 2's - 3's - 4's - 5's - 6's - 7's - 8's - 9's - 10's

Should You Split Fives?

No. Never.

Play a pair of fives according to the strategy for a hard total of ten.

Reasoning

Almost all basic strategy assumptions begin with the premise that you'll be dealt a ten when you take a hit. By splitting fives, you take a good hand (hard 10), and turn it into two stiff hands.

A total of 10 is good because there are 20 cards in a 52 card deck that will give you a total of either 20 or 21. Either of those totals is excellent.