Just like how there are certain pairs in blackjack that should always be unsplit, there are some pairs that should always, always be split. So we’re going to take a look at two of those pairs: the Ace/Ace and the 8/8.
First let’s peer closely at the Ace/Ace. We love Aces. We all love to be dealt them. They are the necessary card for a natural blackjack. But as far as pairs come—pairs that are split, this discussion now excludes unsplit pairs—the Ace/Ace pair is the best one to be dealt.
Why’s that?
This is the blackjack hand that has three chances at building a good hand. Obviously you can’t play an Ace/Ace with both Aces being counted as 11’s. So you would have to play one as an 11 and one as a 1, making 12. Not an advantageous hand at all.
So naturally if you had the choice of playing a hand of 12 or splitting your Aces, you would of course split them. Now you have two hands that each start with an Ace. Splitting the Aces was that hand’s second chance.
Now you’re playing out your two new hands. But you have an advantage over other pair splits because you can reduce each Ace from 11 to 1 if you need to should you hit too much. That is your hand’s third chance.
It’s way more advantageous to split a pair of Aces in blackjack than leave them together, so split those Aces!
Now the reason for splitting a pair of 8’s is easy to see. What is the hand total of 8/8? 16. A hard 16. And that is one hand you don’t want to have. It’s one of the worst of the stiff hands because it’s very easy to hit and bust, which is why you usually have to stand on it.
But with a hand made up of two 8’s you have the option to split them and give your hand a second chance. With each hand starting with an 8 you can be pretty confident in your hitting and have a better shot of building a strong hand than if you played those 8’s as a hard 16.
Splitting these hands is about taking advantage of being dealt a pair in which your blackjack odds are better to split than play them as hard hands.
Tags: Blackjack, Blackjack Odds, Blackjack strategy, Online Blackjack, Pair Splitting, Pair Splitting Strategy