There is a fear amongst some blackjack players that the dealer is more likely to hit to 21 when a 5 was showing. And while it’s true that 5s and 6s are both cards that tend to favor the dealer, but there is another one to keep an eye open for: the 2.
Starting with a 5, a dealer will hit to 21 one in nine hands. That’s an 11% chance. But if the dealer is starting with a 2 he has a one in eight chance of hitting to 21. And that is a 12.5% chance. I know, 1.5% isn’t much of a difference, but the point is to keep your mind open to the fact that there’s more than just the 5 and 6 out there.
In reality all of the low cards tend to favor the dealer in blackjack.
But you don’t want to be too worrisome about that 5 or 6 or even that 2 when you’re playing a game of blackjack. Don’t get discouraged or think the hand is lost. Look at it from this point of view: if the dealer is starting with a 5 he still has another card to turn over. His hand could go one of two ways. He could have a low hole card which means that he has a chance of hitting his relatively low hand to something stronger.
But what a blackjack player has on his side is that if the dealer’s hole card is not a low card, he is likely to wind up starting with a stiff hand. And for the dealer that is a bad thing. It doesn’t matter if you’re playing casino blackjack or blackjack online.
While a blackjack player can stand on a hard 12 through 16, the dealer can’t. The dealer has to hit until he reaches 17 or until he busts. Remember that with a 5 up the dealer only has an 11% chance of hitting to 21. That leaves an 89% chance of anything else happening. So do not worry overly much when you see that 5 or 6 or 2.