Blackjack is a game of chance, but it is also a game of strategy. This means that a player’s decisions, the way they handle their hands can affect their edge against the casino and ultimately the game’s outcome.
A piece of advice that every newbie blackjack player would almost certainly receive from a more experienced counterpart would be to always split 8s. But why has this become a common blackjack wisdom that has long been spouted by expert players?
In this article, Casino News Daily intends to delve deeper into why it is a good idea to split 8s and why it has become a classic defensive move in basic strategy play.
Worst Hand in Blackjack?
When a player visits a land-based casino or an online casino to play blackjack, they certainly want to make sure they are doing their part to increase their chance to prevail over the house.
Splitting a pair of eights is the usual basic-strategy choice in many standard blackjack games. It can offer a better expected result than playing the pair as a hard 16, but the correct decision depends on the dealer’s upcard and the table’s rules.
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Many would say that there isn’t a worse hand to start a blackjack round with than a hard total of 16. In a land-based casino, you could almost certainly see a blackjack player shift uncomfortably in their chair if they get to start a game with a hard 16.
A hard 16 is difficult to play against strong dealer upcards: standing can lose to a higher total, while hitting can bust. The best decision compares the expected results of the available choices rather than guaranteeing a win.
Treat “always split eights” as a shortcut, not a rule for every variant. Surrender availability and rules about dealer blackjack can change the correct decision.
Why Is Splitting Eights Usually Recommended?
Splitting 8s is very much a move that basic strategy players swear by. This is because two hands starting with an 8 each isn’t nearly so bad a start to a new blackjack round as a hard total of 16.
Many could argue that splitting is bad because it means the player must put another bet of the same value on the table. However, it is actually pretty easy to explain why two hands starting with an 8 have a lot more potential than a hard 16 as there is a very understandable logic behind this classic basic strategy defensive move.
Basic strategy weighs all possible next cards and outcomes; it does not assume that a ten will be drawn. Splitting creates two hands starting at eight, each with different possible continuations, and requires an additional stake.
And if a player doesn’t get a 10, they could get an ace for a total of 19, which is, of course, an even better scenario.
Even if a player gets a 9, the hand improves to a total of 17, which, while not ideal, is a respectable hand.
After splitting there is still a chance that a player loses both new hands, but there is also a chance to win one and lose the other, or even win both hands.
It is believed that while splitting 8s is not a great move, it is a solution that provides players with the chance to improve a hard total of 16 and a solution that would see players fare better and lose less money in the long run.
Blackjack Rules
Additional Blackjack Rules and Variations
Blackjack Basic Strategy
Universal Strategy for Blackjack
Splitting Pairs
Compare splitting, hitting, standing and any available surrender option using the exact rules. Expected losses are averages over repeated hands, not the amount that a particular split will lose.
An extra wager does not automatically make splitting worse: the expected result of the two split hands must be compared with the expected result of keeping the original hand. Both split hands can still lose in a single round.
Use a strategy chart matched to the rules, including whether the dealer hits soft 17 and whether surrender is available. A soft-17 rule by itself does not mean every pair of eights should be surrendered.
What Do Experts Say?
In 1956, a group of four mathematicians – Roger Baldwin, Wilbert Cantey, Herbert Maisel, and James McDermott – tried to solve every blackjack mystery by using desk calculators and running through the math each and every possible outcome.
The four scholars, known in the blackjack world as the Four Horsemen, concluded that splitting 8s is a move that has a lot more potential than hitting or standing on a hard total of 16.
Few people believed the Four Horsemen back then. However, Ed Thorp ran the same hand through his IBM computer six years later and confirmed the four scholars’ answer.
In his book Beat the Dealer, Thorp wrote that if a dealer has a 7, 8, 9,10, or an ace up, 8s should be split not that much because “a good total will be obtained, with each new hand, but rather because 16 is, in general, a bad total to hold.”
Thorp also noted that if a dealer shows a 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6, splitting the 8s gains in two ways – in the first place, two average hands replace a bad one, and secondly, “the dealer’s chances of busting is quite high with these up cards, and thus there is an advantage in getting more money onto the table.”
