When To Split In Blackjack

Tip Category: Blackjack

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When a player is dealt two cards of the same rank, such as a pair of eights, then he is entitled to make a special move known as "split". He places another bet equal to his original one, splits the hands into two, draws one more card for each hand and then plays them independently.

Just because a player can split does not mean that he should split. He should split only if it gives him a better chance of beating the dealer. In order to judge if that will be the case the player should assume that the next card drawn will have a value of 10. This is because there are sixteen cards in the deck of fifty-two cards that have a value of 10. This gives drawing such a card a probability of 31%. Therefore the player should figure out that by drawing cards with a value of 10 can he convert a weak hand into two strong hands.

If the player is dealt two aces, then by splitting he has the potential of drawing to blackjacks. This is an opportunity not to be missed. The player must always split with two aces. If the player is dealt two tens, jacks, queens or kings then his hand value is 20. If he splits then he has two hands that have a likelihood of reaching a value of 20. Remember the proverb a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush and never split on cards with values of 10. If the player is dealt two nines then his hand value is 18. If he splits then he has two hands that have a likelihood of reaching a value of 19. If the player goes by the above proverb he may be inclined not to split, but computer simulations have showed that it is worth splitting in this case. If the player is dealt two eights then his hand value is 16. He cannot hit because then he will most likely bust and he would not be very comfortable standing. If he splits then he has two hands that have a likelihood of reaching a value of 18. This is clearly a case for splitting because it converts a weak hand into two strong ones.

If the player is dealt two fives then his hand value is 10. By hitting he can expect a hand value of 20. If he splits then he has two hands that have a likelihood of reaching a value of 15. In this case splitting converts one strong hand into two weak ones. The tip is never to split with a pair of fives. The argument for a dealt pair of fours is identical.

For dealt pairs of twos, threes, sixes and sevens the situation is slightly tricky. There is no advantage or disadvantage in splitting. Here the decision depends on the dealer’s face up card. If the dealer’s face up card is such that it leads to a high chance of his busting then the player should split and reap the benefit of double wins. The cards that are likely to lead the dealer to busting are three, four, five six and seven. Hence if the player draws the pairs under consideration he should split only if the dealer’s face up card is a three, four, five six or seven.