Why split 8s and aces

Michael Shackleford , who calls himself "the Wizard of Odds," says splitting 8s against a dealer 10 has the "smallest expected loss" as opposed to staying, hitting or doubling of all moves with a pair of 8s. It's important to note that Shackleford's math indicates there's still an expected loss - likely more than half of your original bet. Other experts advise against splitting 8s against anything but a 7, or unless the dealer shows a bust card of 3, 4, 5 or 6. In the latter case, you likely would split anything short of 9s or 10s.

John Patrick , who has written books on the subject, advises players against splitting 8s against what he considers to be the dealer's "power" cards 9, 10, jack, queen, king and ace. You should hit that lousy 16 and probably get beat, losing one unit instead of losing two. I side more with Patrick on this one, though I do split 8s when the dealer shows a 9.

In my experience in Northern California casinos, staying on two 8s usually causes great consternation among the other players at the table. He insists that splitting eights against a dealer upcard of 9, 10, or ace is crazy because you are probably going to lose anyway, so why double your loss by splitting?

When you split in blackjack, you must bet more. That is a fact. The strategy of pair splitting, then, only makes sense if you end up either winning more or losing less in the long run vs. Losing less is often a hard concept for blackjack players to grasp.

For example, you can expect to be dealt a 12 through 17 hand about 43 percent of the time you play blackjack.

No matter what strategy you follow, the dealer will, on average, win more hands than the player will with only one exception- a 17 vs.

Thus the best a player can do in a losing situation is to use a strategy that will allow him to lose less in the long haul. This is in fact the situation with a pair of eights against a dealer 9, 10, or ace. However when you pair split, you break up you 16, double your bet, and play two hands of 8. You might even hear some comments from the dealer or fellow players about why you should have stood or hit. Forget about them. Thankfully my friend always splits aces.

You would think that every blackjack player would automatically split aces. But recently I observed a young player pass on splitting aces because "she was afraid to bet more on the hand".

I even offered to make the bet for her at no risk if the bet lost she owed me nothing. But it was like talking to a wall. You are supposed to surrender your pair of 8s in these games but only on condition the dealer has an Ace. The Ace puts the dealer in a very powerful position because they stand a good chance of beating you with a starting point of Take a quick peek at the table below to see what returns you can expect from each possible playing decision.

As you can see yourself, everything is in the negative again, which is to say a pair of 8s against an Ace is a sure loser in the long-term. What we should not forget, however, is that basic strategy helps us minimize our losses in such unfavorable situations which is what we achieve when we surrender the pair.

This decision is considered optimal here because it causes you to incur the smallest losses when compared to the rest of the moves in multiple-deck H17 games.

If late surrender is altogether unavailable, you should split the 8s as obviously, this is the second-best play. Unlike pairs of Aces, which players are generally not allowed to resplit or hit, resplitting is a viable option when you receive a starting hand consisting of 8s. Some casual players frown at the thought of resplitting because they hate the idea of investing more money into a single round of play.

The thing is if splitting a pair, especially one like 8s, is a good idea so is resplitting it if you happen to catch another 8 on the draw. Depending on the table conditions, players may be allowed to double down after they split the pair.

Doubling after the split gives them the opportunity to further increase their action against dealers who are vulnerable to busting with small upcards. For instance, when you split your 8s and pull a 2 or a 3, you end up with totals 10 and 11, which are very good for doubling down. Provided that DAS is permitted at the table , the option to split the 8s becomes all the more appealing, so you should use this play more often with your pairs.

Further exceptions can be made for splitting pairs of 8s when one is playing blackjack variations under the European rules. The fact these games are often played under rules that are far from being liberal does not help players much either.

Understandably, players must approach some of their hands in a different manner under such table conditions, including their pairs of 8s. In games without hole cards, the correct strategy is to :. The strategy recommended above is accurate for S17 games where you can double only on 9, 10, and 11, double after splitting, and the dealer does not peek for blackjack which is impossible so and so due to the absence of hole cards. Hitting is recommended against the 10 and the Ace because it is again the cheapest playing decision in the long term.

All in all, you will inevitably find yourself in negative-expectation situations while at the blackjack table. This certainly is the case with pairs of 8s which always end up costing you money in the long run. The main idea behind applying the basic strategy plays here is not to help you win — there is no winning with this hand over the long haul. Here you stick to the optimal moves merely for the purpose of loss reduction. Skip to content Splitting a Pair of 8s.