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Online Blackjack News - How to play a soft 18 in blackjack
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One of the frequently misplayed Blackjack hands is the soft eighteen, that is, a hand comprised of an Ace and a count of seven. Clearly if the dealer shows a bust card, that is, a two through six, then the player is in a favorable situation if he just stands with the eighteen. Clear also is the situation wherein the dealer shows a seven or eight. Since the dealer's most likely hand is a seventeen or eighteen, standing on the soft eighteen makes sense. What about the dealer's nine, ten, or Ace?
The Ace is a bit complicated and I'll discuss that later. The correct play against the nine and ten is to hit the soft eighteen. Why? Well the precise answer is that the player's expected return by hitting is higher than it is by standing with this hand. I'm sure that you can find the details of that in the many Blackjack books that are on the market. My purpose in this article is to just give you a plausible argument that hitting is the right thing to do so that you'll be comfortable making the right play.
So what if you draw? Well, there are 23 cards that will improve your hand and 32 cards in the deck that will leave it the same. Of course, even if you hit into a stiff you still might improve your hand or leave it the same. So we can say with complete confidence that over half of the remaining draws will either improve your hand or leave it the same.
Here, then, is the situation. If you stand you have a better than even chance that you will lose and if you hit you have a better than even chance that your hand will be at least as good as it is now. This is not positive proof that hitting is the proper play but it certainly makes it seem like the reasonable thing to do. As said earlier, the correct analysis requires a computer and involves calculating the expected returns by standing or hitting and seeing which one is larger.
In some single-deck situations one should stand with soft eighteen versus the dealer's Ace, in particular, if the soft seventeen rule is not in effect. For multiple decks, however, the rule of thumb is that one should always hit the soft seventeen versus the dealer's nine, ten, and Ace. I hope the above plausibility argument helps to make you comfortable with this decision. I should also point out that if your soft eighteen is an Ace-Seven then you should double the hand versus the dealer's Three, Four, Five, and Six.
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| Source:
Blackjack2002 News Staff
| Monday, 27 August 2007 |
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