Soft Hit/Stand
If we do not surrender, split, or double, we need to decide to hit or stand. First the soft hands.
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Soft Hit/Stand |
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A |
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A,9 |
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A,8 |
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A,7 |
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A,6 |
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This table is easy. We need to hit a soft-18 against a dealer 9, 10 or ace because the dealer is likely to beat 18 and we cannot bust. *The one exception is single-deck games when the dealer stands on soft-17 (S17) and these games are now rare.
Hard Hit/Stand
Finally, we reach the hard hit/stand decisions. This table is the most heavily used by far and is fairly simple. We need to hit all stiffs (12-16) against a dealer upcard of 7 through ace because the dealer probably has a good hand. If the dealer has a 2-6, we generally do not hit because the dealer is likely to bust. However, we do hit 12 against a dealer 2 or 3 because she is less likely to bust.
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Hard Hit/Stand |
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A |
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17 |
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16 |
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* |
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15 |
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14 |
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13 |
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12 |
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*One exception is 16v10 with surrender. If surrender is allowed and you have a two-card 16 versus a 10 up, you surrender the hand and never reach this table. So, if you do reach this table, your 16 must be made up of three or more cards or the product of a split, and the other cards are probably small cards. With fewer small cards left, the dealer is more likely to bust. So you stand and hope the dealer busts. The difference is tiny, about .002%. The fact is, if you have 16 against a ten, you are probably going to lose no matter what you do.
© 2009 Norman Wattenberger
