Some indexes are the reverse of what we would normally expect. Normally the higher the count the more likely we are to split. However, some splits act in the opposite manner. We call these defensive splits. Normally you split to double your bet and win more. A defensive split is when you split a terrible hand hoping for a push.
8,8 vs. ten is such a hand. You have a 16 vs. ten, which as we saw on the last page is a bad hand. (As if we needed a chart to know this.) Breaking it up, we have two hands of 8 vs. ten. These are bad hands, but not as bad. As we can see from the chart, splitting is normally the lesser of two evils. But when the count gets very high, splitting is worse because you will probably end up with two 18s against a 20.
However, most people these days do not bother with this index as the count rarely reaches that height and it can be a bit confusing. I have not included it in any of the index tables found in the Appendix.
3,3 vs. 8 is another reverse index, but only with some rules. In this case, the chart looks much like the chart below with some rules, but with others, the red line starts below the green, bends upward towards the green, but before crossing it, reverses and starts a quick drop.
www.qfit.com/book/z510Chart.gif
© 2009 Norman Wattenberger
