Splitting 8's in Blackjack - Splitting Eights

When to Split Your Eight's

While at a Blackjack table, either on the Internet or in a casino, you will most likely, at some point be dealt a pair of eight's. A lot of blackjack players have a lot of different thoughts about what to do with a pair of eight's. Some blackjack players base their thoughts on the pair of eight's on math, luck, gut instinct or possibly card counting. No matter how you figure out how to tackle a pair of eight's, it is important to remember that it will not always work out the way you hope it to. Sixteen is a horrible hand and anytime it is possible to split a sixteen, I welcome the change of hand.

Since it is best to play consistent and play the pair of eight's the same way every time, I suggest basing your decision to either hit, stay or split on what the basic strategy card says. The basic strategy card for blackjack can be found in a lot of casino gift shops, and even on the Internet, it is pretty inexpensive and well worth the investment in to this credit card sized color chart. It is good to keep in mind that when shopping for a basic strategy card, that you make sure it is accurate for the conditions under which you will be playing, for example, the card I use is good for tables where the house stays on all seventeens, if the casino you play in hits their soft seventeen, then my card would not be a good card to study.

According to the basic strategy card that I have, when you are dealt a pair of eights and the dealer is showing an up card of a two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten valued card or even an ace, you should split your pair of eights. That's right, no matter what the dealer is showing for an up card, you should always split your eights. A lot of players around you may start sharing their thoughts on the game with you when they see you splitting your pair of eights against the dealer's nine, ten valued up card and ace. Those players will ask you how do you expect a pair of eighteens to be a dealer's nineteen or twenty, or Blackjack. Well, first off, if the dealer has a ten valued card under his or her ace, you are losing on your sixteen anyway, and if you had split your eights, you are only going to lose your original bet anyway, meaning you will only lose one bet, regardless if you split and/or doubled down on any hand where the dealer beat you with a blackjack or a Natural Twenty One. Secondly, when splitting your eight's, you are not necessarily looking to make two eighteens, you are hoping for a third eight, only if the casino you are playing in allows multiple splitting. Splitting your eights, as many as you get and as many times as the house allows you to split, is the best way to handle a sixteen and the best way to get the most amount of money out there, on one hand. Once the dealer stops giving you a third or fourth eight to split, it would be ideal to get a two or three on your eight, that would make a good time to double down. Thirdly, we don't always know for sure that the dealer has a ten valued card under their up card, so just because the house is showing a nine, does not always mean that the dealer will have a nineteen, just like just because you split your eights, does not mean you will catch a ten valued card on each of the eights, you could just as easily score a small card on each and hit to a better than eighteen hand.

Of course, just because you split your eights and do away with a sixteen every time you get them, does not mean you will always win, or always win when you have a big bet out there and split your eights, it can pretty easily go bad, at any time, and for big money. A lot of players only like to split their eights against the dealers two, three, four, five, six and seven, sometimes the eight, but not the nine, ten valued card or ace that the dealer is showing. They chose to follow basic strategy only half way, only when it makes most obvious sense to them. The problem with only following basic strategy sometimes, as opposed to every time is, you never know when it is going to work out. You could split your eights against the dealer's two, get a bunch of splits and double downs, and the dealer can turn that two in to a twenty one, after just a few hits, and you lose, or you could split your eights against the dealer's ten valued card and you could make two eighteens and the dealer is hiding a seven under his or her ten valued card and you win on both eighteens. Bottom line is, you can't always assume every unseen card is a ten valued card, it is not, a lot of things can happen.