Splitting Aces in Blackjack - Splitting Aces

When to Split Your Ace's

During the time when you are sitting at a blackjack table, either in a casino or on the Internet, you will at some point, most likely be dealt a pair of ace's. Some people call this a pair of bullets. You would have the option of hitting, staying, doubling down or even splitting your pair of aces. A lot of blackjack players have a lot of ideas as to how to play a pair of aces, but a lot of those blackjack players base their ideas of how to play a pair of aces on luck, math, gut instincts and even some times on card counting.

The best way to play a pair of aces, or a pair of any two cards for that matter, is to play consistent. Consistency is the best way to avoid going home mad at yourself for deviating from your normal play. The best way to play consistent is to play based on basic strategy. Basic strategy is very much common sense, based on calculated odds and can be found on a credit card sized chart that fits nicely in your pocket and can be purchased in a lot of casino gift shops and even on the Internet. They are fairly inexpensive and well worth the investment, if you are going to play blackjack. It is good to make sure that the basic strategy card that you buy, applies to the house rules of the table you are going to play at. For example, the basic strategy card that I use for blackjack is for tables where the dealer stays on all seventeens, as opposed to hitting soft seventeen. So if the casino you plan to play at hits soft seventeen, it would be best to not follow my advice on what to do with a pair of aces and find a basic strategy card that applies to the conditions of which you will be playing.

The basic strategy card that I follow says that when you are dealt a pair of aces 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 aces. Yes, no matter what card the dealer is showing as an up card, you should always split your aces. When you are dealt a pair of aces, you should place a second bet out there, that is equal in the amount of your original wager and inform the dealer that you would like to split your aces. Most casinos will only allow you take one card for each ace you have, except in some casinos you may split again, if you receive a third ace, but in most cases, you would not be able to draw a hit on or double down on any two cards, if the two cards stemmed from splitting a pair of aces.

If you split your aces and end up with a ten valued card on one or both of your aces, it is not considered to be a blackjack or a natural twenty one, since a blackjack or natural twenty one has to be formed by any ace and any ten valued card as your first two cards, or your initial two cards, when splitting a pair of aces, your first two cards were a pair of aces, the first card to be placed on your first ace is considered to be your third card, or could be called a hit card.

Granted, you will not always win when you decide to follow basic strategy and split your aces, but the hope is that you will come out ahead more times than not. Remember, basic strategy is calculated by odds and not people's guesses. If a player near you tells you not to split your aces, because too many ten valued cards have been dealt and there could not possibly be any more big cards coming, keep in mind, that even if that player is right and you do not get any ten valued cards on top of your split aces, that nines are also good cards to add to your aces, it doesn't always take a twenty one to win in blackjack, twenty is not a bad hand. Not to mention I have heard far too many times someone say that there could not be any more big cards coming, when countless ten valued cards come out and prove that person wrong.