Last installment we started talking about blackjack action. We talked about placing a bet, how the cards are dealt, and some other action items. When we left off, we were talking about your different options during the hand you hand you have to decide what to do. We already talked about and standing. And it’s here where we’ll pick up the discussion.
So you’re sitting there looking at your two cards and deciding what to do. You already know that you can hit, which means take a card, or stand, which means to end your turn. But what if your two cards are the exact same? You could split them. Let’s imagine that you have two Queens. You could split them into two hands. This of course would mean that you would have to make an additional bet that’s equal to your original wager.
Let me just say right now that if you have two Queens do not split them. However, if you were to receive two 8s, for example, you may want to split them. But we’ll talk more about blackjack strategy in a little bit.
When you split a hand you need to make an additional bet, which is equal to your original wager. Splitting is not something that happens too often and some players never split their hands.
During your turn another move you may make is to double down. When you double down you are first making an additional wager that is equal to your original wager and then excepting one final card. A common hand to double down on is 11. You’ve probably heard the saying “always double down on 11″. You can also double down for less. Let’s imagine that you have a $100 bet out there and you want to double down. You could add just $50 more and double down for less. That’s your option.
Another option you have during your turn, which isn’t offered by every casino, is to surrender. A lot of people like surrender, but many casinos don’t offer it. This is why you should check the blackjack rules before playing again. Here’s how surrender works. You get your first two cards and you can surrender and lose half of your bet. An example when one might want to surrender would be when you receive a really bad hand, such as 16, and the dealer is showing a face card. Many blackjack players will surrender in this instance.
And that about does it for this installment of our blackjack series. In our next installment will be talking about card values, hand values, and how it all plays out. Also I’ll make sure to drop a couple more nuggets of wisdom for winning at blackjack. Keep reading and good luck at the blackjack tables.
