Is Wong's assertion - "your best chance of winning both bets is by the dealer busting" - universally true? Intuitively, it seems like there should be some cases where it is better to take at least take one card. The most extreme example I can think of would be - Dealer: Ace. Player: TT. Split to TA + T2. Surely it would be better to hit the T2 at least once, rather than rely entirely on the slim chance of the dealer busting. After all, it's only the small possibility of the dealer making 21 and pushing the first of the split hands that in any way changes this from a single 'push is as bad as a loss' hand of T2 versus dealer Ace.
I wrote a complete pair of articles on this topic for BJ Insider magazine a while back. There are indeed a lot of times when Wong's simple approach doesn't yield the best results. For the first of your two split hands, to maximize the chance of winning both, here is the optimal strategy for hand one: Hand One Strategy: Hit to hard 12 or soft 18, with these exceptions. Soft Total Exceptions: If you split 2s and the dealer shows an 8 or 9, hit to soft 19. If you split 3s and the dealer shows an 8, 9, or Ace, hit to soft 19. (The second rule would also be appropriate if you had split 4s through 6s, but in each case where that rule would apply, the split should have been a double instead.) Hard Total Exceptions: If you split 9s and the dealer has an Ace up, hit to hard 13. If you split tens and the dealer has a 7 up, hit to hard 13. If you split tens and the dealer has an Ace up, hit to hard 14. Optimal strategy for hand two was also included in the articles. The strategy there depends on the dealer upcard, and the final total from hand one. What's that? You're not a subscriber? Subscribe here.
Thanks Ken you big tease, you. On a related note, have you encountered the practice of dealing the first card to each of the split hands before they are played, anywhere other than at Global? Obviously there'd be a different, somewhat simpler strategy with the extra information which that gives you. No point hitting your hard 12 and risking busting if your next hand is a hard 16 in any case.
No, Global is the only place I've ever seen where you get both second cards before playing the first hand.
It sounds to me like a glitch in the programming. Since a player only gets one card on split aces, it deals both second cards on any split and then goes back to the first hand if the original cards were not aces.
marichal, I had a nagging feeling that was true too. Despite playing there incessantly in recent weeks, I couldn't quite remember and so resolved to watch out for the next pair-split I see. Inevitably, I haven't seen a single one since then. LeftNut, I suppose whether or not you would call it a glitch depends on how much of an expected convention the other way of dealing is. As well as blackjack21.com, I also have a nagging feeling that I've seen it done this way in regular bj at UK casinos, but again I'd have to go back and make a mental note to watch out for it.
