When to Split Your Pair of Ace's

During the time that you are in a casino and 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 blackjack players call this a pair of bullets. You would most likely have the option of hitting, staying, doubling down or even splitting your pair of aces. A lot of different blackjack players have a lot of different ideas as to how to play a pair of aces, but a lot of those blackjack players base their choices of how to play a pair of aces on luck, math, gut instincts and even some times on card counting.

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

The basic blackjack strategy card that I follow says that when you are dealt a pair of aces and the blackjack 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 up card the blackjack dealer is showing as an up card, you should always split your pair of 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 blackjack dealer that you would like to split your pair of aces. Most casinos will only allow you take one card for each ace you have, except in some casinos you may split the pair 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 originated from splitting a pair of aces.

If you split your pair aces and end up with a ten valued card on one or both of your aces, it is not at all 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 initial 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 commonly called a hit card.

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