Splitting Pairs in Blackjack

It's 6:30 A.M. The sun is slowly making its way up over the horizon. Where am I? You guessed it – at a blackjack table with four of my good college friends.

My buddy has about $1200 behind him at our $25 minimum/$500 maximum standard Blackjack table. He bets $400 and is dealt 6-6 against the Dealer's 4. He verbally announces "Split" without any additional hand motion, takes a sip of his drink, and places an additional $400 next to his original bet. The dealer, however, had already moved on to the next player. Flash-forward two minutes and my good friend is surrounded by three pit bosses and another dealer as he screams at the top of his lungs. He did indeed announce the split and we all corroborate his story, but alas, the pit bosses aren't budging. The pit boss finally relents: "You're drunk sir, you have a problem, and you'll be happy I did this in the morning."

They decide to allow the split so long as he leaves the table directly after. My friend immediately hits on both and pulls an Ace and a Ten and the Dealer busts.

My friend collects his winnings and we all head to the nearest bar to celebrate.

And what's the best part about this? Not that the pit bosses agreed to let him split. Not that he won $1,600, although that was pretty great. It was that I recently read an article online which explained that my friend actually could have made a better play.

This 'correct' strategy play (splitting 6's against a Dealer 4) is still a losing play. It's just that it's a better play than Standing or Hitting. So what is the actual best play? In this case, especially since we were at the table with a large group of drinking buddies, my friend could have convinced one of us to go 'halves' on his split. Doing so would have cut his expected loss in half and would then actually be the best statistical play he could have made. Now, of course, dling this would be deceiving one of your friends into a bad statistical play, creating a moral issue. But it was 6:30 A.M., we are degenerates, we had been partying all night, and we'd all probably done worse things to each other already.

Want to know the rest of the pairs you shouldn't split? Here is the list of the correct basic strategy splits that are actually losing plays (note that you should still split these hands, it's just that by Splitting, you are losing less money than Hitting or Standing):

• 2 2 against Dealer 2, 3 or 7


• 3 3 against Dealer 2, 3 or 7


• 6 6 against Dealer 2, 3 or 4


• 7 7 against Dealer 2, 3 or 7


• 8 8 against Dealer 8, 9, 10 or Ace


• 9 9 against Dealer 9

When you're dealt any of these pairs, going halves with one of your tablemates on a split will cut your expected loss on the hand in half. And I'll leave you with one final piece of gambling wisdom – If its 6:30 A.M. and you've been drinking all night, stop gambling and find the nearest bed.

Ed note: Play Blackjack online from your bed at Party Casino and get a 100% to $100 bonus on your first deposit!

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