Blackjack rules XX
Splitting pairs decision is offered to blackjack players who have received very high valued pair of cards and has neither the chance to win nor the chance to draw for that would mean getting busted. If the option is exercised judiciously, along with such options such as re-split and double after split, this choice of actions can be exploited by experienced and skilled blackjack players to perfection and to the bets of their advantage.
However, rookie players may end up splitting pairs too enthusiastically without pausing to reflect if the hand they held is already a winning one or not. If a player has a hand consisting of two ten-valued cards, that is, a combination of 10, jack, king or queen cards in any permutation, he already has a hand value of 20 which is an extremely advantageous hand and unless the dealer has a blackjack hand, the player is actually holding a winning hand. So, instead of foolishly splitting such a hand, it is advisable that the player sticks to his hand.
Another significant decision a player is called to make when he is dealt a pair of aces, whether to split his pair or keep his hand and hit again (since now one of his ace becomes 11 and another becomes 1 so as to avoid busting). If the player decides to split his aces, it is viewed as very strong play and casinos normally restrict the player from drawing more than on extra card for each ace hand. Interestingly, now if a player draws a ten-valued card on one of his ace hands, it is not considered a blackjack but simply as a hand with value of 21S, the player cannot win the 3:2 winning odds. Some casino houses allow players to re-split if he hits another ace. However, sometimes casinos that allow re-splitting for other paired cards won’t permit it for ace hands. It is still advisable to always split aces since otherwise one of the aces will get undervalued at 1 and give the player no advantage of play.
