Ace-seven is by far the most difficult hand for the professional blackjack player to handle. Depending on what the dealer is showing, you will either hit, stand, or double down. Basic Strategy tells us that we. Two Aces in Blackjack. Part of the series: Learn to Play Blackjack from a Dealer. Learn how to play aces in blackjack from a professional casino dealer in th.

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Blackjack is a casino game that requires much more than just luck which is the reason why it is popular among players all over the world. Even though most of them are familiar with its basic rules, they usually are not aware of all the possible outcomes a particular move can lead to. Thus, they fail to make the right decision in tough situations and often lose a sequence of hands.

To make the matters worse, many players don’t follow any strategy and decide how to proceed at the moment of playing. Of course, not following any pattern, their choices are different each time which doesn’t allow them to see their mistakes as there is no record of their decisions. This is the reason why it is extremely important to follow a strategy and know what the possible outcomes of a particular move are.

In this chapter, we will have a closer look at situations where players have pairs of aces in their hand and whether they should be split every time. The ace in blackjack is the most powerful card and as such, whenever players receive it, they need to make the best possible move to benefit from it.

This is why it is really important to observe all of the cases where they can get not one but two such powerful cards. Players need to realise that a pair of aces gives them an incredible power and places them in a very advantageous position.

Important Things To Consider

Just like on any other occasion in order to make the best possible move, players need to take into account the total value of their hand and the dealer’s upcard. On the bright side, the basic strategy for a pair of aces is incredibly easy to commit to memory because it is not impacted by playing conditions like deck number and the rules the dealers are bound to stick to.

There is only one correct playing decision for this hand according to basic strategy and it is to split. Exceptions are made only for blackjack variations of the European style where no hole cards are involved but more on this later.

Players need to bear in mind that having two aces gives them the opportunity to win only if they make a reasonable move. Even such a beneficial hand can result in going bust if players misplay it. It is especially important for players to know how to proceed in such cases as they have two of the most powerful cards in the game and making a bad decision is just a missed opportunity to make more money.

But why are aces so important in the game of 21? The answer lies in the bespoke flexibility this card has in blackjack. Aces are the only cards in the game that can change their value depending on the player’s preferences and the cards drawn to their hand. You can count them as 1 or 11 at your discretion.

Aces are the real pillars of this game since they also enable you to form blackjacks, which produce a bonus payout of 3 to 2. A blackjack inevitably trumps any total a dealer might have unless it, too, is a blackjack. Another benefit that stems from the ace’s flexibility is that it allows you to form soft hands.

These are impossible to break with a single-card draw. This translates in more opportunities for successful doubling down. In fact, nearly half of the basic strategy plays for double downs involve soft doubles.

The strength of the ace is two-fold, meaning that this card also helps the house. A dealer is at an advantage when they start a hand with an ace. When this happens, their probability of drawing to a pat 19 in a standard six-deck S17 game is rather decent at 18.89% while that for reaching pat 20 is even higher at 18.93%.

Splitting Pairs of Aces

Let’s have a look at the possibilities of the dealer’s upcard and how players should proceed in particular cases. If they find themselves in a situation where the upcard of the dealer is from 2 through ace, their best move is to split. This is always the case across all American-style blackjack variations that use hole cards without regard to the number of decks or the dealer rules.

Aces put players’ in a very favourable position that is worth taking full advantage of it in the best possible way. Whenever players split aces, they need to take into account that they get only one card for each ace and that the average winning hand is 18.5. A pair of aces results in a soft total with a flexible value of either 2 or 12. Neither of these starting totals is particularly strong for the player. Both common sense and basic strategy favour a split since this move gives players the chance to start two promising hands with a strong total of 11 rather than soft 2/12.

Unlike splitting 8s, which is a defensive move, the splitting of paired aces is an offensive approach since it enables the player to convert one mediocre total into two powerful hands that stand decent chances of beating the dealer. Regardless of what dealer upcard you are facing, splitting your aces imminently gives you positive expected value and allows you to capitalise on your advantageous position.

Some players have an aversion toward splitting aces since a split requires them to put up an extra bet to cover the second hand. And sure enough, you will not always beat the dealer when you split this pair. Occasionally it will happen so that you catch another ace or a small card that gets you stuck with a weak hand total.

Nevertheless, this is the most mathematically optimal move you can exercise since it gives you the highest profits in the long-term. No other playing decision is as powerful as the split when one is holding aces. One peculiarity about splitting this particular pair is that generally, casinos prohibit you from hitting or resplitting them.

Instead, the dealer is instructed to give only one more card to each of the split aces. Such restrictions only confirm the powerful situation starting with an ace puts the players in. Let’s see how splitting performs against the dealer’s 5 compared to the other playing decisions like standing or hitting. The expectation values listed are accurate for shoe games where the dealer is forced to stand on soft 17.

As is plain to see, probability favours splitting since it leads to the highest long-term profits for the player. Splitting the aces earns you around 46 pence more per pound wagered compared to hitting, 45 pence more than standing, and 49 pence more than doubling. No matter how you look at it, this is the most optimal play.

The above tendencies are to be observed against all dealer upcards in hole-card blackjack, not only against the weak 5. Where rules are concerned, there are always exceptions, though. The only case in which basic strategy favours hitting aces over splitting them is in European-style blackjack where no hole cards are in play.

When at an ENHC table, you should always split the aces versus dealer upcards deuce through 10, and hit your soft 12 against the dealer’s ace. The dealer standing or drawing to S17 is irrelevant in this instance.

Re-Splitting

If players get another pair of aces after they have already split once these powerful cards, it is recommended to treat them as the first pair and re-split. Players need to remember that they should apply their strategy every time they have a particular card combination, in this case – two aces. It is worth mentioning that if gamblers do so and re-split, they need to triple their initial bet, whereas the first time they split, it was only needed to double it.

Also, players need to bear in mind that the game rules for splitting and re-splitting may vary. Thus, they need to get familiar with them beforehand. Some casinos allow only a certain number of splitting and others don’t allow re-splitting at all.

Different Casino Rules for Splitting Paired Aces

Casinos know full well how vital aces are in blackjack so the most logical thing for them to do is try and offset some of the advantage this powerful card gives to the player. Various restrictions are in place when players are dealt a pair of aces. Below, we describe some of the different casino rules that apply to playing pairs of aces.

• Resplitting aces is often disallowed in both landbased and online blackjack. This is not the case with other pairs which usually can be resplit to form up to four hands. This makes perfect sense considering resplitting aces adds roughly 0.08% to the players’ advantage.
• Hitting split aces is usually also prohibited as it yields an advantage of 0.19% for the player in multiple-deck blackjack. Regrettably, most gambling venues and online casinos allow only a single card to be drawn next to each split ace. Very few would allow you to draw more cards under such circumstances.
• A ten-value card drawn to a split ace usually counts as a regular total of 21 and does not count as a blackjack. Therefore the player receives even money in such cases rather than being paid at odds of 3 to 2. Had this been the case, the casino advantage would have decreased by 0.21%. Even the reduced payout of 6 to 5 would have caused a 0.11% drop in the house edge in such instances.
• Splitting aces is altogether disallowed at some blackjack tables, which increases the house edge by 0.18%. Our advice is to do your best to avoid such games, when possible.
• Discarding split aces is a very rare rule, allowing you to give up one of your two hands following the split. A different approach is required under this rule as the player needs to also learn the strategy for when to throw away their hand.
• Splitting aces you have drawn to is another rule you can find once in a blue moon. Needless to say, very few casinos would actually permit this. If applicable, the only condition is for the aces to be dealt directly next to each other like A-A-3 or 3-A-A rather than A-3-A. The splits are then played as normal.

9, 10 or an Ace as the Dealer’s Upcard

Some gambling authors, who shall remain unnamed, suggest that blackjack players should not split paired aces in some cases. To be more specific, said authors recommend against splitting this pair when the dealer has high upcards 9, 10, or ace.

The “logic”, for lack of a better word, is that splitting aces against high upcards puts players in a disadvantageous position. They risk getting stuck with small cards (remember hitting split aces is normally disallowed) and being outdrawn by the dealer, who is in very good shape when showing 9 through ace. Hitting is recommended instead.

We regret to say this piece of advice is nothing but hogwash. The only exception to the “always split aces” rule is against the dealer’s ace in ENHC blackjack. Period. Experts and mathematicians alike have proven time and time again that aces should always be split against all upcards.

Recognized blackjack expert Michael Shackleford has estimated the exact expectation each move yields against these upcards. The figures are accurate for variations where the S17 rule applies. Nevertheless, splitting aces against everything is optimal across all hole-card variations of the game.

This move has been proven to produce the highest expectation for the player by probability theory. Computer simulations further solidify its accuracy and efficiency. Splitting is clearly optimal against these cards since it produces the highest long-term winnings. Our advice is to be careful when choosing blackjack literature, especially if you are completely new to the game and are just learning the basics.

Conclusion

The only way players can become consistent winners in blackjack is to know how to play every single hand they have. There isn’t a strategy that guarantees they will win inevitably all the time. In fact, on many occasions two different moves are possible and each one would lead to a different outcome.

Gambling includes taking risks and when money is involved, it is up to the players to decide whether they would like to reduce their monetary losses to the minimum. It is possible when playing blackjack as it is a game of skills and as such, they can significantly make a difference if prepared beforehand. It is really important for players to follow a strategy which they support themselves and find reasonable enough.

Otherwise, they won’t understand the whole idea behind it and it will be very hard to apply it without making any sense. Having two aces in their hand is a great way to gain an advantage over the casino only if they know how to proceed in such a situation.

One of the most interesting aspects of blackjack is the
probability math involved. It’s more complicated than other
games. In fact, it’s easier for computer programs to calculate
blackjack probability by running billions of simulated hands
than it is to calculate the massive number of possible outcomes.

This page takes a look at how blackjack probability works. It
also includes sections on the odds in various blackjack
situations you might encounter.

An Introduction to Probability

Probability is the branch of mathematics that deals with the
likelihood of events. When a meteorologist estimates a 50%
chance of rain on Tuesday, there’s more than meteorology at
work. There’s also math.

Probability is also the branch of math that governs gambling.
After all, what is gambling besides placing bets on various
events? When you can analyze the payoff of the bet in relation
to the odds of winning, you can determine whether or not a bet
is a long term winner or loser.

The Probability Formula

The basic formula for probability is simple. You divide the
number of ways something can happen by the total possible number
of events.

Here are three examples.

You want to determine the probability of getting heads when
you flip a coin. You only have one way of getting heads, but
there are two possible outcomes—heads or tails. So the
probability of getting heads is 1/2.

You want to determine the probability of rolling a 6 on a
standard die. You have one possible way of rolling a six, but
there are six possible results. Your probability of rolling a
six is 1/6.

You want to determine the probability of drawing the ace of
spades out of a deck of cards. There’s only one ace of spades in
a deck of cards, but there are 52 cards total. Your probability
of drawing the ace of spades is 1/52.

A probability is always a number between 0 and 1. An event
with a probability of 0 will never happen. An event with a
probability of 1 will always happen.

Here are three more examples.

You want to know the probability of rolling a seven on a
single die. There is no seven, so there are zero ways for this
to happen out of six possible results. 0/6 = 0.

You want to know the probability of drawing a joker out of a
deck of cards with no joker in it. There are zero jokers and 52
possible cards to draw. 0/52 = 0.

You have a two headed coin. Your probability of getting heads
is 100%. You have two possible outcomes, and both of them are
heads, which is 2/2 = 1.

A fraction is just one way of expressing a probability,
though. You can also express fractions as a decimal or a
percentage. So 1/2 is the same as 0.5 and 50%.

You probably remember how to convert a fraction into a
decimal or a percentage from junior high school math, though.

Expressing a Probability in Odds Format

The more interesting and useful way to express probability is
in odds format. When you’re expressing a probability as odds,
you compare the number of ways it can’t happen with the number
of ways it can happen.

Here are a couple of examples of this.

You want to express your chances of rolling a six on a six
sided die in odds format. There are five ways to get something
other than a six, and only one way to get a six, so the odds are
5 to 1.

You want to express the odds of drawing an ace of spades out
a deck of cards. 51 of those cards are something else, but one
of those cards is the ace, so the odds are 51 to 1.

Odds become useful when you compare them with payouts on
bets. True odds are when a bet pays off at the same rate as its
probability.

Here’s an example of true odds:

You and your buddy are playing a simple gambling game you
made up. He bets a dollar on every roll of a single die, and he
gets to guess a number. If he’s right, you pay him $5. If he’s
wrong, he pays you $1.

Since the odds of him winning are 5 to 1, and the payoff is
also 5 to 1, you’re playing a game with true odds. In the long
run, you’ll both break even. In the short run, of course,
anything can happen.

Probability and Expected Value

One of the truisms about probability is that the greater the
number of trials, the closer you’ll get to the expected results.

If you changed the equation slightly, you could play this
game at a profit. Suppose you only paid him $4 every time he
won. You’d have him at an advantage, wouldn’t you?

• He’d win an average of $4 once every six rolls
• But he’d lose an average of $5 on every six rolls
• This gives him a net loss of $1 for every six rolls.

You can reduce that to how much he expects to lose on every
single roll by dividing $1 by 6. You’ll get 16.67 cents.

On the other hand, if you paid him $7 every time he won, he’d
have an advantage over you. He’d still lose more often than he’d
win. But his winnings would be large enough to compensate for
those 5 losses and then some.

The difference between the payout odds on a bet and the true
odds is where every casino in the world makes its money. The
only bet in the casino which offers a true odds payout is the
odds bet in craps, and you have to make a bet at a disadvantage
before you can place that bet.

Here’s an actual example of how odds work in a casino. A
roulette wheel has 38 numbers on it. Your odds of picking the
correct number are therefore 37 to 1. A bet on a single number
in roulette only pays off at 35 to 1.

You can also look at the odds of multiple events occurring.
The operative words in these situations are “and” and “or”.

• If you want to know the probability of A happening AND
  of B happening, you multiply the probabilities.
• If you want to know the probability of A happening OR of
  B happening, you add the probabilities together.

Here are some examples of how that works.

You want to know the probability that you’ll draw an ace of
spades AND then draw the jack of spades. The probability of
drawing the ace of spades is 1/52. The probability of then
drawing the jack of spades is 1/51. (That’s not a typo—you
already drew the ace of spades, so you only have 51 cards left
in the deck.)

The probability of drawing those 2 cards in that order is
1/52 X 1/51, or 1/2652.

You want to know the probability that you’ll get a blackjack.
That’s easily calculated, but it varies based on how many decks
are being used. For this example, we’ll use one deck.

To get a blackjack, you need either an ace-ten combination,
or a ten-ace combination. Order doesn’t matter, because either
will have the same chance of happening.

Your probability of getting an ace on your first card is
4/52. You have four aces in the deck, and you have 52 total
cards. That reduces down to 1/13.

Your probability of getting a ten on your second card is
16/51. There are 16 cards in the deck with a value of ten; four
each of a jack, queen, king, and ten.

Two Aces In Blackjack

So your probability of being dealt an ace and then a 10 is
1/13 X 16/51, or 16/663.

The probability of being dealt a 10 and then an ace is also
16/663.

You want to know if one or the other is going to happen, so
you add the two probabilities together.

16/663 + 16/663 = 32/663.

That translates to approximately 0.0483, or 4.83%. That’s
about 5%, which is about 1 in 20.

You’re playing in a single deck blackjack game, and you’ve
seen 4 hands against the dealer. In all 4 of those hands, no ace
or 10 has appeared. You’ve seen a total of 24 cards.

What is your probability of getting a blackjack now?

Your probability of getting an ace is now 4/28, or 1/7.
(There are only 28 cards left in the deck.)

Your probability of getting a 10 is now 16/27.

Your probability of getting an ace and then a 10 is 1/7 X
16/27, or 16/189.

Again, you could get a blackjack by getting an ace and a ten
or by getting a ten and then an ace, so you add the two
probabilities together.

16/189 + 16/189 = 32/189

Your chance of getting a blackjack is now 16.9%.

This last example demonstrates why counting cards works. The
deck has a memory of sorts. If you track the ratio of aces and
tens to the low cards in the deck, you can tell when you’re more
likely to be dealt a blackjack.

Since that hand pays out at 3 to 2 instead of even money,
you’ll raise your bet in these situations.

The House Edge

The house edge is a related concept. It’s a calculation of
your expected value in relation to the amount of your bet.

Here’s an example.

Expected value is just the average amount of money you’ll win
or lose on a bet over a huge number of trials.

Using a simple example from earlier, let’s suppose you are a
12 year old entrepreneur, and you open a small casino on the
street corner. You allow your customers to roll a six sided die
and guess which result they’ll get. They have to bet a dollar,
and they get a $4 win if they’re right with their guess.

Over every six trials, the probability is that you’ll win
five bets and lose one bet. You win $5 and lose $4 for a net win
of $1 for every 6 bets.

The expected value of that $1 bet, for the customer, is about
84 cents. The expected value of each of those bets–for you–is
$1.16.

That’s how the casino does the math on all its casino games,
and the casino makes sure that the house edge is always in their
favor.

With blackjack, calculating this house edge is harder. After
all, you have to keep up with the expected value for every
situation and then add those together. Luckily, this is easy
enough to do with a computer. We’d hate to have to work it out
with a pencil and paper, though.

What does the house edge for blackjack amount to, then?

It depends on the game and the rules variations in place. It
also depends on the quality of your decisions. If you play
perfectly in every situation—making the move with the highest
possible expected value—then the house edge is usually between
0.5% and 1%.

If you just guess at what the correct play is in every
situation, you can add between 2% and 4% to that number. Even
for the gambler who ignores basic strategy, blackjack is one of
the best games in the casino.

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Expected Hourly Loss and/or Win

You can use this information to estimate how much money
you’re liable to lose or win per hour in the casino. Of course,
this expected hourly win or loss rate is an average over a long
period of time. Over any small number of sessions, your results
will vary wildly from the expectation.

Here’s an example of how that calculation works.

• You are a perfect basic strategy player in a game with a
  0.5% house edge.
• You’re playing for $100 per hand, and you’re averaging
  50 hands per hour.
• You’re putting $5,000 into action each hour ($100 x 50).
• 0.5% of $5,000 is $25.
• You’re expected (mathematically) to lose $25 per hour.

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Here’s another example that assumes you’re a skilled card
counter.

Are Two Aces Blackjack

• You’re able to count cards well enough to get a 1% edge
  over the casino.
• You’re playing the same 50 hands per hour at $100 per
  hand.
• Again, you’re putting $5,000 into action each hour ($100
  x $50).
• 1% of $5,000 is $50.
• Now, instead of losing $25/hour, you’re winning $50 per
  hour.

Effects of Different Rules on the House Edge

The conditions under which you play blackjack affect the
house edge. For example, the more decks in play, the higher the
house edge. If the dealer hits a soft 17 instead of standing,
the house edge goes up. Getting paid 6 to 5 instead of 3 to 2
for a blackjack also increases the house edge.

Luckily, we know the effect each of these changes has on the
house edge. Using this information, we can make educated
decisions about which games to play and which games to avoid.

Here’s a table with some of the effects of various rule
conditions.

These are just some examples. There are multiple rules
variations you can find, some of which are so dramatic that the
game gets a different name entirely. Examples include Spanish 21
and Double Exposure.

The composition of the deck affects the house edge, too. We
touched on this earlier when discussing how card counting works.
But we can go into more detail here.

Every card that is removed from the deck moves the house edge
up or down on the subsequent hands. This might not make sense
initially, but think about it. If you removed all the aces from
the deck, it would be impossible to get a 3 to 2 payout on a
blackjack. That would increase the house edge significantly,
wouldn’t it?

Here’s the effect on the house edge when you remove a card of
a certain rank from the deck.

These percentages are based on a single deck. If you’re
playing in a game with multiple decks, the effect of the removal
of each card is diluted by the number of decks in play.

Looking at these numbers is telling, especially when you
compare these percentages with the values given to the cards
when counting. The low cards (2-6) have the most dramatic effect
on the house edge. That’s why almost all counting systems assign
a value to each of them. The middle cards (7-9) have a much
smaller effect. Then the high cards, aces and tens, also have a
large effect.

The most important cards are the aces and the fives. Each of
those cards is worth over 0.5% to the house edge. That’s why the
simplest card counting system, the ace-five count, only tracks
those two ranks. They’re that powerful.

You can also look at the probability that a dealer will bust
based on her up card. This provides some insight into how basic
strategy decisions work.

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Perceptive readers will notice a big jump in the probability
of a dealer busting between the numbers six and seven. They’ll
also notice a similar division on most basic strategy charts.
Players generally stand more often when the dealer has a six or
lower showing. That’s because the dealer has a significantly
greater chance of going bust.

Summary and Further Reading

Blackjack Dealer Has Two Aces

Odds and probability in blackjack is a subject with endless
ramifications. The most important concepts to understand are how
to calculate probability, how to understand expected value, and
how to quantify the house edge. Understanding the underlying
probabilities in the game makes learning basic strategy and card
counting techniques easier.