Soft Ace Blackjack
2021年3月12日Register here: http://gg.gg/omvxz
What is a soft 17 in blackjack? A soft 17 not only affects the dealer, but it also effects the player. A soft hand occurs with an Ace, while a hard hand can occur with an Ace but it has to equal one, not 11. A soft hand is when the Ace exists as 11. So when we are talking about whether a 17 is hard or soft, the Ace is integral to the hand.
*Soft Ace Blackjack Strategy
*Soft Ace Blackjack Machine
*Soft Ace Blackjack Card Game
*Soft Ace Blackjack No Deposit
*Blackjack Soft 16
*Soft Ace Blackjack GameOn This Page
Soft hands only – play just soft hands (hands with an ace). Random mode – purely random shuffle. Once you’ve set up the table to your linking, the Blackjack Chart will update itself to show the optimum blackjack strategy to play. To view the chart, click the Help button. This will overlay the chart and show you the correct move for your. The soft blackjack hand is basically a hand that has an ace. In the soft blackjack hand, the ace has a value of 11. These are the two key elements in the soft blackjack hand – the presence of the ace and its attached value. There is one other thing about the soft hand that you will learn next.Introduction
Spanish 21 is a variation of blackjack, that in some cases is the best bet in the casino. In locations where the dealer stands on a soft 17, or redoubling is allowed, Spanish 21 may be a better bet than blackjack, depending on the specific blackjack rules. If you are looking for a change of pace from traditional blackjack but insist on a game with a low house edge, then you may find new excitement in Spanish 21.
In Australia and Malaysia, Spanish 21 is called Pontoon. There are some rule changes in Australia, which merit a separate page. For all the details please visit my page on Australian Pontoon. To make matters more confusing, there is another similar game, but different enough to warrant a separate page, called Player’s Edge 21.
Following is a list of known aliases of the game:
*Betsoft, a major provider of software for Internet casinos, offers Spanish 21 under the name Pirate 21.
*The Casino Bregenz in Austria changes the name to Blackjack Exchange.The RulesSoft Ace Blackjack Strategy
Spanish 21 uses six or eight Spanish decks, each deck consisting of 48 cards — the regular 52 cards less the four tens. Any card counter can tell you that removing any 10-point card from the cards moves the odds in favor of the dealer. To make up for this, Spanish 21 gives the player a host of bonuses and favorable rules. There are lots of Spanish 21 games all over the country, so rules will vary somewhat from place to place, but the usual rules in the player’s favor are:
*Late surrender allowed.
*Double after split allowed.
*Re-splitting aces allowed.
*A player 21 always wins.
*Player blackjack beats dealer blackjack.
*Player may double on any number of cards.
*Player may usually hit and double down after splitting aces.
*Player may surrender after doubling, known as ’double down rescue.’ The player forfeits an amount equal to his original bet.
*A five-card 21 pays 3 to 2, a six-card 21 pays 2 to 1, a seven or more card 21 pays 3 to 1. Bonus not honored after doubling.
*A 6-7-8 or 7-7-7 of mixed suits pays 3 to 2, of the same suit pays 2 to 1, and of spades pays 3 to 1. These bonuses do not pay after doubling.
*Suited 7-7-7 when the dealer has a seven face up pays $1000 for bets of $5-$24 and $5000 ’Super Bonus’ for bets of $25 or over. In addition, all other players receive a $50 ’envy bonus.’ This bonus does not pay after doubling or splitting.
Variable Rules
*Dealer may hit or stand on a soft 17.
*6 or 8 Spanish decks can be used.
*Some casinos allow redoubling, up to three times.
*I have heard of some casinos not allowing surrender or drawing to split aces, but it isn’t the norm.
*A face card and ace after splitting has been known to count as a blackjack, at at least one casino.
*There has been a lot of debate through the years whether the bonuses are payable after a split. First, there is almost no argument that they do not pay after doubling. However, the way the game was designed, all bonuses except the Super Bonus are supposed to be payable after splitting. However, most casinos do not pay the bonuses after a split. The effect of not allowing the bonuses after splitting is very small, around 0.01%.Strategy
Following is my Spanish 21 basic strategy when the dealer hits a soft 17.
Next is the Spanish 21 basic strategy when the dealer stands on a soft 17.
Note: If drawing to split aces is not allowed, and the dealer stands on soft 17 (as is the case at the Mohegan Sun), then hit A,A vs A.
The next table if for when the dealer hits a soft 17, redoubling is allowed, and the player has not already doubled.
The next table if for when the dealer hits a soft 17, redoubling is allowed, and the player has already doubled, which limits his options to stand, surrender, and double again.
Many readers have expressed doubt about my advice to hit 17 against an ace with 3 or more cards. However, I stand by what I said. The player will save about 2.8% of the initial wager by hitting as opposed to standing. The dealers will advise against this play and the other players may curse the day you were born, but trust me, the odds favor hitting. Following is the house edge under various common rules, before considering the Super Bonus.
*Dealer stands on soft 17: 0.40%
*Dealer hits on soft 17, redoubling allowed: 0.42%
*Dealer hits on soft 17, redoubling not allowed: 0.76%Super Bonus
The probability of hitting the Super Bonus is 1 in 668,382, with six decks, and 1 in 549,188 with eight decks. The reduction in the house edge depends on the bet amount, and to a lesser extent, the number of players. With no other players, and bets of exactly $5 or $25, the Super Bonus lowers the house edge by 0.030% in a six-deck game, and 0.036% in an eight-deck game. At a bet of exactly $5, the Envy Bonus lowers the house edge by an additional 0.0015% in a six-deck game, and 0.0018% in an eight-deck game, per additional player.
For bet amounts other than those indicated above, the benefit of the Super Bonus will go down as the bet amount goes up.
No Draw to Split Aces: At the Mohegan Sun drawing to split aces is NOT allowed. The effect of this rule is to increase the house edge by 0.29%.
Ace and 10 after splitting aces pays 3 to 2: I have an unconfirmed report that at at one time the Meskaki casino in central Iowa paid 3 to 2 on an ace and 10 after splitting aces. I have another unconfirmed report that as of Aug. 2010 they removed the Spanish 21 table completely. According to my calculations this lowers the house edge by 0.16%. Otherwise they hit a soft 17 and no redoubling, for an overall house edge of 0.60%.
Doubling only allowed on first two cards: I had a false report that a casino in Malaysia didn’t allow doubling on any number of cards. If such a rule did exist, it would increase the house edge by 0.16%.Match the Dealer
Match the Dealer is a side bet found in both blackjack and Spanish 21. The player wins for each of his initial two cards that match the dealer’s up card. Matches in rank only pay less than a match in rank and suit. The following tables show the various pay tables that I am aware of for Spanish 21.Match the Dealer — Six DecksEventCombinationsProbabilityPaysReturnTwo suited matches100.000244180.004386One hard and one each match900.002193130.028508Two non-suited matches1530.00372880.029824One suited match13200.03216390.289467One non-suited match47520.11578740.463147No matches347160.845886-1-0.845886Total4104110-0.030555Match the Dealer — Eight DecksEventCombinationsProbabilityPaysReturnTwo suited matches210.000287240.00689One hard and one each match1680.002297150.034448Two non-suited matches2760.00377360.022637One suited match24640.033683120.404194One non-suited match84480.11548430.346452No matches617760.844477-1-0.844477Total7315310-0.029855C4
The Casino Bregenz in Austria offers Spanish 21 but calls it Blackjack Exchange. They tack on a side bet called the C4, which is analyzed below. The table is based on six decks and assumes that if the player qualifies for more than one win, he only gets the higher win. The lower right cell shows a house edge of 14.48%.C4 — Six DecksEventCombinationsProbabilityPaysReturnFour of a kind500138,1380.0003370.168467Straight203,649,5360.0089020.178032Flush125,647,8960.0137760.165310Two pair105,941,7280.0144920.144925Three of a kind87,330,7520.0178800.143044All other-1387,278,4200.944613-0.944613Total409,986,4701.000000-0.144836
Following is the house edge of the C4 for other numbers of decks.
*Four decks: 18.49%
*Eight decks: 12.41%Methodology The Spanish 21 strategy found here is based on a combinatorial program which considered both card composition and the six deck nature of the game. In addition an infinite deck model was created in Excel, of which the basic strategy nearly agreed with that of the combinatorial model. The basic strategy found here does not agree with that of the late Lenny Frome in some borderline situations. Frome’s strategy can be found in such books as ’Secrets of the New Casino Games’ (Marten Jensen) and ’Armada Strategies for Spanish 21’ (Frank Scoblete). Although I have a great deal of respect for Frome and his body of work, I strongly feel that his basic strategy is incorrect. I speculate he did notincorporate the double down surrender feature correctly into his analysis. My strategies also agree with those of Katarina Walker, who has done an amazing job analyzing Spanish 21 and its cousin, Australian Pontoon, as well as an independent analysis by Mike Hopson. Acknowledgments
I would like to give a huge thanks to Katarina Walker for correcting some minor strategy errors in this page. She is the author of The Pro’s Guide to Spanish 21 and Australian Pontoon.Links
German translation of this page.Written by:Michael Shackleford
The “soft 17 rule” is a rule that requires the dealer to hit on soft 17. For many blackjack players, this rather innocuous rule doesn’t seem like a big deal, but the fact of the matterHenry Tamburin is the editor and publisher of the Blackjack Insider Newsletter and author of the best-selling Blackjack: Take the Money & Run. He is also the lead Instructor for the Golden Touch Blackjack course, a feature writer for Casino Player magazine (and 6 other publications); an owner of a casino gambling publishing company (www.rsucasinobooks.com) and the host of www.smartgaming.com. For a free three month subscription to the Henry’s Blackjack Insider Newsletter with full membership privileges go to www.bjinsider.com/free. Henry’s website is www.smartgaming.com it is.
First, a quick review of what we mean by a soft hand. Any blackjack hand that contains an ace counted as an 11 is a soft hand. An ace-6 hand is a soft 17 and so is an ace-3-3 hand. These hands are played much differently than their corresponding hard hands. For example, ace-6 is soft 17 whereas 10-7 and 7-9-ace hands are hard 17’s (notice that if your hand contains either no ace, or one or more aces that are each count as one, the hand is hard). The reason the distinction is made between soft and hard hands is that they are played quite differently. For example, a player who is dealt a 10-7 should always stand whereas a player who is dealt an ace-6 should never stand.
In the world of blackjack some casinos require dealers to stand when their hand is a soft 17 (designated as s17), whereas others require dealers to hit soft 17 (i.e. they have implemented the soft 17 rule or h17). You can always tell whether a casino has the soft 17 rule or not by reading the wording on the table layout. If it reads “Dealer Must Stand on all 17’s” it means the dealer will stand on soft 17. If instead it states “Dealer Hits Soft 17”, it means the dealer will hit soft 17.
What happens to the odds when the soft 17 rule is in effect? Usually the dealer will bust more often which is good for the player. However, when he doesn’t bust, what would have been a 17 often ends up to be a higher hand that more often then not will beat the player’s hand. Overall the player’s net expectation is reduced by 0.20% with the soft 17 rule which is another way of saying the casino’s edge over a blackjack player increases by that amount. The soft 17 rule, therefore, favors the casino not the player.
Fortunately, there aren’t too many adjustments that you need to make to the basic playing strategy if you are playing in a game with h17. When you are playing, in general you should:
double down on 11 against a dealer’s ace
double down on soft 19 against the dealer’s 6
double down on soft 18 against the dealer’s 2
A more accurate set of playing strategy modifications that takes into effect the number of decks of cards being used is summarized below. Notice the additional hands that you should surrender with h17. The reason is because the player’s chance of winning these hands decreases enough with h17 compared to s17, that surrender becomes the better option.Modifications to Basic Playing Strategy for Soft 17 Rule
Hit soft 18 against ace
If double after pair splitting is allowed, split a pair of 9’s against an ace
If surrender is allowed, surrender hard 15 against an ace and hard 17 against an ace.Double Deck
Double down on soft 14 against 4
Double down on soft 18 against 2
Double down on soft 19 against 6
If surrender is allowed, surrender hard 15 against dealer ace.
4, 6 or 8 Decks
Double down on 11 against an ace
Double down on soft 17 against 2
If surrender is allowed, surrender hard 15 against ace, hard 17 against ace, and a pair of 8’s against dealer ace.
Unfortunately, the number of casinos that are switching to the soft 17 rule is increasing. I can remember not too long ago when nearly 100% of the strip casinos in Las Vegas had the s17 rule on their shoe games. That’s not the case anymore. Based on the information of blackjack playing conditions reported in Stanford Wong’s “Current Blackjack News” only 17% of the Strip casinos offer “only s17 games”, 40% “only h17”, and 43% a mix of s17 and h17 games. Also, just about all the casinos that cater to local players offer only h17 games and ditto for the majority of casinos located in the downtown area.
However, you shouldn’t judge a blackjack game solely on the h17 rule. Why? Because even though the casino gains an extra 0.20% with the soft 17 rule, many casinos in Las Vegas and elsewhere also give some of that edge back to the player by offering single or double deck games in lieu of 6 or 8 deck games. Throw in a few more player favorable rules, such as double after pair splitting (das), resplit of aces (rsa), or late surrender (ls), and all of a sudden a h17 game isn’t such a bad game after all.
For example, summarized below is the casino’s edge for typical blackjack games you will find in Las Vegas (this of course excludes those dastardly 6-5 single games which you should not play). . Note that the casino edge over a basic strategy player for a single deck game with h17 is only 0.18%, a good blackjack game by anyone’s standard. Compare that with the rather high 0.79% for the comparable 6-deck game. In fact even a h17, 6 deck game with a bunch of added player favorable rules still only makes the game average for basic strategy players by Vegas standards.Effect of Playing Rules on Casino’s Edge in H17 Gamesdas = player can double down after pair splittingls = late surrender is offered
# Decks Rules Casino Edge
Single deck h17 0.18%
Single deck h17, rsa 0.15%
Single deck h17, das 0.06%
Double deck h17 0.53%Soft Ace Blackjack Machine
Double deck h17, rsa 0.48%
Double deck h17, das, rsa 0.35%
Double deck h17, das, rsa, ls 0.28%
6 deck h17 0.76%
6 deck h17, rsa 0.69%Soft Ace Blackjack Card Game
6 deck h17, ls 0.67%
6 deck h17,das 0.63%Soft Ace Blackjack No Deposit
6 deck h17, das, rsa 0.56%
6 deck h17, das, ls 0.54%
6 deck h17, das, ls, rsa 0.46%You can of course reduce the casino edge in 6 (or 8) decks by simply playing in a casino that offers the s17 rule rather than h17. For example several Strip casinos offer these set of rules in their 6-deck game: s17, das, ls, and rsa. The casino edge over the basic strategy player is only 0.26%, which is 0.20% lower then the best 6 deck, h17 game. Likewise a 2 deck, s17, das game has a casino edge of only 0.19%, which is 0.21% lower than the corresponding 2 deck, h17, das game. Blackjack Soft 16
In northern Nevada most casinos offer single deck games with h17 but they restrict doubling to only hard 10 and 11. The latter is a casino player favorable rule that results in this game having a casino edge of 0.44% (ie. it converts a good blackjack game to at best average). Soft Ace Blackjack Game
The bottom line is that the soft 17 rule is tolerable in a single deck game (with no restrictions on doubling) and also in a double deck game if das, rsa, or ls is offered. For 6 (or 8) deck games, given a choice between h17 or s17 game, you are better off playing a s17 game.
Register here: http://gg.gg/omvxz
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What is a soft 17 in blackjack? A soft 17 not only affects the dealer, but it also effects the player. A soft hand occurs with an Ace, while a hard hand can occur with an Ace but it has to equal one, not 11. A soft hand is when the Ace exists as 11. So when we are talking about whether a 17 is hard or soft, the Ace is integral to the hand.
*Soft Ace Blackjack Strategy
*Soft Ace Blackjack Machine
*Soft Ace Blackjack Card Game
*Soft Ace Blackjack No Deposit
*Blackjack Soft 16
*Soft Ace Blackjack GameOn This Page
Soft hands only – play just soft hands (hands with an ace). Random mode – purely random shuffle. Once you’ve set up the table to your linking, the Blackjack Chart will update itself to show the optimum blackjack strategy to play. To view the chart, click the Help button. This will overlay the chart and show you the correct move for your. The soft blackjack hand is basically a hand that has an ace. In the soft blackjack hand, the ace has a value of 11. These are the two key elements in the soft blackjack hand – the presence of the ace and its attached value. There is one other thing about the soft hand that you will learn next.Introduction
Spanish 21 is a variation of blackjack, that in some cases is the best bet in the casino. In locations where the dealer stands on a soft 17, or redoubling is allowed, Spanish 21 may be a better bet than blackjack, depending on the specific blackjack rules. If you are looking for a change of pace from traditional blackjack but insist on a game with a low house edge, then you may find new excitement in Spanish 21.
In Australia and Malaysia, Spanish 21 is called Pontoon. There are some rule changes in Australia, which merit a separate page. For all the details please visit my page on Australian Pontoon. To make matters more confusing, there is another similar game, but different enough to warrant a separate page, called Player’s Edge 21.
Following is a list of known aliases of the game:
*Betsoft, a major provider of software for Internet casinos, offers Spanish 21 under the name Pirate 21.
*The Casino Bregenz in Austria changes the name to Blackjack Exchange.The RulesSoft Ace Blackjack Strategy
Spanish 21 uses six or eight Spanish decks, each deck consisting of 48 cards — the regular 52 cards less the four tens. Any card counter can tell you that removing any 10-point card from the cards moves the odds in favor of the dealer. To make up for this, Spanish 21 gives the player a host of bonuses and favorable rules. There are lots of Spanish 21 games all over the country, so rules will vary somewhat from place to place, but the usual rules in the player’s favor are:
*Late surrender allowed.
*Double after split allowed.
*Re-splitting aces allowed.
*A player 21 always wins.
*Player blackjack beats dealer blackjack.
*Player may double on any number of cards.
*Player may usually hit and double down after splitting aces.
*Player may surrender after doubling, known as ’double down rescue.’ The player forfeits an amount equal to his original bet.
*A five-card 21 pays 3 to 2, a six-card 21 pays 2 to 1, a seven or more card 21 pays 3 to 1. Bonus not honored after doubling.
*A 6-7-8 or 7-7-7 of mixed suits pays 3 to 2, of the same suit pays 2 to 1, and of spades pays 3 to 1. These bonuses do not pay after doubling.
*Suited 7-7-7 when the dealer has a seven face up pays $1000 for bets of $5-$24 and $5000 ’Super Bonus’ for bets of $25 or over. In addition, all other players receive a $50 ’envy bonus.’ This bonus does not pay after doubling or splitting.
Variable Rules
*Dealer may hit or stand on a soft 17.
*6 or 8 Spanish decks can be used.
*Some casinos allow redoubling, up to three times.
*I have heard of some casinos not allowing surrender or drawing to split aces, but it isn’t the norm.
*A face card and ace after splitting has been known to count as a blackjack, at at least one casino.
*There has been a lot of debate through the years whether the bonuses are payable after a split. First, there is almost no argument that they do not pay after doubling. However, the way the game was designed, all bonuses except the Super Bonus are supposed to be payable after splitting. However, most casinos do not pay the bonuses after a split. The effect of not allowing the bonuses after splitting is very small, around 0.01%.Strategy
Following is my Spanish 21 basic strategy when the dealer hits a soft 17.
Next is the Spanish 21 basic strategy when the dealer stands on a soft 17.
Note: If drawing to split aces is not allowed, and the dealer stands on soft 17 (as is the case at the Mohegan Sun), then hit A,A vs A.
The next table if for when the dealer hits a soft 17, redoubling is allowed, and the player has not already doubled.
The next table if for when the dealer hits a soft 17, redoubling is allowed, and the player has already doubled, which limits his options to stand, surrender, and double again.
Many readers have expressed doubt about my advice to hit 17 against an ace with 3 or more cards. However, I stand by what I said. The player will save about 2.8% of the initial wager by hitting as opposed to standing. The dealers will advise against this play and the other players may curse the day you were born, but trust me, the odds favor hitting. Following is the house edge under various common rules, before considering the Super Bonus.
*Dealer stands on soft 17: 0.40%
*Dealer hits on soft 17, redoubling allowed: 0.42%
*Dealer hits on soft 17, redoubling not allowed: 0.76%Super Bonus
The probability of hitting the Super Bonus is 1 in 668,382, with six decks, and 1 in 549,188 with eight decks. The reduction in the house edge depends on the bet amount, and to a lesser extent, the number of players. With no other players, and bets of exactly $5 or $25, the Super Bonus lowers the house edge by 0.030% in a six-deck game, and 0.036% in an eight-deck game. At a bet of exactly $5, the Envy Bonus lowers the house edge by an additional 0.0015% in a six-deck game, and 0.0018% in an eight-deck game, per additional player.
For bet amounts other than those indicated above, the benefit of the Super Bonus will go down as the bet amount goes up.
No Draw to Split Aces: At the Mohegan Sun drawing to split aces is NOT allowed. The effect of this rule is to increase the house edge by 0.29%.
Ace and 10 after splitting aces pays 3 to 2: I have an unconfirmed report that at at one time the Meskaki casino in central Iowa paid 3 to 2 on an ace and 10 after splitting aces. I have another unconfirmed report that as of Aug. 2010 they removed the Spanish 21 table completely. According to my calculations this lowers the house edge by 0.16%. Otherwise they hit a soft 17 and no redoubling, for an overall house edge of 0.60%.
Doubling only allowed on first two cards: I had a false report that a casino in Malaysia didn’t allow doubling on any number of cards. If such a rule did exist, it would increase the house edge by 0.16%.Match the Dealer
Match the Dealer is a side bet found in both blackjack and Spanish 21. The player wins for each of his initial two cards that match the dealer’s up card. Matches in rank only pay less than a match in rank and suit. The following tables show the various pay tables that I am aware of for Spanish 21.Match the Dealer — Six DecksEventCombinationsProbabilityPaysReturnTwo suited matches100.000244180.004386One hard and one each match900.002193130.028508Two non-suited matches1530.00372880.029824One suited match13200.03216390.289467One non-suited match47520.11578740.463147No matches347160.845886-1-0.845886Total4104110-0.030555Match the Dealer — Eight DecksEventCombinationsProbabilityPaysReturnTwo suited matches210.000287240.00689One hard and one each match1680.002297150.034448Two non-suited matches2760.00377360.022637One suited match24640.033683120.404194One non-suited match84480.11548430.346452No matches617760.844477-1-0.844477Total7315310-0.029855C4
The Casino Bregenz in Austria offers Spanish 21 but calls it Blackjack Exchange. They tack on a side bet called the C4, which is analyzed below. The table is based on six decks and assumes that if the player qualifies for more than one win, he only gets the higher win. The lower right cell shows a house edge of 14.48%.C4 — Six DecksEventCombinationsProbabilityPaysReturnFour of a kind500138,1380.0003370.168467Straight203,649,5360.0089020.178032Flush125,647,8960.0137760.165310Two pair105,941,7280.0144920.144925Three of a kind87,330,7520.0178800.143044All other-1387,278,4200.944613-0.944613Total409,986,4701.000000-0.144836
Following is the house edge of the C4 for other numbers of decks.
*Four decks: 18.49%
*Eight decks: 12.41%Methodology The Spanish 21 strategy found here is based on a combinatorial program which considered both card composition and the six deck nature of the game. In addition an infinite deck model was created in Excel, of which the basic strategy nearly agreed with that of the combinatorial model. The basic strategy found here does not agree with that of the late Lenny Frome in some borderline situations. Frome’s strategy can be found in such books as ’Secrets of the New Casino Games’ (Marten Jensen) and ’Armada Strategies for Spanish 21’ (Frank Scoblete). Although I have a great deal of respect for Frome and his body of work, I strongly feel that his basic strategy is incorrect. I speculate he did notincorporate the double down surrender feature correctly into his analysis. My strategies also agree with those of Katarina Walker, who has done an amazing job analyzing Spanish 21 and its cousin, Australian Pontoon, as well as an independent analysis by Mike Hopson. Acknowledgments
I would like to give a huge thanks to Katarina Walker for correcting some minor strategy errors in this page. She is the author of The Pro’s Guide to Spanish 21 and Australian Pontoon.Links
German translation of this page.Written by:Michael Shackleford
The “soft 17 rule” is a rule that requires the dealer to hit on soft 17. For many blackjack players, this rather innocuous rule doesn’t seem like a big deal, but the fact of the matterHenry Tamburin is the editor and publisher of the Blackjack Insider Newsletter and author of the best-selling Blackjack: Take the Money & Run. He is also the lead Instructor for the Golden Touch Blackjack course, a feature writer for Casino Player magazine (and 6 other publications); an owner of a casino gambling publishing company (www.rsucasinobooks.com) and the host of www.smartgaming.com. For a free three month subscription to the Henry’s Blackjack Insider Newsletter with full membership privileges go to www.bjinsider.com/free. Henry’s website is www.smartgaming.com it is.
First, a quick review of what we mean by a soft hand. Any blackjack hand that contains an ace counted as an 11 is a soft hand. An ace-6 hand is a soft 17 and so is an ace-3-3 hand. These hands are played much differently than their corresponding hard hands. For example, ace-6 is soft 17 whereas 10-7 and 7-9-ace hands are hard 17’s (notice that if your hand contains either no ace, or one or more aces that are each count as one, the hand is hard). The reason the distinction is made between soft and hard hands is that they are played quite differently. For example, a player who is dealt a 10-7 should always stand whereas a player who is dealt an ace-6 should never stand.
In the world of blackjack some casinos require dealers to stand when their hand is a soft 17 (designated as s17), whereas others require dealers to hit soft 17 (i.e. they have implemented the soft 17 rule or h17). You can always tell whether a casino has the soft 17 rule or not by reading the wording on the table layout. If it reads “Dealer Must Stand on all 17’s” it means the dealer will stand on soft 17. If instead it states “Dealer Hits Soft 17”, it means the dealer will hit soft 17.
What happens to the odds when the soft 17 rule is in effect? Usually the dealer will bust more often which is good for the player. However, when he doesn’t bust, what would have been a 17 often ends up to be a higher hand that more often then not will beat the player’s hand. Overall the player’s net expectation is reduced by 0.20% with the soft 17 rule which is another way of saying the casino’s edge over a blackjack player increases by that amount. The soft 17 rule, therefore, favors the casino not the player.
Fortunately, there aren’t too many adjustments that you need to make to the basic playing strategy if you are playing in a game with h17. When you are playing, in general you should:
double down on 11 against a dealer’s ace
double down on soft 19 against the dealer’s 6
double down on soft 18 against the dealer’s 2
A more accurate set of playing strategy modifications that takes into effect the number of decks of cards being used is summarized below. Notice the additional hands that you should surrender with h17. The reason is because the player’s chance of winning these hands decreases enough with h17 compared to s17, that surrender becomes the better option.Modifications to Basic Playing Strategy for Soft 17 Rule
Hit soft 18 against ace
If double after pair splitting is allowed, split a pair of 9’s against an ace
If surrender is allowed, surrender hard 15 against an ace and hard 17 against an ace.Double Deck
Double down on soft 14 against 4
Double down on soft 18 against 2
Double down on soft 19 against 6
If surrender is allowed, surrender hard 15 against dealer ace.
4, 6 or 8 Decks
Double down on 11 against an ace
Double down on soft 17 against 2
If surrender is allowed, surrender hard 15 against ace, hard 17 against ace, and a pair of 8’s against dealer ace.
Unfortunately, the number of casinos that are switching to the soft 17 rule is increasing. I can remember not too long ago when nearly 100% of the strip casinos in Las Vegas had the s17 rule on their shoe games. That’s not the case anymore. Based on the information of blackjack playing conditions reported in Stanford Wong’s “Current Blackjack News” only 17% of the Strip casinos offer “only s17 games”, 40% “only h17”, and 43% a mix of s17 and h17 games. Also, just about all the casinos that cater to local players offer only h17 games and ditto for the majority of casinos located in the downtown area.
However, you shouldn’t judge a blackjack game solely on the h17 rule. Why? Because even though the casino gains an extra 0.20% with the soft 17 rule, many casinos in Las Vegas and elsewhere also give some of that edge back to the player by offering single or double deck games in lieu of 6 or 8 deck games. Throw in a few more player favorable rules, such as double after pair splitting (das), resplit of aces (rsa), or late surrender (ls), and all of a sudden a h17 game isn’t such a bad game after all.
For example, summarized below is the casino’s edge for typical blackjack games you will find in Las Vegas (this of course excludes those dastardly 6-5 single games which you should not play). . Note that the casino edge over a basic strategy player for a single deck game with h17 is only 0.18%, a good blackjack game by anyone’s standard. Compare that with the rather high 0.79% for the comparable 6-deck game. In fact even a h17, 6 deck game with a bunch of added player favorable rules still only makes the game average for basic strategy players by Vegas standards.Effect of Playing Rules on Casino’s Edge in H17 Gamesdas = player can double down after pair splittingls = late surrender is offered
# Decks Rules Casino Edge
Single deck h17 0.18%
Single deck h17, rsa 0.15%
Single deck h17, das 0.06%
Double deck h17 0.53%Soft Ace Blackjack Machine
Double deck h17, rsa 0.48%
Double deck h17, das, rsa 0.35%
Double deck h17, das, rsa, ls 0.28%
6 deck h17 0.76%
6 deck h17, rsa 0.69%Soft Ace Blackjack Card Game
6 deck h17, ls 0.67%
6 deck h17,das 0.63%Soft Ace Blackjack No Deposit
6 deck h17, das, rsa 0.56%
6 deck h17, das, ls 0.54%
6 deck h17, das, ls, rsa 0.46%You can of course reduce the casino edge in 6 (or 8) decks by simply playing in a casino that offers the s17 rule rather than h17. For example several Strip casinos offer these set of rules in their 6-deck game: s17, das, ls, and rsa. The casino edge over the basic strategy player is only 0.26%, which is 0.20% lower then the best 6 deck, h17 game. Likewise a 2 deck, s17, das game has a casino edge of only 0.19%, which is 0.21% lower than the corresponding 2 deck, h17, das game. Blackjack Soft 16
In northern Nevada most casinos offer single deck games with h17 but they restrict doubling to only hard 10 and 11. The latter is a casino player favorable rule that results in this game having a casino edge of 0.44% (ie. it converts a good blackjack game to at best average). Soft Ace Blackjack Game
The bottom line is that the soft 17 rule is tolerable in a single deck game (with no restrictions on doubling) and also in a double deck game if das, rsa, or ls is offered. For 6 (or 8) deck games, given a choice between h17 or s17 game, you are better off playing a s17 game.
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