So, you have two face cards. With a total of 20, you stand pat, right?
Maybe not. There are plenty of people who would be looking to maximise their potential return.
Splitting is something you can only do after you receive your two cards, and can only be done with identical cards. They don?t have to be completely identical, i.e. two queens of diamonds, just the same rank.
The player has to place a second bet, identical to the first, next to the original wager and the dealer splits the two cards to create a second hand.
Rules of splitting include that there are no blackjacks. If you draw a queen on top of an ace, it?s 21 and not blackjack so you could still end up not winning.
Another standard rule is that if you split aces, you only get one additional card for each split hand.
Just occasionally, you?ll be able to really make the most of your hand by re-splitting. If the cards of a post-split hand are also the same value, you can usually split them again and place a further wager on the new hand.
To take the first example, of drawing two picture cards, the best advice is to stick at 20, regardless of what the dealer holds. You have a good chance of winning with that hand, whereas you don?t know what you would get with the split hand.
There is an almost universal rule: always split aces and eights. Because of the number of picture cards in a deck, your chances of getting 21 with your split hands is pretty good.
Eights are split not because they have great potential of winning, but because 16 is a lousy total to play with.
There are tables available online that can teach you when to split, when to stick and when to hit. It?s useful to memorise these guidelines if you?re playing in a physical casino, whereas you can always have them open in another window when you?re playing online.
Written by Alex Corcoran, online bingo fan, gaming expert and online features writer, specialising in casino games such as poker, craps and Blackjack.
