Splitting those killer 8 pairsPrev TopicNext Topic

• Rip Snorter

  

  New Mexico
  United States
  Member #12,305
  March 10, 2005
  2,984 Posts
  Offline
  Dec 27, 2005, 9:01 pm

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  I never split 8s against a dealer 10. I just ain't interested in any of the usual outcomes. I'll surrender them against 10s, ace, or 9. Split them against an 8 or lower.
  
  How do you handle them?
  
  Jack

  Absorb the good, ignore the bad, weigh the ugly.

  It's about number behavior.

  Egos don't count.

   

  Dedicated to the memory of Big Loooser

   
• Rip Snorter

  

  New Mexico
  United States
  Member #12,305
  March 10, 2005
  2,984 Posts
  Offline
  Dec 28, 2005, 6:24 am

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  Last night I decided on a whim to set up the Bearwear animated blackjack game to run all the time testing game strategies. 

  As of the moment, after 2938 hands the player set to split 10s against a 5, or 6, hit Aces against a dealer 10, split them otherwise, hit 12s against dealer 2 or 3, double them against a dealer 5 or 6, double soft 18s against a dealer 5 or 6, and stand on 8 pairs unless the dealer has an 8 or lower,

  has won 8 hands more than he's lost. 

  The most conventional strategy player has lost more than 100 hands more than he's won.

  Second best is a player using the same strategy as number 1, but not splitting 10s.  That one's lost roughly 75 more hands than he's won.

  I'm going to let this run through a million or so hands and tweak it now and then before I reach any conclusions, but at the moment I'm going to do my table playing by that strategy.

  Jack

  Absorb the good, ignore the bad, weigh the ugly.

  It's about number behavior.

  Egos don't count.

   

  Dedicated to the memory of Big Loooser

   
• Todd

  

  50

  Chief Bottle Washer

  New Jersey
  United States
  Member #1
  May 31, 2000
  27,929 Posts
  Online
  Dec 28, 2005, 8:52 am

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  I always split 8's, no matter what.  A 16 is the worst hand imaginable, and to take a 16 and give yourself a chance at 2 18's is a very good move.  (It's called "gambling" for a reason!)

   

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• Rip Snorter

  

  New Mexico
  United States
  Member #12,305
  March 10, 2005
  2,984 Posts
  Offline
  Dec 28, 2005, 9:34 am

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  Thankee Todd.

  Your approach puts you in company with a lot of good gamblers.  Most of them, in fact.

  I just tend to play that one differently because I don't like to ever push more money onto the table when I'm looking at a dealer 10, and I have something mediocre.  There's certainly a shot at a pair of 18s and 2/1 odds the dealer won't have a 10 underneath.  But the other possibility, and one I see enough to cause me to avoid doing it, is ending up with three or four 8s out there, three or four times as much money on the table, and a lot of 18s against a dealer 20.

  It's called gambling, but that's one gamble I just don't care for.  I figure hitting them, surrendering them, or standing on them all get me out of a lousy hand as cheaply as I can get out.

  Jack

  Absorb the good, ignore the bad, weigh the ugly.

  It's about number behavior.

  Egos don't count.

   

  Dedicated to the memory of Big Loooser