Playing a soft hand
Sometimes as fuzzy as the different between a soft-boiled egg and a hard-boiled egg is the strategy involved when playing a “soft” hand of blackjack vs. a “hard” hand of blackjack. Many folks who are typical, non card-counting casino folk will know the general strategy card and understand the goal of getting as close to a 0% advantage for you or the house that you can, but still struggle greatly when it comes to advanced decisions regarding soft hands. This isn’t unusual, and I’m here to help.
Usually, it comes from a lack of confidence. Does the order your Ace appears in your hand affect your decision making? Oftentimes, the dilemma of whether to hit or stand on a soft hand doesn’t come on your first two cards. Instead, it’s three, four or even five cards in. Of course, you know how to add, and if your hand is at 19 or 20 on the deal or first hit, etc., you’re going to stand. But what about that gray area?
By gray area, I’m talking about 12-17. The question isn’t whether to hit, it’s when to stop, right? The enticement and allure of having a card that can change it’s value can greatly skew your judgment, and can also be somewhat deceiving if you’re not focused on the mathematics involved.
A major stumbling block for people when using basic blackjack strategy is that they continue to cling to this allure of the soft hand, and play their hand as such, even after it has become hard. Once your hand is high enough, you can’t flip that Ace back to 11, and thus must play only one way. By that time, though, you’ve seen enough low cards to get yourself into somewhat of a trap, and you’ll think you can bring yourself from a 16 up to a 19 with just one more hit. You must resist this temptation, though, and treat your hand as though it were a K, 6 right off the deal at this point.
It’s really just a matter of basic multi-tasking in your head. You have to keep a running account of the low version of your hand, the high version of your hand, and then play both alongside each other until you either stand or the low option is taken away from you.
Just promise me you’ll still remember to split those Aces if you get them off the deal.