Basic Strategy Soft Hands

[Dyepaintball12]

Let say for example I hit an A3(Soft 14) against a Dealers 10 and I get a 3, giving me a 17. Do I stand because I have a 17 or keep going?

I have read books that say when u have more than 3 cards you should consider your hand hard. But the dealers I talked to said hit some of the time and other times hit.

What to do What to do?

 

[Mikeaber]

Let say for example I hit an A3(Soft 14) against a Dealers 10 and I get a 3, giving me a 17. Do I stand because I have a 17 or keep going?

I have read books that say when u have more than 3 cards you should consider your hand hard. But the dealers I talked to said hit some of the time and other times hit.

What to do What to do?

Look at your strategy cards. Most of them will tell you on the soft hands to hit, double if you can or else stand. A soft 17 is a soft 17 no matter how many cards you've drawn so against a 10, you would hit again.

 

[ScottH]

Let say for example I hit an A3(Soft 14) against a Dealers 10 and I get a 3, giving me a 17. Do I stand because I have a 17 or keep going?

I have read books that say when u have more than 3 cards you should consider your hand hard. But the dealers I talked to said hit some of the time and other times hit.

What to do What to do?

No matter how many cards your hand contains, if the hand is still soft, treat it as such.

 

[Sonny]

I have read books that say when u have more than 3 cards you should consider your hand hard.

The number of cards in the hand has nothing to do with the relative "hardness" of it. If the ace is counted as 11 then it is soft, but if the ace is counted as 1 then it is hard. A hand of A,2,4 is a soft 17 or a hard 7 depending on how you want to play it. You should always hit or double a soft 17, never stand.

But the dealers I talked to said hit some of the time and other times hit.

That shows you how much the dealers know about basic strategy!

-Sonny-

 

[ortango]

I have read books that say when u have more than 3 cards you should consider your hand hard.

Thats because those three cards are 3 more small cards that probably can help you. However the advantage from that one hand is negligible and only really applies to a hards 15 or 16. But even still, without counting that really makes no significant difference. Don't stay just be cause you have 3 small cards. If there are just as many 10s out, follow basic strategy.

But the dealers I talked to said hit some of the time and other times hit.

The dealer is thinking about 16, not 17. Don't ever stay on soft 17 please, unless you are a charity for the poor casinos.

 

[ihate17]

Never ever need to stay

I do not care if the dealer is showing a 5 or 6, there is never a reason to stay on a soft 13-17, hit the thing. That dealer showing a 5 almost as likely has an A,2,3,4,5, or 6 in the hole than a 7, 8,9,10-K and then you never know what the dealer might hit. There is no gaurantee that a 5 or 6 means a bust for the dealer so if you have a soft 13-17 you know you can not bust by taking a card, so you have to take.

One exception: If you know the dealers hole card and also know the card the dealer will pull from the shoe and it would result in the dealer busting, you stay. If you do not know these two minor items, you must hit.

You would stay on a multicard soft 18 vs dealer 2-8 because you have a better chance winning with 18 vs these dealer cards than improving your hand, but you would hit it vs dealer 9,10, Ace because 18 is generally a loser against these cards so often that taking a shot at 1 or more cards to improve your 18 or bust is worth it.

ihate17

 

[sagefr0g]

Thats because those three cards are 3 more small cards that probably can help you. However the advantage from that one hand is negligible and only really applies to a hards 15 or 16. But even still, without counting that really makes no significant difference. Don't stay just be cause you have 3 small cards. If there are just as many 10s out, follow basic strategy.



The dealer is thinking about 16, not 17. Don't ever stay on soft 17 please, unless you are a charity for the poor casinos.

right i believe it's Renzy that talks of doing this when he talks about composition depedent hands ect. but you need to be careful about this as he qualifies such actions by saying you might not do that if you are counting.

best regards,
mr fr0g

 

[ihate17]

composition dependent hands

right i believe it's Renzy that talks of doing this when he talks about composition depedent hands ect. but you need to be careful about this as he qualifies such actions by saying you might not do that if you are counting.

best regards,
mr fr0g

Composition dependent hands become important when playing single deck, a fraction of importance when playing double deck and nearly no importance when playing a shoe. You stay on 7,7 vs 10 in single deck, certainly not because 14 is a good hand but because half the 7's are in your hand but in a shoe you only have 1/12 the sevens and you hit.

ihate17

 

[dacium]

Composition of a hand is important in ANY amount of decks. This can be see with hitting 12 against a 4 in a 6 deck shoe. If the twelve is T2 then its actually move EV to hit than stand, but no BS for 6 deck says to hit 12 against a 4 because all the other combinations of 12 (66, 93, 84 75) are all better to stand.

The answer to this question depends on the specific rules you were playing.

In terms of basic stategy then you never change what you do no matter how many cards you have. For example if you have a 6 card 16 you still have to hit against that 10. However in advanced stategy we know that even in a 6 card shoe any 3 or 4 in your hand automatically makes it not werth hitting on soft 17 (this depends on the rules though) If you can remember these 'advanced' stategies then ok great

In all seriousness though, it really isnt likly to make any difference in these rare situations if or not you hit. As with 12 vs 4, the difference between hit and stand is so small that its practially negligable compared the gain you will achieve when counting and modifiying the bs based on the count.