What if you can't split your As?

[kbmc]

What should you do if you have a pair of As but you are not allowed to split because, for example, you've already split to the maximum number of hands allowed? I know this is quite an unlikely scenario as you'd have to draw a bunch of As, but you still need to know what to do. I'm interested in particular in the [
2 decks, S17, DAS, Late Surrender, Peek] and [2 decks, S17, DAS, Early Surrender, No Peek] rulesets.

 

[DSchles]

Yours is a strange question in that it assumes that a) you can resplit aces, which is a generous hard-to-find rule, and b) you can actually hit or double the hand, rather than simply receive one card to split aces, which is almost universal as a rule. But, since you're asking, I'm not really understanding the problem: you play the ensuing hand like any soft hand that you would receive in the games you're discussing.

Don

 

[kbmc]

a) you can resplit aces, which is a generous hard-to-find rule,

I was not aware of resplitting aces not generally being allowed. Thanks for the info! Still, if I'm not allowed to resplit aces, then I'm even more likely to not be allowed to split aces, thus making my question even more important.

b) you can actually hit or double the hand, rather than simply receive one card to split aces

I don't understand what you mean. My understanding is that, if you split any pair, you simply get an extra card for each new hand. After that, you're able to decide whether you want to hit, stand, etc. and, at this point, you should also be allowed to double if DAS is included in the rules.

you play the ensuing hand like any soft hand that you would receive in the games you're discussing.

The problem is that the charts I've checked (such as the ones I linked in the OP) don't list A + 1 in the soft totals table, so I don't know what I'm supposed to do.

 

[DSchles]

The problem is that the charts I've checked (such as the ones I linked in the OP) don't list A + 1 in the soft totals table, so I don't know what I'm supposed to do.

Question: what could possibly be your options with A,A?

Don

 

[Dog Hand]

"What Do Words Mean?" or "Casinospeak"

A casino that I used to play years ago allowed resplits on Aces on their DD game. They also had a rules sign posted on each table that included the line "Hands can be split four times."

One day I received AA, so I split. The first A got another A, so I split a second time. Once again, the first hand got an A, so I split for a third time. At this point, I had four hands, each with only a single A. Naturally, the first hand received yet another A, so I put out a fifth bet and motioned to split once more.

"You can't split again," said the PC.

I pointed to the sign, then counted out my hands, saying, "I've only split three times. The sign says I can split a fourth time."

The PC replied, "That's not what the sign means."

It wasn't 1984, but it sure felt like it :-(

Dog Hand

P.S. The signs disappeared from their tables shortly thereafter.

 

[kbmc]

Question: what could possibly be your options with A,A?

Well, surrendering is not allowed (not that you would want to do that anyway), since you've already split, and standing is non-sensical, as your total can only increase if you hit or double and you can't bust. That leaves hitting and doubling down as the possible reasonable options.

We normally double-down against the dealer's 5 and 6 if we have an A,2 because of the high chance of the dealer busting, so perhaps we should do the same thing for A,A. You'd need to do the math to verify this, though... and, funnily enough, while looking up "dealer bust probability calculator" to get some insight into this I stumbled upon this blackjack calculator that shows exactly the EV of each option and, against the dealer's 5 and 6, doubling down does have a higher EV than hitting (+0.171 vs +0.169 and +0.213 vs +0.192, respectively). Against any other dealer's upcard, hitting has better EV. However, these numbers are for 2-deck S17 DAS Peek blackjack and, if you change that to 6-deck blackjack, all other rules kept the same, then, against the dealer's 5, hitting has better EV than doubling down (+0.161 vs +0.141). So, for that ruleset, you should only double down against the dealer's 6 (assuming you can't split your As, of course).

I guess that answers my question! Only thing that's bothering me is what CVCX does in the A,A vs 5 situation. Does it adjust the strategy based on the number of decks like I've shown above or does it always double down? But that might be a topic for a different day/thread.

 

[DSchles]

Proud of you! Nice analysis. And absolutely correct.

It isn't often that we get to contemplate what to do with A,A if we can't split. One of the reasons is that we rarely are permitted to hit the hand, if we can't split. We're usually stuck with the A,A. So, this doesn't come up very often, and I doubt that many players would now the right plays.

Don