An interesting decision that confuses many players is when you hold a pair of nines against a dealer's nine. Your cards may look pretty but the reality is that this scenario is a losing one for you over the long term, so the goal here is to minimize your losses. Your 18 will beat the dealer's nine only around 40% of the time, however when you split you are a good chance to make a 19 or better which increases your chances of winning to close to 50%. It may feel suicidal to split such an attractive hand but the correct play is to split your pair of nines against a nine every time.
Another paired scenario is when you hold a pair of eights against a dealer's ten. This is another tough one for many new players. It's difficult to comprehend the idea of splitting a pair of eights, to then make two hands of 18, only to see the dealer make a 20 and win both bets! Sure that will happen sometimes, but over the long term you'll lose only about half as much money by splitting the pair of eights than you would if you played out the 16.
Many beginners also make the mistake of standing on a soft 17. This is not a particularly good play. You can only win the hand if the dealer busts, yet you have nothing to lose by hitting another card to try and improve your hand! So always hit (or double down) with a soft 17 and make a hand with a stronger chance of winning.
Never surrendering is another common mistake. Many players hate forfeiting half of their wager (or don't understand the rule) and prefer to slug it out against the dealer. Sure it may feel like you are losing half a bet by surrendering, but instead you need to think of it as saving half a bet. Understand the right situations to surrender and it will definitely increase your profits.
You will often see players standing on a hard 12 against a dealer's two or three for fear of spiking a ten and going bust. They may feel this is a logical strategy but the reality is that they will only hit a ten about one-third of the time, which means that two-thirds of the time the next card will actually improve their hand. They may even spike an eight or nine to give them a very strong hand. Don't be scared of going bust when the odds are in your favor to improve.
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