Splitting cards in a game of blackjack

Blackjack is known and loved by a lot of players around the world. Probably due to the fact that the game is easy to learn but keeps being exciting even to the more experienced gamblers the game has gathered a crowd of followers who regard blackjack as their favorite amongst the many popular card games that the online or traditional casinos have to offer. And it is quite easy to learn how to play blackjack. To learn the basic rules will not take you long and once you are familiar with the basics you are ready to go. But still, there are a couple of more advanced rules to the game of blackjack. Once you know when to hit or stand you need to learn when to split your cards.

Splitting in Blacjack

When the player has a hand with two identical cards in blackjack, it is possible to divide the hand into two and continue to play with two hands instead of one: this is called to split the hand.

Playing with a divided hand has both advantages and disadvantages. With two hands the chances of winning are doubled and if luck is on your side you could win two hands in one round. Knowing when to split the hand is an important part of increasing you chances of beating the dealer in blackjack. As mentioned there are of course disadvantages as well. If you lose, you will inevitably lose more money than if you were just playing with one hand.

When a hand is split, the player automatically receives a new card on each split card, so that the player now plays with two hands and double action. Should the player again get a card with the same value once again, the hand is not split further - a hand can only split once. Nor is it possible to get blackjack on a split hand, the player can of course get 21, but not a natural blackjack.

Know When to Split

As mentioned it is crucial to know when to split if you want to increase your chances of winning. One rule sums it up pretty good, and that rule says: never split a winning hand. If you have a good hand that has good chances of beating the dealer you should rather bet on that hand instead of hoping to win more by splitting the hand. The prime example is sitting with two cards with the value of 10 (which is fairly common in blackjack because all face cards are all worth 10). Should you split this hand? No - win the one hand instead! For the same reason you should not split hands with two 4s or 5s. Your chances of getting a 10-value card is big, and once you get that extra tenner you will be close to victory!

Some hands should always be split. Two aces should always be split, because your chances of getting two times 21 is quite big. Two 8s must always split because 16 is generally a bad hand and by splitting you are increasing the odds.

If the dealer's visible card is between 2 and 7, you basically split any other pairs than 4s, 5s and 10s. Sitting with a couple of 9 on hand, it is unwise to split if the dealer has 7, 10 or an ace.

Learn these main rules of splitting in blackjack before you try out on your own.