Playing with Hard Hands

In blackjack, not poker, a hard hands means that a hand that does not have an Ace, so it can only be placed as an Ace. A hard hand is also a hand that has an Ace but must be played as a 1 in order to avoid the bust. Some common plays you will be making when you play hard hands. You will always hit a hard 8 or less. The next thing you will want to know that you will always stand on a hard 17 or better. Mathematically this only leaves about 8 more winning possibilities.

When you are playing hard hands a 12 through a 16 is called Stiff Hands, these hands you don’t want because it will be hard to beat the dealer. The potential for a double down is a hard 9 through a hard 11 and can be good to double down. Playing the hand total of 9, in this case when you have a total card amount of 9. The double down is played if the dealer is showing a 3, 4, 5 or 6. If you see any other than these cards then take a hit.

When playing with basic strategy you can assume that you will be given a 10 because there are 4 of them plus the Jacks, Queens and Kings are counted as tens as well. If you have a 9 in your hand then the bets card you can get a 10 or an Ace you can use as a 10. Coming up with a 19 is a very good hand and can be hard to beat but it is beatable, you want the dealer to have either over 21 or fewer than 19 in order for you to win.

Playing a hard total of 10. If the dealer has an upward of 2 thru 9 then you should double down. If the dealer has anything else then hit. Most of the time you will get a 10 when you are hitting because there are a total of 16 tens in the deck as we just mentioned. If you begin with a ten then chances are you will end up with a 20. A total of 20 in your cards is great there is only one hand better but the chances are that you get a 10 is the same chances that the dealer will get a 10 as well.

Playing a total hand of 11, this is when you want to double down if the dealer has a 2 thru 10. If all else then take a hit. With there being so many tens in the deck. This gives you a great chance of being given a 21. The only way a dealer can beat a 20 is to get a 21 and the only way to lose a 20 hand is if the dealer comes up with a push.

Playing a total hard 12, stand if the dealer is showing a 4,5 or 6 and then stand otherwise, you are playing a hard 13-16, stand if the dealer has an upward of 2 thru 6 and hit otherwise and if you are playing hard 17 thru 21 then always stand .