The Definitive Guide to Paired Blackjack Hands

March 15, 2014 by

paired-blackjack-hands When you’re dealt a pair in blackjack, you have the additional option to split your hands. In fact, the first thing you should do when you’re dealt paired cards is to decide if you should split or not, but it’s not always an easy decision. A lot of information complicates this decision, and that information includes the card that the dealer holds. Most players know to never split fives or tens and to always split aces and eights, but the right strategies for the rest of the hands are a bit tricky to learn.

Paired Blackjack Hands Made Easy

In what follows, we’re going to break up the remaining hands and show you how to play them. Let’s start with twos and threes. You should always hit with paired twos or threes if you’re facing an eight or higher, and you should split against a seven or lower. However, if you can’t double after splitting, then you should just hit when you have split twos or threes and the dealer also has a two or three. Paired sevens play the exact same way except you should always split against a dealer two or three regardless of the rules on doubling after splitting.

With paired fours in blackjack, life is pretty easy. You will never split with fours except in the specific situation that you’re up against a five or six and are allowed to double after splitting. Otherwise, just play this hand like a hard total of eight.

If you have paired sixes, then hit if you’re facing a seven or higher. Along similar lines, if you have a pair of sevens, then hit if you’re facing an eight or higher. You’ll always split eights except in one very specific situation. If you have the option to surrender and the dealer hits on a soft 17, then it’s slightly better to surrender paired eights when you’re up against an ace.

Finally, we have paired nines. You should always split nines unless you’re up against a seven, ten or ace. Against these three cards, you should just stand and you will usually have the best of it.

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