Blackjack Bob is ready for some 21 talk | Gaming Guru | atlanticcityweekly.com – Atlantic City Weekly

Hitting soft 17 increases the house edge by about two-tenths of a percent.

**Player may double down on any first two cards vs. player may double down only on specific hands:

Its best for players to have more options as long as the players take their time to learn basic strategy and know how to use the options.

Restricting doubles to hard totals of 9, 10 or 11, increases the house edge by about a tenth of a percent, or about two-tenths if theyre restricted to hard 10 or 11.

**Double down after splitting pairs: If the casino doesnt allow you to double after splits, it increases the house edge by .14 percent..

**Players may split pairs, once, twice or three times: If youre allowed to split up to three times for a total of four hands, great. The house edge rises by .01 percent if you can split only twice or .1 percent if you can split only once.

How did Jim take it?

He was doubtful, Bob said. So I used one of your favorite, the house edge calculator at wizardofodds.com.

I defined one game as single deck, dealer hits soft 17, you can double down only on hard 10 or 11, no double after splits, and split pairs only once. I think most online games are continuous shuffle, right? So the house edge with basic strategy is .48 percent.

Then I plugged in six decks, stand on all 17s, double on any first two including after splits, split three times, and the edge came up as .41 percent.

Did the lower edge on the six-deck game convince Jim?

Maybe not, but it at least raised some doubts. And I did my duty.

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Blackjack Bob is ready for some 21 talk | Gaming Guru | atlanticcityweekly.com - Atlantic City Weekly