European No hole Card - Splits & Doubles

Can anyone help with this - I am UK based and Still a beginner and played a few games in the local Casino - It has a rare shoegame for the UK and DAS is allowed and resplitting of Aces, - { I dont count cards yet }

Just became aware that the strategy because of the no hole card affects the decision - If I have read it right I split 8's when dealer shows 2 > 9 and double my 11 against 2 > 9 only - please correct if wrong

I also thought then I would split aces against 2> 9 also but the chart titled Table 29 on page 83 of  '' Stanford Wongs''  Professional Blackjack'' I cannot decipher -  Example it shows I split against the dealer 2> 6 - hit against an Ace but against 7> 10 it has a minus sign and number??   -  Example AA against a 7 shows the decision is -9 

What does -9 mean in this equation - The key at the bottom of the page shows - is to stand - hope I have worded all this right -any help appreciated

Excalibur,

Wong's "Professional Blackjack" devotes Chapter 8 to "No Hole  Card" games. If you lose all to a dealer's BJ, the game is called "European No Hole Card", or ENHC. Table 42 gives the HiLo strategy for a ENHC S17 game, and the accompanying text describes the changes for a H17 game.

On the strategy chart, a "-" means Stand, a "db" means Double Down, a bare "h" means Hit, and "spl" means Split: all of these entries are true regardless of the "count per deck", which these days is called the "true count" or just TC.

The "h/-" for 8-8 vs. 10 and A means "don't Split, and instead look on the Hard 16 line to decide what to do."

A number (or "index", as we usually call it these days) on the strategy chart indicates that your decision for the given matchup depends on the TC. In general, you take the more aggressive option when the TC is greater than or equal to the index:

If the choice is Surrender or Not, you Surrender.
If the choice is Split or Not, you Split.
If the choice is Double Down or Not, you Double Down.
If the choice is Stand or Hit, you Stand.

(Note that a few of the indexes are noted with asterisks as "reverse indexes": in those cases, you reverse the above actions. For example, on Table 38, the Surrender index for Hard 17 vs. A for a H17 game is 2*. This means that you Surrender Hard 17 vs. A in a H17 game only if the TC is less than 2.)

So, to address you question, if you're dealt A-A vs. 7, the "-9" index tells you to Split if the TC is -9 or higher (so -5, 0, +2, etc.), and don't split if the TC is -10 or lower: since the TC is rarely lower than -9, you should almost always split A-A vs. 7. If you do encounter the rare situation where you don't split, then you would hit, since standing on Soft 12 is ridiculous.

Hope this helps!

 Dog Hand
 

Excellent - many thanks for such a detailed response