Free Forum - Series of soft hands

Newbie2009

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Mar 31, 2009, 7:36:07 AM

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Series of soft hands

I'm very new to Blackjack and am in the process of learning Basic Strategy before I learn to count. When you have a sequence that is soft but is a series of more than two cards, do you treat it the same as if it were two cards? For example, if you have A,2,3; do you play this the same as if it were an A,5? I want to make sure I know BS correctly. Thanks for the advice.

ihate17

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Mar 31, 2009, 2:07:23 PM

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yes and no

Yes, when it comes to hitting A,2,3 but in the vast majority of games you will not be able to double a 3 card hand.

A good example that confuses many new players learning basic strategy is soft 18. Where you would double A,7 vs dealer 3-6, you stay on a 3 or more card soft 18 vs that same 3-6.

prankster

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Mar 31, 2009, 5:51:23 PM

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soft hands

If you can use the Ace as 1 or 11 it's a soft hand. If you can only use the Ace as a 1 (because you'd go over 21 if you used it as 11) you've got a hard hand. (hard total)

PsychoStar

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Apr 1, 2009, 8:58:44 AM

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Clarification

I don't believe that the question was "What is a soft/hard hand?" If I have A,2,3 I still have a soft hand because it equals 6 or sixteen even though you should still think of this as A,5. "ihate17" is completely correct on this. To give all examples to clear it up

If double down is not available hit anything that equals A,6; A,5; A,4; A,3; A,2

If double down is not available stand on anything that equals A,8; A,9

If double down is not available, and you have a hand that equals A,7 (A,5,2),when the dealer has a 2-8 stand, otherwise hit 9,10,A.

Other than this follow your BS chart.

PsychoStar

prankster

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Apr 1, 2009, 1:08:28 PM

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ey!

Well said Psych!

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Series of soft hands