soft 17

BJ info site depicts that in single deck (ddas ,no surender) if the dealer goes from standing on soft 17 to hitting soft 17, that the players probabilities actuall IMPROVE from -.15% to -.04%. i thought it was always to a players advantage for the dealer to stand on a soft 17. (this same source -from a BJ 21 link--) shows that switching to "hitting soft 17" hurts the player in a 6 deck shoe....sorry for such a basic question , my first post.

I think that should be +.04 h17 & -.15 s17. Both are stating the HOUSE edge so the +.04 is worse for the player then the -.15.
The -.15 is actually showing a slightly positive off-the-top advantage for the player. Not sure what site your referring to but it was probably a typo of some sort.

H17 hurts the basic strategy player both for single and multi decks compared to s17 - usually for about .2.

To match up the numbers, the rules for this single deck would be BJ pays 3/2, double on any two cards before and after splitting, split As once and any other pair up to 4 times, no surrender, insurance ok.

Hope this helps.

thank you very much. my source is the Blackjack Basic Strategy link on the BJ 21 web site. as i am typing this it is just to my left. when i input the specs that was what i got . that is, the probablity was improving as we moved to "hit soft 17." You have confirmed of course the immutablle truth, that dealer standing of soft 17 is always to our disadvantage.,........... let me ask it this way. single deck , ddas, no surrender, a)dealer hits soft 17 is it -.15% ? and b) dealer stands on soft 17 is it + .04% ? while I am at it , how about at double deck same questions? thx again.

I think you misunderstood me. Don't be confused by a minus sign. A minus stated for the house advantage (i.e. -.15%)is a positive for the player. A positive stated for the house (i.e. .04%) is a negative for the player. The -.15% is when the dealer stands on soft 17. This means that the player actually has a +.15% advantage over the house. If the dealer hits soft 17, then the house has the advantage of +.04% over the player. To state it another way - the player has the advantage of +.15% if the dealer stands on soft 17 but has a disadvantage of -.04% if the house hits soft 17.

For the double deck (using the same rules), the numbers would be +.18 for the house advantage if the dealer stands on soft 17 or +.39 if the dealer hits soft 17. The +.39 is a higher house edge when the dealer hits soft 17. In this case, both numbers are positive for the house so the player does not have an advantage off the top no matter what the house does on soft 17 but the house advantage is less (better for the player) if the house stands on soft 17.

If I still didn't make it clear for you let me know and I'll try again.

Edges are as follow for the game you describe:
Single deck, Double After Split and the choice of H17 or S17.

SD, H17, DAS : -0.02% (this is 0.02% AGAINST the player)
SD, S17, DAS : +0.17% (this is 0.17% IN FAVOR of the player)