Blackjack question from a noob (Splitting).

Muppet Man

I recently played blackjack in a casino for the first time with 3 or 4 other players at the table. I had the basic gist of how to play the game and was doing well (won about 5 or 6 out of the first 10 games). 10 USD min bet.

At one point I was dealt two aces and the dealer asked me if I wanted to split. The lady sitting beside me (probably knowing I was a noob) said I should split, which I did... (I have since googled it and understand better now). I was effectively playing two hands.

What happened next is what is confusing me... My next two cards on top of the two splits aces were another two aces. Everyone at the table was "Wow, geez, I never saw that happened before". I smiled, pretended I knew what was going on and just assumed I had won something.

What SHOULD have happened next? - So in summary, I have two hands in front of me now with two aces in each hand. And a 10 dollar bet on each.

From what I can remember of the situation, I didnt win anything and the hand ended (I lost) and didnt get a chance to ask for more cards. I'm confused by this as I thought my position should have been I had two hands of 2 or 12 in front of me, and I should have been allowed to ask for more cards on each.

Muppet Man

BloodBath

Splitting Aces is the right thing to do as 2 aces is a terrible starting hand on it's own but splitting them gives you 2 chances of getting a blackjack/21. Hitting 2 more Aces is pretty crazy. Some casinos would allow you to split this even further into 4 hands of Aces which would be ideal as you now have 4 chances of hitting a blackjack with any 10 card. The most common card in the deck.

What happens next is you should play each of split hands individually taking more cards on 1 at a time as normal. Did the dealer not ask you what you wanted to do after dealing the split? You could have cleaned up with a 4 way split.

kerry37

Generally you only get dealt 1 more card on split aces, you dont have the option to split further or get more cards. It gives the casino a small edge, like in your situation, you ended on 12 so dealer won with what I assume was more than 12.

Splitting aces was the correct move FWIW. Unlucky draw.

Mokuba

kerry37 wrote: »

Generally you only get dealt 1 more card on split aces, you dont have the option to split further or get more cards. It gives the casino a small edge, like in your situation, you ended on 12 so dealer won with what I assume was more than 12.

Splitting aces was the correct move FWIW. Unlucky draw.

This is the correct answer to your question.

Muppet Man

kerry37 wrote: »

Generally you only get dealt 1 more card on split aces, you dont have the option to split further or get more cards. It gives the casino a small edge, like in your situation, you ended on 12 so dealer won with what I assume was more than 12.

Splitting aces was the correct move FWIW. Unlucky draw.

Thanks - this makes sense and matches with what happened at the table. I thought I had won a jackpot or something with my poker of aces LOL. I was disappointed when nothing happened, and didnt have the balls to question it at a table with 3 or 4 other people.I assumed someone would have said something if the dealer or I had made a mistake.

Is it ONLY on split aces that you dont get an option for more cards? (e.g. if I split two fours and get a 5 and a 6, and then I can then get more cards?)

kerry37

Muppet Man wrote: »

Thanks - this makes sense and matches with what happened at the table. I thought I had won a jackpot or something with my poker of aces LOL. I was disappointed when nothing happened, and didnt have the balls to question it at a table with 3 or 4 other people.I assumed someone would have said something if the dealer or I had made a mistake.

Is it ONLY on split aces that you dont get an option for more cards? (e.g. if I split two fours and get a 5 and a 6, and then I can then get more cards?)

Yes. Only on split aces.

Any other split, you can draw as many as you like. Or choose to double down and just get 1 card