1. Blackjack Strategy Soft Hands
2. Soft 17 Blackjack
3. Blackjack Soft Hands Rules

Two terms you need to learn if you want to improve your Blackjack playing skills are so-called soft and hard hands. This is very important as these two terms are often used in Blackjack literature and strategy articles. Basically, the concept is quite simple with soft hands being all hands that contain an ace while hard hands being hands with no aces included.

Hard and Soft Hands – The Hard Blackjack Hand A hard blackjack hand differs from a soft hand in two aspects primarily. First of all, a hard hand does not necessarily need to have an ace; it may have one, but it is okay even if it doesn’t have one. Aug 06, 2008  A soft hand has an ace counting as 10. The reason why they call it soft is that it cannot break with one hit. You play soft hands differently than 'hard' hands in the basic strategy. Usually in many cases hard 17 never gets hit. In every case soft 17 gets drawn to because it is such a poor hand.

If you have ever joined a Blackjack table and haven’t understood the rule reading “the dealer must hit soft 17”, you have landed on the right page. Let’s learn how you can make use of soft and hard hands while playing Blackjack and get as close to 21 as possible.

Differences between Soft Hands and Hard Hands

The biggest difference between a soft hand and a hard hand is that one cannot go bust when a soft hand is dealt to them. One of the basic rules of Blackjack is that exceeding 21 results in a bust and when you are dealt a hand consisting of any card and an ace, you cannot go above 21. This is due to the fact that an ace in a hand in Blackjack can be counted as 1 or 11. When you have a soft hand, you can hit until you create a winning hand. Let’s say that you have been dealt a 7 and an ace. Such a hand can be worth 8 or 18. You can hit and get a card that will complete a hand closer or equal to 21.

On the other hand, hard hands consist of cards with a set value. Because of that, this hand can exceed 21 when hitting and result in a bust. When you are dealt a hard hand, it is important to know which move is advisable to make according to the proper strategy. In this case, you will have to make moves (hitting, standing, doubling down or splitting) according to the dealer’s face-up card. Although this won’t guarantee a winning hand, you can improve your chances of winning. The hard hand strategy combined with card counting can help you get an advantage over the casino.

Soft 17 Rule

You have probably stumbled upon Blackjack variants in which the dealer has to hit on a soft 17. This rule increases the house edge which may not be most favourable for a player. Yet, this should not turn you off as other rules may decrease the house edge giving you even chances to beat the game. However, when playing a Blackjack variant with this rule in play, you have to pay attention to a few things. If the game allows doubling down and the Soft 17 rule is used, you should go for it if you have a hand of 11 and the dealer has an Ace. Doubling down is also recommended when you have a soft 19 or 18 and the dealer shows a 6 or 2 respectively.

If you opt for a Blackjack game with the Soft 17 rule, you will have to be ready to adjust your playing strategy to decrease the house advantage which is evident in this case. On the other hand, when the dealer has to stand on all 17 hands, both soft and hard, players will have the advantage. This is the general rule that is stated on the betting layout just like the Soft 17 rule. If you are looking for general advice about the Soft 17 rule, we can say that single deck games are more favourable to players when this rule is applied while with 2 and 6-deck games, it is better if the dealer must stand on soft 17.

The terms ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ in blackjack refer to whether or not a hand features a flexible Ace. If it doesn’t, the hand is hard; if it does, the hand is soft. New players might not see the significance of such a distinction. An 18 is an 18 and should be played the same way regardless of the specific cards involved, right?

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Wrong. Whether a total is soft or hard can have a big impact on correct blackjack strategy, especially when playing with liberal rules for doubling down. Furthermore, the dealer’s treatment of flexible scores is pivotal when it comes to calculating the house edge.

Hard totals in Australian blackjack

Blackjack Strategy Soft Hands

A hard total is one with no Ace, or where the Ace can only count as one point without busting (e.g. A 6 8 = hard 15). There are 18 possible hard values in a standard blackjack game, starting at four points and finishing at 21.

With the exception of splittable pairs, the basic strategy for hard hands in Australian casino blackjack is rather straightforward:

Green (H) = Hit
Red (S) = Stand
Orange (D) = Double down (if not allowed, hit)

How to play soft hands in 21

A soft total features an Ace (or Aces) that can count as either one point or 11. For example: an Ace and an Eight is called a soft 19 because it can be either 19 points or nine. There are nine valid soft scores in blackjack, the lowest of which is 13 (A 2).

The proper play for soft hands can vary significantly depending on certain rules. Most Australian blackjack games don’t allow players to double down on soft totals, for instance, while US casinos tend to allow doubling on any two cards. As shown below, according to an eight-deck game where the dealer always stands on 17, the Aussie restrictions make for a much simpler strategy while Vegas rules allow players to be quite aggressive with a soft 17 or lower.

Double down on hard nine, 10, or 11 only:

Double down on any two cards:

Green (H) = Hit
Red (S) = Stand
Orange (Dh) = Double down (if not allowed, hit)
Pink (Ds) = Double down (if not allowed, stand)

Soft 17 Blackjack

Dealer hits soft 17 rule

There once was a time when the house always stood pat with 17, regardless of whether or not the hand featured a two-way Ace. Nowadays, however, many land-based casinos instruct their blackjack dealers to hit on soft 17, which has a considerable impact on the odds.

In a regular shoe game with six to eight decks in play, the dealer hitting on 17 adds about 0.22% to the house edge. That’s greater than the overall margin on some online blackjack games, such as Microgaming’s Classic Blackjack Gold Series (0.13% with basic strategy).

Blackjack Soft Hands Rules

In Vegas-style 21, this rule also affects the ideal strategy for doubling down. For example: when the dealer stands on soft 17, most experts would advise against doubling on 11 when the house shows an Ace; but when the dealer hits on soft 17, such a move would be encouraged.