HERE'S THE SITUATION:

You're playing in a multiple deck blackjack game where the option of soft doubling is allowed. You are dealt an Ace and a five while the dealer is showing a two. With your hand of Ace-five you have a starting point where you have either 6 or 16 - whichever is going to work better for you under the circumstances. As a result, you've got some ways to go here - you can stand, hit, or double down.

Which of these options do you go with?

THE CORRECT PLAY:

Standing certainly wouldn't appear to make a whole lot of sense. And don't get carried away with the idea of doubling, just because the dealer isn't showing a "pat" upcard. What you need to do here is HIT this soft hand.

THE EXPLANATION:

Essentially, we encounter two questions -
(A) Is the Ace-five (and remember - that's always how we refer to it, not 6 or 16) a strong enough hand to double with?, and
(B) Is the two weak enough as a dealer upcard to double against? The answer to the first question is yes, usually. The Ace-five gives you the 6 or 16, and there are a lot of hands you could get that could be worse.

In fact, you WILL double this hand against the dealer's upcard of 4,5, or 6. However, the answer to the second question is, NO, the two does not provide enough latitude to double. It allows the dealer too much of a chance to get "pat" (i.e., deal himself a solid or standing hand).

The bottom line, mathematically, is that with this hand you have an overall negative expectation; you will win 1% MORE and lose 1% LESS if you hit the hand as opposed to doubling it.

You can play four different kinds of blackjack at EnglishHarbour.com, which features 80+ casino games with superior graphic and sound effects. Tournaments are offered on a daily basis, and customer service is available 'round the clock. You can play for Free. Play BlackJack at EnglishHarbour.com!