Not being able to double down on a blackjack would not change the house edge at all! Because the house edge is caculated on a neutral deck and not being able to double on blackjack won't hurt you. In extremly high counts where there are only 10's left in the deck doubling could be correct. BLACKJACK STRATEGIES Always double down on a hard 11 Split a pair of 8s & Aces Never split a pair of 5s and 10s Always hit a hard 12 vs. Dealer's 2 or 3 upcard Hit soft 18 vs. Dealer's 9, 10 or Ace upcard Double down on 10 vs. Dealer's 9 upcard or less Tips on if the dealer must hit on soft 17 Double down A-2 through A7 vs. Definition of double down in the Idioms Dictionary. Double down phrase. To double one's original bet after being dealt the first two cards in a game of blackjack.

Double Down? So what does Double Down mean in Blackjack and why is it such a popular strategy?

What is double down in blackjack The rules of blackjack (also referred to as twenty-one) are relatively easy to pick up. It’s a game between a player or group of players and the dealer.

In short, it is bumping up your initial bet by 100% and staying in the game after only receiving one more card. It might seem like a risky strategy and for some doubling their winnings is the main motivator, but there can be some good reasons behind such a bold move.

The beauty about Blackjack Double Down is that there are some useful and well defined rules based on mathematical probability and tested by generations of players.

That said, the calculability of a hand’s success is not a guarantee of its profitability, nor does it rob the game of its excitement.

Watch a tutorial here. Credit: androidslots.co.uk

Blackjack Double Down – A Numbers Game

Firstly, however green you are to Blackjack, we can all agree that the highest number you can sensibly get is 21. Secondly, we’re out to beat the dealer, either by having the higher value hand, or watching them go bust.

From there on in it’s a case of using statistics to your advantage. This means that whenever you’ve drawn one of the lower 6 cards, there remains a high statistical probability that the remaining cards are all more likely to be a help rather than a hindrance.

Equally, when the dealer draws a 4; 5; or 6, they are statistically more likely to go bust. It therefore seems quite reasonable that when these two scenarios are in play, Blackjack Double Down may well be a good payoff.

Jumping the Gun

Sadly, many players can become a little hyper focused, looking at only the dealers hand or their own and basing their decision to Double Down on that one factor.

For example, many players will draw a 9 and Double Down if the dealer has anything other than a 10. This is strategically flawed and will lead to a significant loss over time.

The other ill-judged manoeuvre is for a player to split a pair of 5’s, which in itself is a risk. A sensible rule here is to keep them together and treat them like a 10. That way you stand a better chance when Doubling Down.

Blackjack Double Down Rules

Rules can vary slightly between casinos, but generally Doubling Down can be used after the player draws their first two cards. Some venues, both online and real-world allow Doubling Down on a Blackjack, whilst others can restrict its use to totals of 9; 10; or 11.

Wherever you play, make sure you know the house rules before you play.

Where it is permitted, splitting a hand into a pair and then doubling down can be useful, but as already mentioned, use this with caution.

Once you have signalled your intention to Double Down, you place your wager. Normally this is 100% your original bet, though some casinos will allow a less-than-double additional wager.

Once you have signalled your intention to Double Down, or simply pressed the relevant button in an online casino, only one more card can be drawn for the player, and they are committed to play.

How to Double Down in Blackjack?

Plenty of rookies have come unstuck, learning the various strategies for making a good Blackjack Double Down play, but not paying attention to its execution.

Etiquette and protocol are a must if you’re not going to spoil the atmosphere at the table. Thankfully online gaming has made the embarrassment from a faux pas less of weighty on the ego, however, you could still miss out if you don’t know when to make the right move.

In short, most games expect the Double Down to be executed immediately after being dealt their second card. If you accidentally hit, you’ll miss your chance and that would really be a shame.

History

The question of when to double down in Blackjack is one that was answered back in the 1950’s when Magician John Scarne took the time to work out the mathematics behind the King of Casino games, Blackjack. His work, published in a book ‘Scarne’s New Complete Guide to Gambling’ described the odds and various plays to be able to make the best possible calls.

The amazing thing about his work is that it still stands true today, with the mathematics and odds transcending time and permeating every Blackjack table in the world.

Today there are many Blackjack Double Down charts that simplify the learning process so that committed players can memorise the best plays.

The Strategies

When to double in blackjack is one of the most asked questions about the game. The best advice originates mainly from John Scarne’s work and has been published and republished in various forms. However, a problem arises whenever that advice is shortened or misquoted.

For example, if the player has drawn 11, they should Double Down, or so the rule says. In reality, there are factors that can influence the probability of this being a successful strategy.

The main one being what cards are left in the deck. Now this question is mainly one reserved for card counters who are able to discern whether the remaining deck is negative heavy, i.e. full of low cards, or not.

In this case, Doubling Down could be risky, especially if the dealer is showing a 10 or higher.

In contrast, where the remaining deck is positive, the player can be assured of more 10’s and above in the pack and has the option to play more hands that could result in a 20 or 21.

For those without that card counting knowhow, it’s usually a good strategy to stick to Doubling Down whenever you have an 11.

What are Hard and Soft Hands then?

Terminology is important, so get it right. Hard Hands don’t normally have and Ace unless it is being used as a 1. Soft Hands, conversely will have an Ace being used as either 11 or 1. With this tid-bit of knowledge under our belt, let’s move on…

What to do with a Soft Hand

This primarily depends on what the dealer’s hand is showing. Using the Rule of 9 can offer some guidance. This is where the Player has drawn an Ace and any card from 2 to 7. Where the player’s ‘number’ card and the dealer’s up-card sum up to 9 or more, the player should Double Down.

Two important exceptions to this rule should be heeded. The first is where the dealer’s up-card shows an Ace, the obvious reason being its ability to be played as its lower denomination.

The second is to never Double Down in Blackjack when the deal’s up-card is a 7 or above, again, the odds are not with you. So don’t do it!

Light work for Hard Hands

There are so many opportunities to Double Down it can feel like you can do it any time, but the reality is that you should choose your moment wisely.

When you have a hard 11, always Double Down, it’s too good to miss. You can also take a fairly good risk with a hard total of 10, but don’t ever try it when the dealer has a 10 or an Ace.

To Split or not To Split?

Many casinos allow a player to Double Down after they have split their hand. Here the rule is simple, where you have a pair of 5’s don’t touch them.

Treat them like any other 10 and if the dealer’s hand is 9 or less, you would be wise to double down. Any other cards and splitting may be a sensible option.

What the Dealer’s Hand Reveals

The dealer’s hand is key to knowing how to play your own hand, and thankfully there are some statistics on the bust rates for a dealer’s cards.

For example, a Deuce or Three have just under 40% chance of seeing the dealer go bust. Whilst a 4; 5 or 6 raise that probability to just over 40%.

Meanwhile a 7; 8; 9 or 10 only have a roughly 23% chance of working in the player’s favour whilst the Ace gives a dismally low 17% chance of seeing the dealer fail.

These figures can give hope to a player, especially when they know they also have a favourable hand, and underlines the premise of being fore warned is being fore armed!

Double Down – Down

There are unfortunately occasions where a player is unable to Double Down, despite all the signs that it is a good move to make. One may be the house rules as we mentioned before.

One piece of advice from the experts is that whenever you find yourself with a soft hand, i.e. a hand with an Ace, then it is usually more prudent to hit rather than go for the Double Down.

The Hard 9

We’ve already mentioned the propensity for some players to find themselves with a 9 and to jump down the Double Down hole if the dealer has anything other than a 10.

This is flawed thinking. This idea comes from a very valid play in games where you draw a Hard 9.

The important thing to remember is that this has to be in conjunction with when the dealer draws anything lower than a 7, excluding the Ace.

How Much to Bet?

Ultimately, this is a question reserved for the player, but there are two important rules that may help.

The first is never, and this cannot be stressed enough, NEVER Double Down with an additional bet of less than 100%. The whole aim of the play is to maximise on the odds that sit in your favour, so to bet anything less than the maximum allowed is a waste.

Secondly, if the prospect of doubling your bet at a table makes you sweat, even though you know the mathematics is on your side, then you should probably be at a table with lower stakes!

Some Rules of Thumb

It’s usually a good idea to Double Down when:

• The player has drawn 11
• The player has 10 and the dealer has 4; 5; 6
• The player has 9 and the dealer has 5 or 6
• Player has an Ace and any card from 2 to 7 when the Player’s non-Ace and the dealer’s card add-up to 9 or more
• Dealer has a soft 17
• Also, remember that if you have a pair of 5’s; you should not be tempted to split them, it’s better to consider them as a 10

Top Three Plays

Out of all the pieces of advice, there are probably three plays which give the player the best advantage against the dealer.

The first of those is the Hard 9 which we’ve already mentioned. This is an excellent play with a very good chance of success.

The second is a similar Hard 10 or 11. Again these should be used against a lower draw from the dealer. As long as the hand is not made up with an Ace and the dealer’s hand is lower than yours, Doubling Down is a good move to make.

The third of our Top Three is a Soft 16 to 18. As with the previous two hands we’re looking for the dealer to have a low draw. As long as they have anything from 2 to 6 then Doubling Down is going to position the player favourably against the dealer.

Word to the Wise

Doubling Down can seem like an unnecessary risk, and it is true that doing it can make or break your time at the table. However, the strategies and rules for identifying the best times to Double Down are tried and tested.

While you may stand to lose more money on each individual attempt, in the long term, Doubling Down is a sensible strategy as the rewards will more than make up for time you take to practice the techniques above.

Just remember to know the Double Down rules of the casino you’re in as they are likely to place some restrictions on which of the techniques you can use.

This way you can pick the casino with the most favorable rules, and have more opportunity to see and make those Double Down plays.

If you’re looking for ways to learn how to play blackjack well, and how to earn money while doing so, you have come to the right place. If you are new to it, there’s a lot to learn. Here, you will not only learn the features of Blackjack but also about when to double down in blackjack or how to use the ‘Doubling Down’ strategy.

So fasten your seatbelts. This is going to be a fun ride.

When to Double Down in Blackjack

There are 3 scenarios where placing double down bets is ideal in blackjack:

• When the cards sum to 11: The probability of hitting 21 is high. Even if you don’t, you are still likely to have a score that’s close to this number.
• When there is a soft 18, 17, or 16: This means you have a card and an ace. Generally, you should double down only if the dealer shows a lower card.
• When you hold a hard 10 or 9: “Hard” is the hand without an ace. Again double down only if the dealer shows a lower card.

Doubling down is a thrilling move to pull off in a game of Blackjack. It’s a way to make twice as much profit without much effort. The act of doubling down, referred to as “reaching deep” by the pit bosses is a true gamble.

Timid casino-goers might avoid the double bet at all costs while more adventurous players might make it way too often.

I’m going to tell you what doubling down is and what splitting is, and also about when to double down, when to split, which hands you should split, and so on.

I’m going to teach you basically how to increase your odds against the house by using these strategies and most importantly find a way to make money every single time a bet is placed, whether the house wins, or the player wins.

Let’s start by talking about doubling down.

• Doubling down is when you can bet up to the full amount of your original.
• You can double down for less than your full bet or you can go as much as your original bet, hence the term doubling down.
• Now regardless of whether you bet the full amount or you double for less, you are only going to get one hit card if you decide to double down, so let’s talk about what hands you should definitely double down on.

The prime hands are the four hands that you will want to double down every single time regardless of what the dealer’s up card is.

• According to the rule of eleven, if you don’t have an ace in your hand and your two cards equal 11, you always want to double down.
• If you do have an ace it probably means you either already have 21 or you want to go ahead and hit because that’s going to be your best odds. But with these four hands, you must always double down these hands.

Now let’s talk about the subprime hands. Just like on the last hand we talked about the Rule of 11, with the subprime hands this IS the rule of 10.

• With these four hands you really first need to look at the dealer’s up card before you decide whether you want to double down.
• If the dealer does not have an ace or a face card showing a face card, of course being king queen Jack or 10, then you should double down with these four hands.
• This is going to put the odds in your favor now if the dealer does have an ace or a face card you will definitely want to hit you have the option to double down with these cards, but if it’s not really the odds in your favor then remember you’re trying to beat the dealer and not push the dealer.

Splitting while Doubling Down

Now let’s talk about what splitting is and also the option of splitting combined with doubling down. Splitting is when you can take your hand with your two cards and you can make it into two hands.

Remember you have to have a pair in order to split, but there are some pairs you don’t want to split. For example, 5/5 was a card that met the rule of 10 and that would be a hand that might be better to double down on and you would never want to split a 5/5, but there are other hands that you will want to split.

Just remember that with splitting, you have to make the exact same bet for the second hand that you made originally on your first hand. So if you bet $20 on your first hand and you got a pair and you want to split them, you have to bet $20 on your second hand as well in order to split.

Also, remember that while splitting you are not limited to only one hit card in the same way that you are with doubling down. You can continue to hit on each of these new hands and you can keep hitting on those until you’re ready to hold.

Or if you make 11 with either of these hands then you would want to double down as we discussed previously and that’s where you would be combining the strategy of doubling down with splitting, and that really puts the odds in your favor.

Let’s talk about splitting which hands you can and should split. First of all, as we said earlier, remember you have to have a pocket pair in order to split and while you can split any pocket pair you shouldn’t necessarily split any pocket pair.

Some pocket pairs are not good to split and these are:

These hands are not a good idea to split because they already add up to 20 and your odds of beating the dealer are already very good so you don’t want to split them and decrease your odds. Second of all, there are some pairs that are risky depending on the dealer’s up card which you may or may not want to split.

There are really only two scenarios where you should split every time regardless of the dealer’s up card and that’s what we want to discuss. Those are 8-8 and ace-ace.

If you split these cards, every time you will increase your odds against the house, so no questions asked. If you get an 8-8 or you get an ace-ace, no matter what the dealer has up to, split them always to increase your odds at blackjack.

In a nutshell, doubling down is a fantastic blackjack strategy. But, your opportunism needs to be informed by one of the situations we’ve just gone through.

If you don’t double down when you’ve got the best chance to turn a profit the house is most likely going to take your cash. If, however, you pay attention and choose your moments carefully you might step away from the table with a smile on your face and a heavier wallet.

An Overview of Blackjack

First of all, I will tell you about the goal or the objective of blackjack, so that you know why you’re doing what you’re doing. To put it in simpler words, if you beat the dealer, you win at blackjack and hence that is the ultimate objective of this game.

There are some other gambling games such as poker, in which you’re playing among yourselves, i.e. the game is set against all the other players around you. That is not the case in Blackjack. Here, the aim is to win the game against the dealer of the bet.

The one way through which you can beat the dealer is by getting as close to 21 as possible in comparison to the dealer, while also making sure that you don’t go over 21. For this very reason, blackjack is sometimes called Vingt Un, which is german for 21.

As soon as the dealer gets closer to 21 than you, or if you yourself end up going over 21, that very instant loss comes your way.

All the number cards in this game, ie. 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 and 10, hold their original value in black. The Jack, Queen, and King are all equalized and hold the same value of 10. What makes blackjack unique is that the ace can either denote a value of one or eleven based on the player’s convenience.

Double Down Blackjack Game

How to Deal in Blackjack?

Here, I will teach you how to deal in Blackjack. The player and the dealer both will get two cards, but the dealer only ends up showing one card. Meanwhile, the other card is kept on the table facing down. Now, the player will go first and will have the choice to stay or to take more cards. A point that must be noted is that the player always goes first.

The aim here, as discussed above, is to get closer to 21 than the dealer, while also making sure that you don’t go over 21. Following the complete dealing of this blackjack round, there are three possible outcomes. In case the player wins, they get paid the same amount as what they just bet. In case they lose, they get nothing. In case they end up getting a point value equal to the dealer, which is also known as a ‘Push’, then they neither win nor lose, and the fresh round starts.

A quick way that can lead to an automatic blackjack win would be if you’re dealt a blackjack, also known as a Natural. Such combinations include ace and jack, ace and queen, ace and king or ace and 10.

Double Down Blackjack Rules

Say we’re playing with three players, a player’s area would be called a box in a casino so you deal one card each to each box and the dealer would get one card and you deal another card out to each box. The dealer would show his top card, giving each player a decision based on the holding that they have. Let’s assume the dealer is showing a queen, which is a ten, making it a pretty powerful situation forcing the players in each box to make a decision about the hand, whether they stick, or whether they take a card, etc.

Playing Decisions in Blackjack

As a player, there are chiefly four decisions that you can be made by you at the blackjack table. These are hitting, standing, doubling down, and splitting.

In the following few paragraphs, I will break down each of these for you so you can use them when you play blackjack in the future. Before doing that, you should know that there is an actual chart, that will help you figure out the appropriate playing decision for each hand of blackjack. This strategy is also known as the ‘Basic Strategy’. It was created by mathematicians, and according to them, it is the most perfect way to play all possible hands in the game.

Even though this method only takes a couple of hours in a few days to memorize, it will not give you an upper hand over the casino. For that purpose, what you need is card counting, but that lesson is for later.

First of all, let’s tackle the concept of hitting. You’d first think as to why you would practice hitting and the answer to that is, to get a better hand. For example, in a situation in which there is an eight against say, a seven, the player will prefer to hit. Hitting is done by You’re going to do that by scraping on the table or even tapping the table’s surface. After doing this, the dealer will provide you with another card.

In case the situation is such that you don’t want another card, you should choose to stand. Say, for instance, that you hold an 18 against the dealer’s 7. In this situation, you will prefer standing. To signal the same, you can wave your hand. This would pause your hand. Following this, you would decide to stand if your hand is good. Otherwise, you will have to bust it. The third resort here is doubling down.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I would like to go over all the points so that you can review what you have learned through this article.

The game can be played amongst two or more players and the aim of Blackjack is to get your card total closer to 21 in comparison to the dealer while also making sure that you don’t go over 21. Besides there being multiple players in the game, every player is playing the dealer.

To begin the game, you start by placing your bets. Every player on the table is dealt one card at a time. The player’s cards are dealt in the face-up direction. The dealer’s card is kept face-down. Now, players can either stay a hit, or indicate a hit. They can indicate a hit by tapping on the table. When a player waves their hand over the table, it signals a stay, which means to suggest that the player does not want more cards.

The player sitting on the left side of the dealer is first to either stay or hit, while the second player taps the table to indicate he wants another card. The six gives him 20 and the second player waves his hand to stay. The third player goes next and waves his hand indicating he does not want any more cards. The fourth player is up next. On tapping for another card, he gets a 5 for a total of 13, while player 4 signals another hit and gets a 10. This takes fourth players to a total of over 21. The fourth player hence loses his bet. This action is known as a bust.

A player can double down by adding to his bet and signaling one pointed finger. When doubling down a player only gets one card and has to stay. The double down usually only happens when a player’s first two cards equal nine, ten, or eleven. In case the player and dealer come to a tie, such a situation is known as a push. The player will keep his original bet and the dealer is forced to hit if his first two cards equal sixteen or less the dealer has to stay if his first two cards equal seventeen or more the round begins with each player placing a bet.

Hence, you can see that the game of blackjack can be played in a profitable manner without too much requirement of luck. I don’t mean to say luck doesn’t play a part, but you can always take the rein in your hands. What is needed is an intelligent brain, alertness, and just a few prayers.