Online Blackjack Soft Eighteen
When you are playing Internet blackjack one of your more difficult decisions may be how to play the soft eighteen. Let’s look at the different options and which one fits your style the best.
Online blackjack will have most people standing when they have A-7 (soft eighteen.) Should you always stand though? When the dealer has a 2 through 6 most people will stand with the soft eighteen in online blackjack. People figure that the dealer is in a bad position, which is true, and that standing offers them the best chance to make money. That is not the right decision though. The better decision in online blackjack when the dealer has a 2-6 is to double down. If you double down, you get more money in play when the dealer is weak. When the dealer is showing a 7 or and 8 the best option with Internet blackjack is to stand.
What about when you are playing online blackjack and the dealer’s up card is 9, 10 or Ace, and you have the soft eighteen. You have 18 but you are facing the 9, 10 or Ace. You need to hit in online blackjack. The projected return is higher by hitting in this situation than by standing. It is not easy to hit an 18, but the percentages are in your favor to do so when the dealer is showing a 9, 10, or Ace. Here is what happens in Internet blackjack. If you stand you have a better than even money chance that you will lose in online blackjack. If you hit that soft 18 your chances are better than even money that your hand will end up at least as good as it was in online blackjack.
That same principle applies to doubling down in the previous examples. When the dealer is in a position of weakness you want to attack in online blackjack. Doubling on the soft 18 is not an easy thing to do, but you want more money on your side in online blackjack when the dealer is weak. You oftentimes will end up with a worse hand but you shouldn’t care. You are betting when the dealer is weak and likely to bust, your final hand is irrelevant.
The bottom line when playing online blackjack is that when the dealer is weak you want more money on the line, when he is strong you want less. These examples listed above give you an idea of how to play the soft eighteen in Internet blackjack to make more money.
