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Blackjack is a skill-based game, meaning that in order to win, you have to apply a reliable strategy throughout the game. The key to becoming a consistent winner is to prepare as much as possible in advance and learn the game’s subtleties and rules by heart. It is not advisable to play before you are entirely familiar with its basics and fundamental principles as this way you are bound to lose large amounts, especially if you join a high-stakes table.

Soft hand is the name of the player's hand with Aces which are counted as 11. There are set of possible and advised decisions for players taking in account the number of points in player's and dealer's hands. These were the basic rules for playing but players are free to make their own decision if they like. A score with an ace valued as 11 is named soft-hand. A soft-hand score of 17 is denoted as 7/17. The color of the cards does not have any effect. The goal of the game is to reach a score (=sum of the cards) as high as possible but not more than 21. A Blackjack (Ace and a card whose value is 10) beats all other combination of cards.

One of the most important terms which every blackjack player should know concerns a certain type of hands. If you manage to understand how to play soft hands, you will be able to make wiser decisions for your moves and significantly improve your game. Many players, even proficient ones, fail to pay special attention to these hands and as a result, in most cases they misplay them. The reason why it is so essential to learn the best way to tackle such situations is that they can be very beneficial and if you are not able to get the most out of them, you can simply miss a great opportunity.

What Does Soft Hand Mean In Blackjack

What are Soft Hands

In brief, soft hands are the hands which contain an ace and the reason why they are beneficial is that their total can be changed according to your needs. The ace is the most powerful card in the deck due to the fact that it can be counted as either one or eleven which gives you the freedom to adjust the total of your hand so that you don’t bust. As a matter of fact, when you have such a combination, you cannot exceed twenty one by taking a hit which brings the needed peace of mind and lets you enjoy the game even more. For instance, if you have a soft 15 which consists of an ace and a four and you draw an eight, you would bust if it wasn’t for the ace.

You can avoid losing by switching the ace to one in which case your total becomes thirteen. By getting this card, you have the chance to improve your hand without risking your wager. When the dealer deals your first two cards and if any of them happens to be an ace, then he will announce your total by counting the ace in both ways. For example, if you have an ace and a three, the dealer will refer to your hand as four or fourteen due to the fact that the decision how the ace will be counted is entirely yours.

Strategy for Playing Soft Hands

Since blackjack is a skill-based game, it gives you the opportunity to apply a strategy and this way decrease the house edge. Soft hands are no different than any other card combination in the game in terms that they also require a proper approach and a strategy. It is essential to know how to play them correctly if you want to make the most of every game. Let’s have a look at some of the soft hands which you can possibly get during the course of the game and how to tackle them successfully. It should be noted that in order to make the best possible decision, you should always take into account the dealer’s up card as after all you compete against him.

Blackjack Soft Hand

Whenever you get a soft hand, you can choose from three options – to hit, stand or double down. The first situation which we will consider is if you are dealt an ace and a two as your first two cards. In situations in which you have a soft 13, it is recommended to hit in any case, unless the dealer’s up card is a five or a six as then it is best to double down. Let’s assume that this time you get soft 14, 15 or 16 hands and the dealer is waiting for your decision. In such cases, you should first remember that the strategy for these three hands is the same and that if the dealer has a four, a five or a six, your best option will be to double down. If his up card is any different, you should simply hit and hope for the best. The same strategy applies for the cases in which you have a soft 17 with the difference that if the dealer is showing a three, you should also double down instead of hitting. The reason why is that you should try to take full advantage of such beneficial situations and increase your chances of winning more money.

Another case which is worth discussing is when you have a soft 18 hand or in other words, if you have an ace and a seven. In such situations, you should always carefully consider the up card of the dealer as your best move strictly depends on it. Let’s assume that you happen to have a soft 18 hand when the dealer is showing a two, a seven or an eight. In such cases, you should stand due to the fact that your hand has better chances of winning than the dealer’s.

If his up card is from three through six, you should apply a different approach which is a bit more risky. In such cases, perhaps your best move is to double down due to the fact that the croupier is in a weak position. Therefore, you have decent chances of winning and you should try to make the most of this situation by increasing your wager. In general, doubling down should be performed whenever the dealer is in a seemingly unfavorable position and whenever your hand is also weak. Such opportunities don’t occur too often and it is essential to know how to take advantage of them in order to make up for your previous losses.

For the rest of the cases – whenever the dealer has a nine, a ten or an ace, it is recommended to simply hit. At first glance, hitting when you have a soft 18 seems inappropriate due to the fact that most players consider eighteen to be a fairly decent total. However, bearing in mind that the average winning hand in blackjack has been estimated to be 18.5 points, a total of eighteen is simply not enough to beat the dealer while he has a powerful card. Even though in order to improve your hand by hitting, you need to draw any of the three cards – an ace, a two or a three and your chances of doing so aren’t high, it is still your best choice. In general a soft 18 hand is a very tricky combination which puts you at risk.

Last but not least, you should consider the cases in which you have either a soft 19 or a soft 20 hand. It should be noted that these are among the best card combinations which you can possibly get in blackjack. Such strong totals are almost impossible to be improved and the only move that you should make, regardless of what the dealer is showing, is to stand. Whenever you have these two hands, you are in a great position and you have very realistic chances of winning.

Conclusion

Soft hands in blackjack are extremely important card combinations which every player should be familiar with. They can cause you to bust but they can also help you win a decent amount of money, the choice how to play them is entirely yours. Understanding how to tackle soft hands successfully will help you increase your chances of winning and it will make the game more enjoyable for you. Although it might take some time until you master the above-mentioned strategy completely and apply it without much thinking, as soon as you start using it, you will notice a visible change and improvement in your game.

As one of the most popular casino games, blackjack can be found in most land-based and online casinos. Due to its relative simplicity and extremely low house edge, it is preferred by both skilled and average players but in order to maximize their winnings, they must learn how to play the game correctly. It seems that one of the most confusing ideas in blackjack theory is that of the “soft and hard hands”.

It is soft hands, in particular, that often cause uncertainty even in those who consider themselves experienced blackjack players. Furthermore, casiual players tend to make more mistakes when playing with a soft hand than with any other hand. In fact, every single hand in blackjack can be classified as either a hard or a soft hand – any two-card hand that does not include an Ace is referred to as a hard hand, while hands with Aces in them fall under the category of soft hands.

This is, at least, the simplest explanation but real-life blackjack is a little more complicated than that. While the definitions of hardness and softness are quite simple and straightforward, the correct strategy of playing out these two types of hands is often elusive.

Soft and Hard Hands in Blackjack

What Does Soft Hand Mean In Blackjack Stand

In the simplest of terms, soft hands consist of two cards, one of which is an Ace, while hard hands do not include an Ace. But why is necessary to make this distinction? The key is the nature of the Ace in blackjack – this is the only card in the game that does not have a fixed value. It counts as either 1 or 11 so it cannot be busted by Hitting once. To describe this in a simpler manner, let us see some examples of hard and soft hands:

• Hard Hands – 3-5 (hard 8), 9-4 (hard 13), 7-10 (hard 17)
• Soft Hands – Ace-3 (soft 14), Ace-5 (hard 16), Ace-6 (soft 17)

Players who are dealt a hard hand at the beginning of a round – 7-10 for example, are presented with little freedom as to how to play out their hand. If they Hit, i.e. decide to draw another card, they have a big chance of exceeding 21 and busting. If it is a soft 17, however, Ace-6, the hand can be counted as either 17 or 7 and if players Hit, the risk of busting is considerably smaller. Imagine you receive 17 and you decide to Hit – you are dealt 7. The hard hand will reach 24 and therefore bust, while the soft hand will become 16, only here, the Ace will count as 1 and not 11.

And this is where the theory becomes more interesting. While many players and even blackjack guides consider only two-card hands as being hard or soft, real-life play requires you to look at a hand of 3 or even more cards. Not all hands with an Ace in them are soft – in fact, all hands with an Ace that counts as 1 are hard hands. Let us take the 17 hand example, once again.

A soft 17 would be Ace-6, as well as various other combinations such as Ace-4-2, Ace-2-2-2, and even Ace-Ace-3-2. In that last example, the hand should still be considered soft because one of the Aces may count as 11 or 1 without resulting in a bust. The hand still has a lot of liquidity as it can be counted as 17 or as 7.

There are, however, hands where the Ace must be counted as 1 otherwise the hand will bust. In these instances, this will be a hard hand even though it contains an Ace. A good example of this is a hand of 8-9 (hard 17) – an inexperienced player, who does not know the basic blackjack strategy, may decide to Hit. This would not be the optimal decision and, in fact, 17 is not a very good hand in blackjack but let us get back to the imaginary scenario.

The player Hits and an Ace is dealt – the hand will be 8-9-Ace and the Ace cannot count as 11 because the player will bust. In this case, the Ace always counts as 1 – once again, a rigid hand with a fixed value that cannot be adjusted, hence, this will be a hard 18.

Playing Out Soft Hands

As you can see, the Ace plays an important and a really unique role in blackjack. Players should know one basic rule when they are dealt a hand with an Ace – always count the Ace as 11 as long as your hand does not bust. There are many more fundamental things players need to understand when playing out a soft hand and if they do that correctly, their chances of making some decent profits from blackjack will increase – even without counting the cards.

As we always count the Ace as 11 in soft hands, there will be only several soft hands that can be dealt initially – from soft 12 (Ace-Ace) to soft 20 (Ace-9). A soft 21 (Ace-10/Ace-Jack, etc.), as we all know, is blackjack and it always wins in the standard game. A soft 12 is also a special case as it can count as 2 or 12 but it is also a pair that brings great opportunities when it is split. And here comes the second universal rule that applies to all variations of blackjack – you should always Split a pair of Aces.

However, a few other things should be considered. First and foremost, most versions of blackjack would allow only one card to be dealt to each of the split hands. After that, the two hands automatically Stand and are compared to the dealer’s hand. The best scenario, in this case, is receiving 10-value cards (10, J, Q, or K) to your split Aces for a total of 21. Other beneficial outcomes would be getting 8 or 9, which would result in hands of 19 or 20, respectively. If they are dealt 7, the total of 18 would still be relatively good. If the cards are below 7, however, the outcome will not be favorable to players at all.

But the Ace-Ace hand is a special hand and players need to know how to play the other soft hands – whether they Stand, Hit or even Double Down.

Standing on Soft Hands

Most skilled blackjack players would never Stand on soft hands – with just a few exceptions. And there is a good reason for this – the flexibility of soft hands allows the player to make the most of the hand without having to fear busting. In fact, the decision whether to Stand, Hit, or Double would depend not only on the exact value of the player’s hand but also on the dealer’s card that is shown on the table and the number of decks used in the game.

You should never Stand on soft 17 or less. There are just a handful of scenarios when players are advised to Stand on a soft hand. They should always Stand when they have a soft 20 or more. If they have a soft 19, they should also Stand, except when the dealer has a 6 – here, they should Double if this option is permitted. They should also Stand when they have a soft 18 and the dealer holds 7 or 8. This applies to games where the dealer is required to hit on soft 17. If the dealer must stand on soft 17, the player should always stand on soft 19 or more, as well as on soft 18 and dealer 2, 7, or 8.

As for the number of decks in play, the above-mentioned rules should be considered mostly for games with 4, 6, or 8 decks. Most casinos – both online and land-based, tend to opt for blackjack versions with 4 to 8 decks.

Hitting on Soft Hands

Soft hands are much safer to play than hard hands, especially when it comes to drawing more hands to them. Often, players would avoid hitting on hard hands over 12 or 13 as the new card may easily lead to a bust. It is much more different when you have an Ace – if the hand goes over 21, the Ace will simply count as 1 and save the player from losing immediately.

The general rule is to Stand on all hands that are higher than 18 and to Hit on soft hands with a total of 17 or less. There are, of course, some exceptions. Typically, players are also advised to Hit on soft 18 if the dealer’s up card is 9, 10, or an Ace. In fact, soft 18 may be a little confusing for some players, as depending on the dealer’s card, they may be better off doubling down.

Doubling Down on Soft Hands

Many blackjack players, especially those with little knowledge of the basic strategy for this game, would avoid the Double option altogether. But if played correctly, it can bring them good winnings in the long term. In reality, professional players know exactly when to Double when having soft hands and this is why they tend to quickly catch the attention of casinos – remember that many casinos associate professional blackjack players with card counters.

But you do not need to count cards to know when doubling on soft hands is profitable. There are two cards that are not favorable to the dealer – these are 5 and 6, which is why players should always Double against these two numbers on their soft 13 through soft 18. It is also a good strategy to Double Down against dealer 4 if you hold soft 15 through soft 18.

What Does Soft Hand Mean In Blackjack Hand

Soft 17 Rule for the Dealer

This is one of the fundamental rules in blackjack and it is usually displayed on the table itself. Most casinos used to require the dealer to Stand on soft 17, which was and still is favorable to the player. After all, the average winning hand in blackjack has been calculated to be 18.5 (i.e. at least 18) and dealers who Stand on soft 17 are easier to beat.

However, many games in recent years have introduced another rule – dealers must draw to 16 but if they hold a soft 17, they must Hit. This allows them to improve their hand against the player and is, therefore, beneficial for the casino, not the player. After all, soft hands cannot bust – they can only be improved. So, blackjack tables where the dealer Hits on soft 17 increase the house edge. Players are advised to choose games where the dealer must Stand on all 17’s.

What Does Soft Hand Mean In Blackjack Game

Basic Strategy for Soft Hands

As you can see, playing with soft hands is not too complex but to avoid mistakes, players should learn how to act in every situation. There may be dozens of tips and strategies developed over the years but both professional and occasional blackjack players show learn the basic strategy of the game. As there are many different versions of 21, there may be slight changes but overall, this basic strategy for soft hands will apply to most blackjack games.

• H – Hit
• S – Stand
• D/H – Double, if it is not allowed, you should Hit
• D/S – Double, if it is not allowed, you should Stand
• SP – Split