More and more people are playing USA online blackjack and there are certainly a growing number of excellent sites that accept US players. However, if you’re going to play blackjack online, you might as well give yourself the best chance possible of making a profit and to do that, knowing when to double down is essential.
Doubling involves doubling your stake once your two-card total is known in exchange for only receiving one more card. It is one of the key elements of basic strategy and whilst playing entirely to basic strategy is highly recommended, at least knowing when to cash in on a good hand by being aware of when to double gives you a better chance of success to some degree.
First of all, it’s worth knowing that some casinos will only let a player double 10 or 11, whilst others will allow doubling on 9, 10 or 11, whilst the most generous blackjack rules will allow a double on any two cards. These days more and more online casinos allow a player to double on any two cards and this is great because this is the option which has the lowest house edge and therefore gives the player the best long-term prospects.
However, just because you CAN double, doesn’t mean you SHOULD! Based on fairly standard blackjack rules that you are likely to encounter playing USA online blackjack, there are a few simple rules you should bear in mind and these are:
- Never double on less than nine
- On 10 or 11 double if your total is higher than the dealer’s (or hit if you can’t double)
- Double a nine only against a dealer’s 3, 4, 5 or 6 (as above, hit if you can’t double)
The above three basic principles cover all “hard” hands, including a pair of fives which is doubled assuming the dealer has 9 or less.
The slightly more confusing options are doubling on “soft” hands (those formed with an ace). Always stand on soft 19, double 17 or 18 to a dealer 3-6 inclusive, hitting on 17, standing on 18 if no double is allowed. For soft 15 or 16, double only to a dealer 4, 5 or 6, whilst on 14 or 13 only double to a dealer’s 5 or 6, with all these options hitting if you can’t double.
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