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Should you ever split a 20 in blackjack?

Average players should never split and should always stand on 20. Card counters will sometimes split in ten-rich decks. Smart tournament players will sometimes split when they need to bet more chips, especially if it's the last hand.

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When it comes to splitting 10s in the game of blackjack, the bottom line should be:

Average players should never split and should always stand on 20.

Card counters will sometimes split in ten-rich decks.

Smart tournament players will sometimes split when they need to bet more chips, especially if it’s the last hand.

There are two types of blackjack players who split a pair of 10s. The first is the casual player who has no idea what the right playing strategies are for blackjack. The other is the pro who knows the game inside and out. How can splitting tens be bad for the casual player and good for the pro?

WHAT IS A 10 VALUE CARD

In blackjack, a 10-value card could either be a 10, Jack, Queen, or King. A pair of 10s, therefore, could be composed of any two ten-value cards such as:

10 plus 10

Queen plus 10

Jack plus King

Jack plus Queen

PLAYING OPTIONS FOR PAIR OF 10S

There are only two viable playing options when you are dealt a pair of 10s:

Stand

Split

If a player stands with a pair of 10s, he has a 20; if he splits, he is playing two hands, each starting with a 10.

RE-SPLITTING 10S

Some land-based and online casinos allow players to resplit up to a maximum of three or four hands; therefore, if a player were to split 10s and draw another 10 to either split hand, he would have the option to split again to create three (or four) hands, each one starting with a 10. When playing live blackjack against the dealer, most casual players split 10s when he has a weak upcard like a 5 or 6 (although I have seen many players during my career split 10s no matter what the dealer shows). Their logic for splitting on the dealer’s 5 or 6 goes something like this: “The dealer has a weak card and I’ve got a good chance to make two good hands starting with a 10 so why not split and double my winnings.” Oh, really. Let’s look at your expected value, or the average amount you would win per hand when you stand on your 10s compared to what you win when you split against the dealer’s upcard of 5. (Note: The following analysis is based on a typical six-deck game, where the dealer stands on soft 17.)

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When you stand on your pair of 10s, you will win 83% of the time and lose 17% of the time. That’s not too surprising because it’s tough for the dealer to beat a strong hand of 20. If you split the 10s one time, you stand to win 63% and lose 37% on each split hand. That’s a significant decrease in the number of hands won simply because if you split, you will often end up with less than 20 on both hands. This means that for an original wager of, say, $10, after 100 hands this is what you would net on average:

Standing will get you a $660 profit

You will win $10 x 100 hands x .83 = $830

You will lose $10 x 100 hands x .17 = $170

Your net profit is $830 – $170 = $660

Splitting the 10s will net you $520

You will win $10 x 100 hands x .63 = $630

You will lose $10 x 100 hands x .37 = $370

Your net profit is $630 – $370 = $260 per hand

Since you are playing two hands when you split the 10s, your net overall profit would be twice the $260 profit per hand, or $520

BOTTOM LINE

The above analysis shows that when you stand on a pair of 10s vs. splitting them against a dealer 5 upcard, you figure to win $140 more when you stand vs. when you split.

$660 profit when standing – $520 profit when splitting = $140

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