Why Do All the Blackjack Books Say To Split a Pair of Eights?

Anyone who's read a single strategy article about blackjack knows that you always split aces and eights. I understand about splitting aces, you double your chances for a blackjack. But I don't understand about eights. If I have a pair of eights and the dealer is showing a ten, wouldn't I be jumping into two losing hands, rather than standing on just one?

The famous blackjack pro Ken Uston was once asked a similar question. In response, Uston didn’t hesitate. He replied, "Because the computer says to." He offered no explanations or rationalizations. He didn’t need to. His answer was the correct one.

Blackjack’s "basic strategy" is the computer-derived best way to play any combination of cards you hold versus any dealer up-card, based solely on the rules and number of decks in force (no consideration of prior cards seen). The math is accurate and basic strategy says to always split aces and 8s, regardless of the dealer’s up-card.

Now, given that "because I said so" probably won't satisfy those who want the reason (and with apologies to the late great Uston), here’s a quickie rationalization.

Blackjack is essentially a game of offense and defense. An example of an offensive move is doubling with an 11 vs. a dealer 5. You do it because doubling, as opposed to simply hitting, results in a higher long-term win rate.

On the other hand, splitting 8s is a defensive move. No matter what you do with 8,8 against a dealer ten — stand, hit, split, double, or surrender — you’ll lose money over the long run. However, splitting the 8s will result in the lowest long-term loss of all the options, which is why it’s the basic strategy play.

No part of this answer may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without the written permission of the publisher.

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Comments

Rick Sanchez Jan-21-2021

My reasoning

My reasoning for spliting 8's.
There are more 10 value cards in the deck than anything, so knowing that the dealer must stay on 17 and my 16 is a loser, I know the odds of getting 10's on my 8's and having 18's are better than drawing a 4 or 5.
Yes I know you should assume that the dealer has a 10 under, but the numbers don't lie and you do have a very slight edge with getting 18's.

Kevin Rough Jan-21-2021

Win One-Lose One

If you play a pair of 8's as a 16, you are most likely to lose.

However if you split them, many times you will one hand and lose the other which is basically a push.  It's a defensive play trying to lose less overall on that particular hand.

jay Jan-21-2021

Surrender

If you are allowed to surrender, the books suggest surrendering 16 against a 10 yet they still suggest splitting 8's against a 10.

There are more 10 value vs any other single value. On a six deck shoe this is 96 cards vs 216 other values. In straight percentage terms 31% of the cards are a 10 value. Considering the dealers up card is a 10value the % is 30.5%. 

Essentially this means there is a 69.5% chance the dealer will draw something other than a 10 but you also have to consider a dealer second of a 9 or 10 will still beat your potential 18.

Sam Glantzow Jan-21-2021

semantics

technically, splitting aces doubles your chances of getting a 21. you'd only get paid even money, not blackjack's 3-2

Dave in Seattle. Jan-21-2021

Another offensive choice:

HIT soft 18 VS dlrs. 9 or ten! The average dealers non-busting hand is 18.3. Remember that.

steve crouse Jan-21-2021

Assume 10s

You always assume that the next card dealt has a value of 10, as you also assume the dealer down card is a 10
Standing on 16 is losing.
Splitting and assuming each card dealt you is a ten gives you a much better defense at 18.
Simple.

Jan-21-2021

REAL reason to split 8's

The real reason to split up a pair of 8's is to prevent collusion. Any police officer will tell you that if you leave them together, they will confer and agree about what to say for every detail asked about the incident and thus they will both tell the same exact story. But if you split them up right at the beginning, they won't have a chance to do that. Each one will be on his own, and he will likely either not know what to say or else will just tell the truth so that he doesn't make things worse for himself by telling lies. So always split them up immediately, and that includes bringing them to the police station in separate vehicles.

Kevin Lewis Jan-21-2021

In actual English...

A hard 16 is a very bad losing hand vs. a 10, A hard 8 is a losing hand vs. a 10, but much less so. So your net loss becomes less from splitting the near-hopeless hand into two small-loser hands, even though you're doubling your bet.

Question of the Day - 21 January 2021

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