splitting

So, I was up a bit last night, having busted out of a tournament and decided to use my remaining atm withdrawal to ... well, get another buy-in or to make enough for whatever.
Essentially, turned 100 into 600.
Was playing $75 a hand at that point because why not (I varied my bets, this was after hitting a few $100 hands but I was generally sane).
I am a part time sucker, so I was playing the in-between game every few hands. I stopped and of course I hit 88 against the dealer's 8.
And so I split, already concerned that, um this is getting expensive, and of course, damn...I hit the trips without having $ down.
Then I get another 8.
So I split again. and...getting more concerned. This felt like a crap way to leverage my dough.
Essentially, the hand played out like this
8-7-9 bust
8-5-K bust
8-2 double 4
dealer 8-5-5
So, that was a waste.
Similar thing happened not long after with 33 vs dealer 3 (no in-between bet either), of course he got 21.
anyway, that tilted me out, and when I was about to walk away ... only to be butthurt over losing my gains and my bad luck playing in-between.
Is there a time to leave splits be?

deleted

yeah, BS.
The other point I wanted to make is to see if the Wiz can update his simulator to allow for more than one split. You know?

There are times when you may not want to split, even though it is proper basic strategy to split, based on the hand match up. However, if you're playing properly (I'll get into that later), you should almost always split when warranted.

You may not want to split in the case where:

- You're playing with skillz and want the PB or surveillance to think you're an idiot, or even just to get rated as an idiot (instead of as a 'proper BS player'). But that'd be if you're actually getting something good back (free play or other comps)....or if you're counting and trying to get them off your scent. This should only be done if the difference in splitting vs the next-best-play (stand or hit) is minimal. This means you'd have to know the EV charts for splitting vs hit/stay for the match up.

- You're in a tournament and tournament strategy says not to split. For example, you have 9,9v6 and you are so far in the lead that if you split and end up losing you will no longer be in the lead (and it's near the last round).

- You're playing normal BJ (not tourny) and you've tilted and have so much money out there that the gain in splitting your hand severely increases your risk to a point that you aren't comfortable with.

- You know the hole-card and it'd hurt you to split. For example, you get 2,2v6 but the hole card is a 4.

- You have next-card information and that card is better used to hit your original hand and/or is a high card and you're at third base and it has a good chance to bust the dealer. (ie: 4,4v6)


But overall, if you're playing "properly", meaning you aren't putting out huge risky bets because you're on tilt, you aren't trying to deceive anyone (PB/surveillance), don't have any extra info......you should split your hand when BS calls for it.

Despite being against basic strategy (and probably good sense), but if my remaining bankroll was low relative to my bet, I would've played/surrendered with 88v8 instead of splitting the hand.

Looking at the WoO page, splitting 88v8 (in an infinite deck) has an EV of -0.022736, which is far lower than hitting, -0.458440, but you've got twice the money at stake. In my case, preserving what's left takes precedence over an optimal play.

Quote: Venthus

Despite being against basic strategy (and probably good sense), but if my remaining bankroll was low relative to my bet, I would've played/surrendered with 88v8 instead of splitting the hand.

Looking at the WoO page, splitting 88v8 (in an infinite deck) has an EV of -0.022736, which is far lower than hitting, -0.458440, but you've got twice the money at stake. In my case, preserving what's left takes precedence over an optimal play.

then you are over betting your bankroll. If you are unwilling to split a hand then you shouldn't be placing a bet that large.

if you were playing in Macau BS says to surrender 8,8 against dealer 10. Split on everything else. :P

Next time. Don't change anything. Winning big is all you'll remember and the failures are forgotten.

I mean, yeah, I had 4 greens left from the rather silly atm withdrawal limit at MdLive. I turned that into about 3hrs at the table, going up nearly 7 times that amount and then ... well I tilted after said split took me away from what my goal was because I did bet too much that round.
Those 8's felt like a train wreck about to happen.
One lesson learned, know when to walk away, when the variation and ballsy bets gets you up.
When I get to Aria, I'll have a proper roll.

The problem with normal BJ is sometimes you have to make the splits and doubles - so as had been said you have to be prepared to do this otherwise it's wrong to make the original bet. There's a version called Freebet ( https://wizardofodds.com/games/free-bet-blackjack/ ) which gets round this by offering most free Splits and Doubles at the cost of Dealer 22=standoff. Depending on local rules this might be a higher HE, but is a good game if you don't want the higher risk - also you can get nice payoffs when the splits and doubles comes in while only risking the original bet. (Technically there are times you double with your own money, but it's fairly rare.)

Free bet BJ has lower variance because you are risking nothing to win more. Also note that strategy changes for this game.