Blackjack Pro by NetEnt with a Hard 18 hand. In terms of hard hands, these five possibilities all provide a strong chance to beat the dealer, obviously the 17 has the least highest chance, and with a hard 21 a ‘can’t-lose’ hand. Hence, it is recommended you always stand if you get any of these hard totals, regardless of what the dealer has. A hard hand of blackjack is the hand which does not have an Ace or where an Ace cannot be counted as 11 without busting. What strategy to use? Hard Hand: Basic Blackjack Strategy. The terms ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ in blackjack refer to whether or not a hand features a flexible Ace. If it doesn’t, the hand is hard; if it does, the hand is soft. New players might not see the significance of such a distinction. A 17 is a 17 and should be played the same way. A “hard” hand in blackjack means that you don’t have an Ace. With a “hard” hand you are stuck with a rigid hand that cannot be changed. If you are dealt two 5s you have 10.
For those who are just starting out to learn to play and love blackjack, some of the slang used through the game might sound weird or even funny at times, like for instance “soft and hard hands”. These are the types of hands you could get from the dealer in any given play, let’s understand how they behave in the game:
The difference between a “hard” and “soft” hand in blackjack is one single card. The Ace. If one of the two cards you’re dealt is an Ace, you have a “soft” hand. Why? An Ace card can either be a 1 or an 11 which means that you have quite a bit of liquidity as far as what you can play based on the card the dealer holds.
If you have an Ace and an 8, your hand could either be 9 or 19. If you have an Ace and a 4, your hand could either be a 5 or a 15. With an Ace the risk is less which is why it’s considered “soft.” A “hard” hand in blackjack means that you don’t have an Ace. With a “hard” hand you are stuck with a rigid hand that cannot be changed. If you are dealt two 5s you have 10. If you’re dealt a 10 and a Queen you have 20. So on and so forth…
It really is interesting to see how one single card can make such a big difference. Want to try your hand at blackjack? Check out the great table games available on Palace of Chance.
Blackjack card game is highly popular around the world. Players have to be very skilled to learn how to play blackjack, as it is very complicated game. Blackjack odds of winning can be high only if players fully understand the rules of the game and basic blackjack strategy, which means that players should understand the difference between playing soft hand and hard hand. The matter is that most of the beginners play using so called “basic blackjack chart”. In order to play as successfully as possible, the blackjack strategy chart was created to make it easy to make each decision, depending on player's and dealer's cards. The matter is that there is no one common for all game variants and game peculiarities chart – there are several of them even within one and the same game variant. During the game Online Casinos you may have two principal types of hand – hand and soft on, which differ only in count of Ace (or its presence at the hand you have).
Hard hand is the one, where Ace is not presented or where the Ace is counted as 1 point (in soft hand it is values in 11 points). Follow the below described recommendations to boost your chances of winning.
Hard player's hand (No Ace or Ace is counted as 1) | Dealer's hand (face up card) | Basic rules |
8 | Hit | |
9 | 3, 4, 5 or 6 | Double |
10 | 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9 | Double or Hit |
11 | 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10 | Double or Hit |
12 | 4, 5 or 6 | Stand or Hit |
13 - 16 | 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 | Stand or Hit |
17 - 21 | Stand |
This table could help when making decisions about the nest moves but it definitely does not guarantee the winning. The results depend on the general player's knowledge and skills.