When Does An Ace Count As 11 In Blackjack

Blackjack, also popular as Twenty-one, is one of the most famous casinogames worldwide. Blackjack is played against the Dealer only, not against other players.This is not a poker game – points are important, not the poker hands.

1. When Does An Ace Count As 11 In Blackjack Game
2. When Does An Ace Count As 11 In Blackjack Cards
3. When Does An Ace Count As 11 In Blackjack Against
4. When Does An Ace Count As 11 In Blackjack Strategy

Objectives

If your second card is an ace, count it as 11 only until your total exceeds 21, at which point the ace has a value of 1 point. If the value of your hand exceeds 21, you’re bust and the remaining players win. An Ace has a value of 11, unless it would bust your hand, at which point it becomes 1 Quoting from Wikipedia (due to lack of an official online source for blackjack rules): If a player holds an ace valued as 11, the hand is called 'soft', meaning that the player cannot go bust by taking an additional card; the value of the ace will become 1 to prevent the hand from exceeding 21.

The Blackjack goal is to beat the Dealer by gathering the more points possible, withoutexceeding 21. If your hand gains more points than the Dealer’s does or the Dealer’s handhas more than 21 points, you win. If your hand counts more than 21 points, you go bankruptand lose your bet.

Cards

Blackjack is played with a standard 52-card deck, mixed after each game. The suitdoes not count, only the card points. Different cards gain different number of points.

• Cards with numbers – from 2 to 10 – gain respective points (have their face value).
• Jack (J), Queen (Q) and King (K) gain 10 points.
• Ace (A) might be counted as 11 or 1 point, depending on the value needed for a best hand.

If you have 7 and Ace (A) – this makes the sum of 7 + 11 = 18 points. But, if you get 9afterwards, this will make the sum of 26 points, meaning higher than 21. In this second case,the Ace (A) would be counted as 1 point and the sum would become 7 + 1 + 9 = 17 points.When you have 7 and Ace (A) you have 18 soft points, because the points may vary.If you have 8 and 10 you have regular points.

Blackjack is a combination of two cards with 21 points value that consists of an Ace anda 10-point card (10, Jack, Queen, and King). You might have a Blackjack only in the beginningof the game, when you receive your first two cards. If you reach 21 points on a later stage,it would not be counted as Blackjack.

Game

Blackjack starts with a bet. You enter the game with this bet. After determining your bet,push the Deal button to deal cards. Two face-up cards are dealt to you and two cards – to the Dealer.One of the Dealer’s cards is faced-up and one is hidden.

• Hit – click the Hit button to receive a next card and add its points to your score.
• Stand – click the Stand button to show that you need no extra cards and stop playing.It is next player’s or Dealer’s turn.
• Double – click the Double button to double the bet; you receive only one more card andfinish the game. It is next player’s or Dealer’s turn.

Dealer checking for Blackjack

If the Dealer’s faced-up card is Jack (J), Queen (Q), King (K) or Ace (A), he/she might check for Blackjackby viewing his/hers second card. In case of a Blackjack the second Dealer’s card is turned over and his/herhand is compared to yours.

If Dealer’s faced-up card is Ace (A), you have the right to secure yourself in case of a second 10-point card.This happens by clicking Yes or No buttons, related to the question Insurance?The insurance costs money and is equal to half of your entrance bet. If you choose to insure yourself and theDealer has a Blackjack (the second card is a 10-point card), your insurance returns 2 to 1.

Dealer’s game

The Dealer starts his/her game after all players have completed their hands. He/she gets additional cards untilreaching 17 points. At 17 or more points the Dealer stops, no matter if the points are soft or regular, andthe hand comparison begins.

Hands comparison

When Does An Ace Count As 11 In Blackjack Game

• If your hand holds more than 21 points (bankruptcy), you lose your bet, no matter of Dealer’s hand.
• If Dealer is bankrupt, but you are not, you win the bet.
• Blackjack is paid off 3 to 2 – if you have betted 10 points and you have a Blackjack, your bet is returnedand you win extra 15 points or the sum of 10 + 15 = 25 points in total.
• Regular hand is paid off 1 to 1.
• In case of equal hands only the bet is returned.
• Insurance is paid off 2 to 1 – if you have betted 10 points and you need insurance, you have to betadditional 5 points. If the Dealer has a Blackjack, the 5-point insurance would be returned and 10 more pointswould be won or the total sum would be 5 + 10 = 15 points. If you don’t have a Blackjack, and the Dealer has,you are going to lose your primary bet, but the insurance will return money to you. This way you neither win,nor lose.

Ace-to-Five Count is the simplest card counting method available as you'll only have to track aces and fives. Needless to say it's also the least profitable when perfectly executed, although also the easiest to execute perfectly. (Credit for the A-to-5 Count goes to Michael Shackleford.)

Here's the A-5 card counting strategy:

When Does An Ace Count As 11 In Blackjack Cards

• Start the count from zero.
• For every five dealt, add 1 to the count.
• For every ace dealt, subtract 1 from the count.
• When the count hits +2 or more, bet the maximum.
• When the count is anything else but +2 or more, bet the minimum.

When Does An Ace Count As 11 In Blackjack Against

What is the idea of only tracking fives and aces? Well, obviously the amount of aces is going to dictate the amount of blackjacks you and the dealer are going to make. And once it's more likely for a blackjack to come, the player benefits because blackjack pays 3:2 (read why you should never play 6:5 blackjack games). On the other hand, fives are good for the dealer because they help to make dealer's otherwise weak hands strong.

When Does An Ace Count As 11 In Blackjack Strategy

It has been argued whether it's worth it at all to use Ace-to-Five Count as you'll only lower the house edge to a break-even point. In my opinion, most blackjack players should be happy to not lose any money. In fact, suggesting you play a considerable amount of blackjack on monthly basis, you'll get free hotel nights, meals and other comps and therefore end-up a winner by playing according to Ace-to-Five count.

That being said, I recommend either the Hi-Lo Count or the Knockout Count for beginners in case you're even a bit interested making profit from counting cards at blackjack.