Even Money

Even money only happens if the player has a blackjack and the dealer is asking for insurance. If the player thinks the dealer has a blackjack and they don’t want their blackjack to push, they may take Even Money. The player will only get paid even money or 1 to 1 instead of 3 to 2. The bonus that they would get for their blackjack goes to paying the insurance. And that leaves the player with even money. Even money is not available on 6 to 5 games.

Soft Hands

In this next section, I'm going to teach you how to read a soft hand. Now, what is the soft hand? The soft hand will always have an ace in it. Always. And it will be paired with any card that is not a ten. If an ace is paired with a ten, it's automatically a blackjack. So, when we have a soft hand, we're going to have two different numbers. And that's because the ace is either 1 or 11.

So, let's look at some of these cards and let's go through them. And let's try to explain to you what a soft hand is. For example, we have an ace and a 5. If an ace is 1 or 11, then 5 + 1 = 6. Now if we add 10 to it, it could also be a 16. So, if we look at a card that's an ace and a 5, the dealer would say, “You have a 6 or a 16”.

If the player has a 3 and an ace they would say, “You have a 4 or 14”. That's because 3 + 1 = 4. Add 10 and the player has a 4 or 14.

Next up is an ace and a nine. 9 + 1 = 10. Add 10 and that gives you 20. 20 is one of the best hands a player has, so the dealer would say “You have a soft 20”.

If the player has an ace and a 7, 7 + 1 = 8. Add a 10. The dealer would say “You have an 8 or 18”.

Last, we have an ace and a two. 2 + 1 = 3. Add a 20. The player has a 3 or 13.

Now the hardest part about soft hands is when you have multiple aces in the deck. Just remember that when you're counting the aces you're going to count whatever is more favorable to the player. So, if the player has a 6 or 16 and then they hit a two, they now have an 8 or 18. 18 is favorable to the player. So, the player has an 18. Now let's go over some drills that you could do at home to practice this.

I want you to take a single deck and out of this single deck, I want you to pull out all of the aces. Make a pile of aces. Then pull out all of the 2 through 9 cards and make another pile. The last pile will be all of the 10 cards (10, Jack, Queen, King)

You are going to use your pile of aces, pile of numbers for this drill. I want you to go through and I want you to make a soft hand. So, we have 4 or 14 as the dealer. I want you to say, “You have 4 or 14”. Okay. Then I want you to hit, stay or double accordingly.

7 +3 = 10. Add an ace and now you have 21.

Ace + 8 = 9 or 19

2 + ace = 3 or 13 + ace = 4 or 14 + 9 = hard 13 + 10 = 23 Bust

A hard number means that if you hit and get a 10, the hand will bust.

9 + 5 = 14 + ace = hard 15

We're trying to make these cards, as favorable to the player as possible. If the option is 15 or 25, 25 will bust, so it is an automatic 15.

Okay. So just keep doing that over and over again. Do this homework for a minimum of 30 minutes every night until you feel comfortable with it. Here are the answers to the worksheet. Just remember that practicing at home is the best way to learn. There is a lot of at home practice.