Is A,A a soft hand?
It is a pair of aces and should be split. If splitting were not allowed it would be soft 12 and you would hit it.
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Blackjack Soft vs Hard Hands Explained
Updated
A soft hand contains an ace that is currently being counted as 11. A hard hand either has no ace or has an ace that must be counted as 1 to avoid busting. The distinction matters because a soft hand cannot bust on the next card, which makes hitting and doubling far less risky than the same total as a hard hand.
Beginners lose a lot of value by treating A,6 like 17 and A,7 like 18. Those are soft totals, and basic strategy plays them very differently from their hard equivalents.
Identifying soft and hard totals
A,6 is soft 17. A,7 is soft 18. A,2,4 is also soft 17, because the ace can still count as 11 without busting. A,6,10 is hard 17: the ace must count as 1 or the hand would be 27. Any hand with no ace is hard by definition, and 10,6 and 9,7 are both hard 16.
A hand can only move from soft to hard, never the other way. Once you draw a card that forces the ace down to 1 the hand is hard for the rest of the round, and you switch to the hard total chart.
Why soft hands are played more aggressively
Hitting a hard 17 busts you with any card above a 4. Hitting a soft 17 cannot bust you at all; the worst outcomes are the hand converting to a mediocre hard total. That asymmetry means soft 13 through 17 are always hit or doubled, never stood on.
The same logic drives soft doubles. Against a dealer 4, 5 or 6, soft 13 through 18 become doubles because you get to put a second bet out on a hand that cannot bust and against a dealer who often will. In the 4-deck S17 game soft 13 and 14 double against 5 and 6, soft 15 and 16 against 4 to 6, and soft 17 and 18 against 3 to 6.
Soft 18: the most misplayed soft hand
Soft 18 looks like a good hand, and against a 2, 7 or 8 it is: you stand. Against a 9, 10 or ace, 18 is an underdog, and because the hit is free of bust risk you take a card. Against 3 to 6 you double, because the dealer is likely to bust and you want more money on the table.
Players who stand on soft 18 against a 9 or 10 lose a little each time; players who stand on soft 18 against a 5 or 6 give up the whole doubling opportunity. Both errors are common enough that soft 18 appears in almost every list of the most expensive beginner mistakes.
Hard conversions mid-hand
Suppose you hold A,5 (soft 16) against a 10 and hit. If you draw a 9 you have A,5,9, which is hard 15, and the hard chart says hit again. Many players freeze here because they drew to 'soft 16, then 25, then 15' and lose the thread. Recount the hand as hard and apply the hard rules.
The trainer displays the running total and marks whether the hand is soft, which is a good habit to build before playing live, where nobody will tell you.
Soft Total Strategy (4 Decks, S17)
| Soft Total | Example | Double Against | Otherwise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Soft 13-14 | A,2 / A,3 | 5, 6 | Hit |
| Soft 15-16 | A,4 / A,5 | 4, 5, 6 | Hit |
| Soft 17 | A,6 | 3, 4, 5, 6 | Hit |
| Soft 18 | A,7 | 3, 4, 5, 6 | Stand vs 2, 7, 8, A; hit vs 9, 10 |
| Soft 19-20 | A,8 / A,9 | Never | Stand |
FAQ
Is a three-card hand with an ace always soft?
Only if the ace can still be counted as 11 without the hand exceeding 21. A,3,5 is soft 19. A,3,9 is hard 13.
Why does the dealer have to stand on soft 17 in this game?
It is a table rule, abbreviated S17. Some casinos require the dealer to hit soft 17 (H17), which adds about 0.2 percent to the house edge and changes a few of the player's soft total decisions.
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