Optimum Double Down Strategy In Online Blackjack

Added: September 28, 2017

In order to do well in online blackjack games you need to employ optimum strategy. This includes making correct use of optional moves like double down and split that offer additional payout opportunities. If you do not use this moves you lose out on the advantages. On the other hand if you use these moves indiscriminately you are wasting the additional bets involved. This article looks at optimum double down strategy in online blackjack. The double down move has to be exercised up front before you hit or stand. It involves placing an additional wager equal to the original one. Then you will be dealt one and only one more card.

The optimum double down strategy revolves first around the player’s dealt hand value and then on the dealer’s face up card. The simplest candidate for double down is when the player has a dealt hand value of 11. After the single additional card there is a 50% chance of ending up with a final hand value of 19 or more. So you should always double down no matter what the dealer’s face up card is.

In the second leg of double down optimum blackjack strategy we look at dealt hand values of 10 or less. This situation gets progressively weaker and the dealer’s face up card comes into play. You double down with 10 when the dealer has 9 or less. If the dealer’s face up card is an ace it counts as 11 for these decisions and not 1. You double down with 9 when the dealer has 6 or less. In these last two cases, you do not double down if dealer’s face up card is 4 or less. The dealer can expect a very good total after drawing two cards. So you will lose the double down most of the time. You double down with 8 only if the dealer has 5 or 8. You never double down with hand values of less than 8 because you are likely to be in no man’s land after taking only one more card.

The final leg of the double down optimum blackjack strategy deals with dealt hand values of more than 12. You never double down on hard values of 12 or more because the probability of busting negates any advantage. However, if you start with soft totals of 12 or more the ace can switch to a value of 1. The simple rule is that you should double down with starting soft totals of 13 to 17, if and only if the dealer has a face up card of 4, 5 or 6.