Blackjack Soft Hands

Soft hands is one of the Blackjack concepts which you need to know. Soft Hands stem from the ability of an Ace to act as one or 11. If the Ace is 11 than the hand is said to be soft. It doesn’t mean the same thing as soft hands means in cricket. Soft hands in football also means something else.

Soft hands are good because the give the player the choice to make a decision. The player receives an Ace and an 8, that is a soft 19. Ace and Ace is a hard two or a soft 12.

When you are dealt A,2, A,3, A,4 and A,5 (soft 13,14,15 and 16), you would always play them as soft and take another card. In fact, you must double down if the dealer is showing a 4,5 or 6 as his up card. This is basic blackjack strategy .

With A,6 you should always hit, but double down gives you food for thought.

With A7 (soft 18, very tricky for some) think about standing versus 2,7,8 or Ace. You should double down versus 3-6. And, versus a 9 or 10 you should definitely hit!

With A8 and A9 (soft 19 and 20), you should stand against whatever card the dealer has.

The Ace is a powerful hand and it creates soft hands. Blackjack History says they are called soft hands after the person who played them the most has soft hands. The flexibility of the Ace and soft hands helps the player. If you are not sure what to do with soft hands, try to think what you should do.

The summary table below demonstrates what to do in all cases of soft hand: