Blackjack Strategies

When you have 12 or 13

Let's go a hard 12, which would be 2 10, 3 9, 4 8, or 5 7. The 6 6 is covered in a separate chapter. There is never a DD situation but there is a matter of discussion warranted when dealer has a 2 or 3 showing. In these cases you will note that the proper move is to hit your hard 12 vs. the dealer's 2 or 3.

My friend Will Brake has an irritating habit of stating that "Every time I hit the 12 against the dealer's 2 or 3, 1 break." No he doesn't. Plain simple logic proves conclusively that it is impossible for him to break every single time he hits that 12. There are only four cards that would break him: 10, Jack, Queen, or King.

He won't always get a great hand but that is because there are only three cards (7, 8, 9) that will give him a power hand. The others won't give him a good hand but they surely won't (can't) break him with just that single hit. But people have the habit of remembering only the bad things that occur and put everything else on the back burner.

When the dealer is showing the 2 or 3 as her up card, you should hit your 12. Can you break by hitting that 12? Of course you can but the chances are only four out of thirteen. That's because only the four top power cards will break that 12, and I'm sure I just said that. Everything else will be under 21.

The 3 is considered a medium danger card in the hands of the dealer. We double against it with our 9, 10, and 11, as you will recall, and then we hit against it with our hard 12, somewhat eluding the fact that dealer could draw to that 3 and still stay under the breaking point.

Personally, I have no trouble hitting my 12 against either of those up cards because the 12 is not in a big danger of breaking and the dealer is not totally weak. This should be a no brainer.

When dealer shows anything from a 7 through an Ace, she is in a standing position. All of those cards present the danger of her turning over the down card and being in a standing position (17 or better).

This is one of the easiest to explain: hit that 12 all the time, except against the dealer's 4, 5, 6. In those cases, dealer is weak. Let her do the hitting into those weak situations.

When you have hard 13, pull back from an aggressive move, as compared to your handling of the 12. With the 13, we hit vs. the 7 through an Ace, obviously, because she is in a standing position. We can't just sit there and have her get a free play, while starting stronger than we are.

However, we stand with our 13 against the dealer's 2 through 6. In this case we add the dealer's 2 and 3 as something we will stand against. it is not because she is not dangerous, drawing to a 2 or 3, but the other side of the coin that prompts the move. Our hitting the hard 13 is kind of a shaky situation, so we merely stand and let the dealer do the dirty work.