Modern Blackjack nth Edition

This new Blackjack rule is appearing in more casinos. It is an interesting rule in that you are allowed to double after you split aces, but you are not allowed to hit. Double and stand are the only two options. If the correct move is to double, that’s great. Go ahead and put more money up. But, if the correct move would not normally be to double, you may want to double for less if you get a poor hand. That is, double with the smallest bet allowed to pay a bit for another card in the hope of a low cost improvement. Clearly, the strategy will look substantially different than a normal soft double table.


First, let us look at the standard soft double table for six decks, S17, DAS.

Next, we have the standard soft hit-stand table. This table would also be used if you had a choice of doubling for zero or standing.

Now, a soft double table assuming the choice between doubling for the full amount or standing, but no hitting. (This can be created with CVData by specifying a seed strategy that does not allow any soft hits.

We combine all these charts to create a strategy chart for the double after split aces Blackjack rule.

In this chart, we always double for the full amount on green. Red, we stand. Blue, we double for less. Purple is trickier as these are borderline plays. These are the plays that are correct for doubling with a zero additional bet, but don’t work when doubling with a full bet. Unfortunately, you cannot double with a zero bet. So, the correct play depends on the ratio of the lowest amount you can bet and the current bet. The higher that ratio, the more likely you should make the bet.