Understaning basic Black Jack

[Dieter]

I'm so confused by this entire thread. ???

A new player didn't understand that a soft 23 isn't a bust, since the ace counts as either 1 or 11, "whichever is better for the player".

(It would have been better for the player if the dealer busted without having to draw again.)

[Dieter]

Some casinos ... force you to elect an Ace to count as 1 or 11 when you double down and freeze that value at that point.

Yes, but:
-That's not a ubiquitous rule (expect 1 or 11 most places)
-The dealer didn't double

[Three]

Since nobody actually made the dealer's play with an ace crystal clear to you, the dealer hits to a total of 17 or more. The ace counts as an 11 for these purposes. If the dealer gets a 17 the rule of whether he hits that hand varies, H17 dealer hit a 17 where an ace is counted as an 11 (referred to as a soft 17 since it could be a 7 if the ace is counted as a 1) and S17 where a dealer stands on all 17's including soft 17. Now if the dealer hits soft 17 and gets more than 21 or a dealer gets a total of over 21 counting the ace as 11 the ace is then counted as 1 and the dealer hits again until he makes a hand of 17-21 or busts.

[ohbehave]

To add to this horse-beating... Ace is counted 1 or 11 whichever is most favorable to the hand, regardless of player or dealer, in addition to the H17 or S17 rule for the dealer as explained above.