I know I’m repeating myself here, but the answer, once again, is “depends.” One thing I see many new players do is seek black and white answers. There is no such thing as a cut and dry solution to every situation in this game, unless we’re discussing the fundamentals to card counting. There is no disputing the math. Blackjack is a solved game.

Should you split tens? Well, if you reach the correct departure point, then there’s no disputing that it’s the correct play in terms of EV. The question is are you willing to sacrifice the EV for longevity or will you maximize your EV in return for potentially quicker back offs? How important is it for you to play locally? Are you willing to travel? There’s too many variables to consider.

I personally don’t give a shit about back offs, so I stick it in their face. But I’ve been backed off probably more than 160 times by now. If you’re willing to travel all over the place, then that probably doesn’t matter. But if you don’t have the ability to travel, then playing with such aggression might pose serious problems for you if you value playing locally.

One thing to keep in mind... no matter how aggressive or conservative your play is, if you’re a winning player, you will eventually get backed off. Especially if you live in an area where the games are mediocre at best. Why? Because in order to beat those games, you’ll probably have to use a pretty big spreads to beat those games for any meaningful amount of money. So those spreads will eventually get attention. But if you live in an area where the games are exceptional, you can beat those games with small spreads and maybe those small spreads look similar to what ploppies employ. So you might fly under the radar for quite some time.

I don’t care about the back offs. But I also don’t care to travel. And every once in a while, you’ll find a casino that is completely oblivious and they’ll let you spread like crazy, along with splitting tens. You’d be surprised how many casinos let me play marathon sessions, employing insulting spreads and splitting tens over and over. But for every one of those casinos, there’s several others that will back you off in a heartbeat. Just try to figure out what makes sense to you and fire away! Or don’t. But I will say this... it sucks when you play with a ton of camo and the casino still backs you off quickly anyway. Then you can’t help but think about all of the additional EV you just left on the table.