Mason Malmuth: Doubling Down on Aces???

[Midwest Player]

Mason Malmuth? Never heard of the guy. From doing a Google search it appears his specialty is poker and not blackjack. As far as doubling down on Aces I only know of a few places that allow it, and those places allow double for less. In the glory years of BJ21 MathProf made an excellent post on when to do this.

I assumed you were talking about doubling after split

[21forme]

Never heard of the guy.

If you never heard of him, then he can't be real.

[aceside]

As far as doubling down on Aces I only know of a few places that allow it, and those places allow double for less. In the glory years of BJ21 MathProf made an excellent post on when to do this.

Where are these places for doubling down on a pair of aces without splitting them? Are there in Spanish 21 double-double down?

[DSchles]

Where are these places for doubling down on a pair of aces without splitting them? Are there in Spanish 21 double-double down?

You're asking this question backwards. It is very rare to be allowed to split aces and then, if you receive an ace, to double the A-A. See Wong's Basic Blackjack, pages 110-111, for the proper strategy and a discussion. As bejammin075 just mentioned, you can always double A-A as your original hand (so long as soft doubling is permitted), if you're stupid enough to do it, so I'm not sure what you're thinking.

Don

[21forme]

See Wong's Basic Blackjack, pages 110-111,

But that's in a book...

[DSchles]

But that's in a book...

Oh, right! My bad. Wouldn't want to confuse anyone with the facts.

Don

[aceside]

You're asking this question backwards. It is very rare to be allowed to split aces and then, if you receive an ace, to double the A-A. See Wong's Basic Blackjack, pages 110-111, for the proper strategy and a discussion. As bejammin075 just mentioned, you can always double A-A as your original hand (so long as soft doubling is permitted), if you're stupid enough to do it, so I'm not sure what you're thinking.

Don

My question was lost in my bad wording. I intended to ask: what situations justify the doubling down on a pair of aces?

I actually looked up the book section you mentioned. It was about two casinos in the 1970s, where they allowed doubling down on a pair of ace-ace but did not allow hitting them. That was peculiar.

[Freightman]

My question was lost in my bad wording. I intended to ask: what situations justify the doubling down on a pair of aces?

Possibly 89 surplus, though why not just split like a normal person.

[aceside]

Possibly 89 surplus, though why not just split like a normal person.

It is extremely rare to have 89 surplus to a degree of exceeding 10s. Almost impossible.

[Freightman]

It is extremely rare to have 89 surplus to a degree of exceeding 10s. Almost impossible.

Run Man Run…..oops, wrong joke
Think Man Think

[aceside]

Run Man Run…..oops, wrong joke
Think Man Think

I still don’t get the joke you and 21forme are making.

[Freightman]

I still don’t get the joke you and 21forme are making.

Well, for hints sake, I’ll review the Run Man Run joke

Scotsman goes to the ball game for the first time. First batter strikes out and a Scotsman yells “Run Man Run”
Guy next to him says, he doesn’t have to run - he struck out.
Second batter comes up and flys out and Scotsman yells out “Run Man Run”.
Guy next to him says, he doesn’t have to run - he struck out.
Third guy comes up and pitcher walks him and Scotsman yells out “Run Man Run”.
Guy next to him says, he doesn’t have to run - he’s got 4 balls.
Scotsman replies “ Walk proudly man, walk proudly.

And thus, the first concepts of the unknown regaled system with ASC.

[aceside]

Well, for hints sake, I’ll review the Run Man Run joke

Guy next to him says, he doesn’t have to run - he struck out.
Third guy comes up and pitcher walks him and Scotsman yells out “Run Man Run”.
Guy next to him says, he doesn’t have to run - he’s got 4 balls.
Scotsman replies “ Walk proudly man, walk proudly.

I only have one ball but I alway walk proudly by keeping my head in the clouds.