Basic Strategy question regarding "soft" and "hard" hands

[pnork]

Funniest thing about this thread is that OP starts with:

Hello my fellow AP'ers

And then goes on to say he doesn't understand basic strategy properly.

"Fellow" Ap'ers?

[Letangs]

Funniest thing about this thread is that OP starts with:

And then goes on to say he doesn't understand basic strategy properly.

"Fellow" Ap'ers?[/COLOR]

Wow.

I thought it was pretty obvious that it was a funny way to speak. I've been telling multiple times on this forum that I don't even consider myself as a card counter at all.

I never thought I'd find such stupid comments on a such niche forum. But apparently it's the Internet. People grow balls just to free attack others. Good mentality, could be excusable when you're 12, not when you're over 30.

If you have anything to prove here, I'm not the good client for you.

[21forme]

Funniest thing about this thread is that OP starts with:

And the saddest thing is a simple question, already answered, has morphed into a 50+ post thread.

[Letangs]

Norm, can you lock that thread please ?

thank you.

[Midwest Player]

Is everybody a chicken shit here? I inquired how everyone counts an Ace,something hand and got about two answers.

Don, mentioned how he thinks it should be counted, but my gut feeling tells me most folks don't do it his way. I'm not convinced Don's way is the best way, I can see some potential problems with his method. One problem I see is possibly calling an A8 an 18. And at some point you do have to convert you hand to a number value. If you hit A4 against a 9 and get a 5 you don't think A9 you think 20 at least I do. I will admit I haven't tried Don's method. His method may be the best method, however he provided no reasons why it was better than other methods. I do think he was quite rude in his reply.

Anyway, do you have the guts to describe how you play a multi-card Ace hand?

[21forme]

Anyway, do you have the guts to describe how you play a multi-card Ace hand?

WTF are you talking about? Are you on the Zee diet and it killed your brain? This isn't rocket science. It's very simple arithmetic. Nothing confusing about it.

Using your example, if I have A4 and get a 5. That's 20. I stand. Since you can't double (sometimes I do double A9) at that point, your options are limited to H or S. On 20 I S. Am I missing something more complex here?

[Letangs]

Is everybody a chicken shit here? I inquired how everyone counts an Ace,something hand and got about two answers.

Don, mentioned how he thinks it should be counted, but my gut feeling tells me most folks don't do it his way. I'm not convinced Don's way is the best way, I can see some potential problems with his method. One problem I see is possibly calling an A8 an 18. And at some point you do have to convert you hand to a number value. If you hit A4 against a 9 and get a 5 you don't think A9 you think 20 at least I do. I will admit I haven't tried Don's method. His method may be the best method, however he provided no reasons why it was better than other methods. I do think he was quite rude in his reply.

Anyway, do you have the guts to describe how you play a multi-card Ace hand?

I have adapted to Don's reply and if I get now A 5, then I get a 2, I think it as A7. If I can't double down, then I stand (unless it's vs 9/10/A). I refer to the A x chart of the BS strategy. Seems to work.

[Dbs6582]

Is everybody a chicken shit here? I inquired how everyone counts an Ace,something hand and got about two answers.

Don, mentioned how he thinks it should be counted, but my gut feeling tells me most folks don't do it his way. I'm not convinced Don's way is the best way, I can see some potential problems with his method. One problem I see is possibly calling an A8 an 18. And at some point you do have to convert you hand to a number value. If you hit A4 against a 9 and get a 5 you don't think A9 you think 20 at least I do. I will admit I haven't tried Don's method. His method may be the best method, however he provided no reasons why it was better than other methods. I do think he was quite rude in his reply.

Anyway, do you have the guts to describe how you play a multi-card Ace hand?

Midwest Player, I’m somewhat where 21forme is on this one. I can’t even tell you what I do since I haven’t thought about it that hard. I don’t know how my brain process a soft hand since it’s so intuitive. It knows what to do with soft vs hard hands, regardless if they are two card or multiple card hands. I expect there are other people like me, so that’s why nobody answered your question. I’ve never thought of this as anything complicated to understand. Even before my counting days, I always knew the difference between hard and soft hands, and how to think about soft hands.

[Letangs]

No, it depends upon the dealers up card. Once you stand you already made your decision.



You better look at it again.

Obviously it depends on the dealer upcard.
I would stand vs a 2/8, hit vs 9/10/A

[Letangs]

How can you say the above line when you wrote the statement this way?

"I have adapted to Don's reply and if I get now A 5, then I get a 2, I think it as A7. If I can't double down, then I stand."

I edited as my statement was indeed unclear.

[Letangs]

You were very clear, but wrong. Thanks for the edit.

Well in my head it was very clear tho I would never stand A7 vs 9/10/A.
I only have troubles remembering what to do A2/A3/A4/A5/A6/A7 vs 2 to 8.
It's automatic that I have to hit every A2-A6 if dealer is 7 or more, but I still have trouble for doubling down, same for A7.

I'm currently using this website to train: https://www.blackjack-trainer.net
It's good because it tells you when you're wrong, so I can double-check my BS chart. By a few days or weeks I should just play my hands without even doubting (hope so haha!)

[Midwest Player]

WTF are you talking about? Are you on the Zee diet and it killed your brain? This isn't rocket science. It's very simple arithmetic. Nothing confusing about it.

Using your example, if I have A4 and get a 5. That's 20. I stand. Since you can't double (sometimes I do double A9) at that point, your options are limited to H or S. On 20 I S. Am I missing something more complex here?

It seems like you still have to bring Zee into every one of your posts. I guess I was wrong in thinking you were improving.

There is nothing complex here. In post #18 of this thread Don gave explicit rules on how to count a multi-card soft hand. There was nothing mysterious about it. I don't do it that way, and he was very critical of the way I was doing it. I do think it is just automatic for most folks so they might not be aware of how they do it. On the other hand, I think most are afraid to admit they do something other than Don's approved method.

[Letangs]

It seems like you still have to bring Zee into every one of your posts. I guess I was wrong in thinking you were improving.

The is nothing complex here. In post #18 of this thread Don gave explicit rules on how to count a multi-card soft hand. There was nothing mysterious about it. I don't do it that way, and he was very critical of the way I was doing it. I do think it is just automatic for most folks that they might not be aware of how they do it. On the other hand, I think most are afraid to admit they do something than Don's approved method.

As long as people do decisions that are ok with the BS, I think the method doesn't matter much wether you call it "soft 13" or "A2"..