Split these Aces?

What won’t the casinos do to entice you just a little bit more to come play their game rather than the other guy’s game – or no game at all. Sometimes it’s a free meal, others it’s a show and dance, blah blah blah you know the drill. But just as often, they’re dangling a game-variation carrot in front of you to make it look like they’re dropping their guard and upping the player advantage enough to get you to come on over and play.

Not many of us are fooled by these tactics, or we were going to play anyway. Still, they keep coming, so something must be working. One of the most recent ones I saw was a game of blackjack that offered doubling after splitting aces. Is this worth your gambling dollar?

To clarify, the dealer offers the player the option to double once you split a pair of aces – that is before you actually get a second card on either ace. If you choose to double and get another ace, you can split again, otherwise (like any other double down) you’re stuck with the card you get.

So what does this do to the house edge that makes it so attractive? The short answer, not much. But throwing words around like “splitting Aces” and “doubling down” are just so irresistible, aren’t they? The fact is being allowed to double after splitting aces is 0.08%. So there’s a marginal improvement in the player odds, but the overall house edge remains in tact. Hey, you know as well as I do they’re in this to make money.

This is also a very restrictive situation to be in as a player. If you have to make a call on doubling down before you even see your second card, you’re technically at a disadvantage over if you were doubling down on a regular hand to begin with. And you’re forcing yourself to use the Ace as an 11, another restriction. Is that really worth it? What if the dealer’s up-card is a 10 value? Well, now we’re getting into other strategic discussions, so I’ll try to stay on topic.

Look, there’s always the next best thing out there to make you believe you’re in a better position to win. But outside of the generally accepted major rules (H17, etc…), these are all the same figurative bells and whistles that compete with the literal bells and whistles on slot machines to catch your eyes and ears.

If you want to play the game, great, play it. But don’t pay any mind to the hooks. They’re not there to make friends.