Win at Blackjack with a Soft Hand

Playing a soft blackjack hand presents a player with different challenges to playing a hard hand. To play a soft hand successfully to win at blackjack, a player needs to be skilled at two tasks. Firstly, he must know how to play a soft hand to his advantage based on the dealer's up card and he must know how to use the soft hand doubling down rule.

Learning when to stand and when to hit in blackjack is not difficult. A player should be able to quickly deduce what his next course of action is in a blackjack game based on the dealer's up card and the cards that make up his own blackjack hand. Learning how to do this increases a player's chances of achieving a win at blackjack.

Remember that some casinos do not allow a player to double on a soft hand to win at blackjack. Therefore the following rules are based on using doubling only when it is allowed. When an Ace is being counted as eleven in the blackjack game, double or hit if you have 12 to 13 and the dealer has 5 or 6. If you have a soft blackjack hand of 14 or 15, double or hit if the dealer has 4 to 6.

If you have soft 16, double if the dealer has 3 to 6 or hit. With 17, the player should stand if the dealer has 2, 7 or 8. However, if the dealer has 3 to 6, the player should double. Finally on a hand of 18 or 19, the recommended course of action is always to stand. If a player can incorporate these rules into his blackjack game, he is far more likely to win at blackjack when he is playing a soft hand.