You're dealt a pair of 8s. The dealer shows a 10. Split or play it as one hand? Basic strategy answers:
| Split ← | -0.4895 |
| Hit | -0.5398 |
| Stand | -0.5404 |
| Double | -1.0796 |
| You bust on the next card | 61.5% |
| Dealer 10 busts | 23.0% |
Split is worth 0.0503 more per unit than Hit. On a $10 bet that is $0.50 handed over every time you get it wrong. It is also the 5th worst spot of the 340 hands in this chart. Expected value is per unit staked, computed for multi-deck, dealer stands on soft 17, double after split allowed. The model and the code are published as data.
A pair of 8s is hard 16 — the worst total in blackjack. Splitting escapes the disaster and restarts two hands from 8, which plays far better than 16 against any card, even a 10. It's not about winning big here; it's about losing less, and the math is unambiguous.