You're dealt a pair of aces. The dealer shows a Ace. Split or play it as one hand? Basic strategy answers:
| Split ← | +0.1091 |
| Hit | -0.0205 |
| Double | -0.6244 |
| Stand | -0.6670 |
| You bust on the next card | 0.0% |
| Dealer Ace busts | 16.7% |
Split is worth 0.1295 more per unit than Hit. On a $10 bet that is $1.30 handed over every time you get it wrong. Across the 340 situations in this chart it ranks 130th by expected value — better than 210 of them, worse than 129. 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.
Two aces are worth 12 together — a terrible total. Split, and each ace becomes the start of a hand worth ~52% of a blackjack. Splitting aces is the single most profitable move in the game, against any dealer card, including a Ace.