Staying On Soft 18 In Blackjack Is A Coward Move

18 in blackjack is a placeholder hand, an illusion of a winner. With an 18, you have a 42.95% chance of winning the hand. You have a 13.81% chance of a push, and a 43.24% chance of losing. While that seems like it's not that bad, I absolutely hate getting an 18 most times because you just feel yourself drawing dead. Which is another reason why you absolutely must hit on soft 18 in most circumstances. And by most circumstances, I mean this.

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If a dealer has a 10/face showing, the odds shift a decent amount towards hitting soft 18. Standing you'll win 41% of the time and lose 59%. If you hit, you'll win 43% of the time and lost 57%. We ran into this situation a couple times in our Monday Night Blackjack stream a couple weeks ago and I was happy with both Hank and my decisions.

Be sure to check us out tonight on twitch.tv/pardonmytake which will air around 9:45-10pm range.