Doubling Down in Blackjack

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While playing blackjack online or in person, doubling down is an essential weapon to lower the casino's house advantage. I have seen and heard many people that do not double down ever for risk of losing two bets. If this is the case, then you are more then likely betting more then you are comfortable with. At an online casino, when clearing a bonus, many people think that doubling down when playing online blackjack can only hurt them. This is not the case at all.

The reason that we double down in the first place is when we are given a certain situation, over time the double down will make us money. By not doubling down when we should, we are increasing the house advantage for the casino, as our low .4-.5% HA includes the double downs in them.

The table above is made from test data of millions and millions of hands of blackjack. You can see that 4,5, and 6 (as well as the 2 and the 3) especially are very good cards to see in the dealers hand.

The following situations will return a larger amount of money versus not doubling down:

Double down on hard 11 when the dealer's face card is 2 through 10.
Double down on hard 10 when the dealer's face card is 2 though 9.
Double down on hard 9 when the dealer's face card is 3 through 6.

Double down on soft A-2 and A-3 when the dealer's face card is a 5 or 6.
Double down on soft A-4 and A-5 when the dealer's face card is 4, 5 or 6.
Double down on soft A-6 and A-7 when the dealer's face card is 3, 4, 5 or 6.

Never double down on a hand that can bust with one card. The one that I have seen the most is doubling Hard 12 against a 5 or 6. Do not do this.

I have "mis-clicked" double down when playing online blackjack several times in my career.  Some shady online casinos put the buttons very very close together, often appearing to encourage miss clicking.  Just be aware of the Double Down button when playing online blackjack.

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