Soft 17 Blackjack Online Rules Explained

Although playing blackjack can be pretty easy, many beginners mistakenly think that paying attention to a sound blackjack technique may be difficult. That is not true at all. One of the most important blackjack online rules of Soft 17 is to stand on more cards when the dealer appears weak and has a poor upcard and to attempt to increase your score and take greater risks when the dealer appears to be powerful.

It is a reality that the house edge in blackjack for a bad player can reach as high as 4%. However, if you play a smart game, that drops to as little as 0.5 percent. 

The Soft 17 rule in online blackjack is one of the crucial rules, not merely because it dramatically changes the game’s dynamics but also because it influences the house edge and your gaming strategy in the online casino. Let’s take a look at the soft 17 online blackjacks in detail.

Soft 17 Blackjack, What Is It About? Detailed!

Soft 17 is another term used for a blackjack online casino hand worth 17 that includes an Ace and can be counted as 1 or 11. If you draw one additional card, a soft hand may split. On the other hand, a challenging hand is one without the need for an Ace or one that has an Ace but could bust if some other card is dealt.

There are several ways to make soft 17. Most blackjack players will be familiar with the Ace-6 hand as the most popular Soft 17 hand. However, you may also produce Soft 17 with 3 or even more cards as long as the Ace is considered 11 or 1.

The Ace-3-3 and Ace-Ace-2-4 are two examples of online blackjack hands. These blackjack hands are referred to as “soft” hands since you cannot bust out, yet you can still increase (or decrease!) the value of your hand by drawing further cards.

We play Soft 17 substantially differently than Hard 17, which states you would always stand. Based on the dealer’s upcard and the kind of rules we are playing, we may hit or double Soft 17 in some traditional 8-deck game.

The Dealer’s Rules For Playing On Online Blackjack Casino Hands

You get to choose the one that suits you better if you stand, hit, split or even double down while playing an online casino blackjack hand. It makes no difference what the dealer believes and also makes no difference if your choice defies all gambling logic or mathematics. 

You are free to seek your choices. On the other hand, the dealer is not allowed to issue a judgment or make decisions regarding how to play their hand. For the rules governing how blackjack dealers must play their hands, you should always review your local casino to find out more about that.

Also, the way a dealer’s total of 17 is handled in blackjack is one of the most crucial regulations. In the majority of casino blackjack cards, the dealer always hits whenever the number is 16 or below and always stands when the total is 17 or above. In terms of the soft 17 blackjack rule, this is the player’s ideal position.

In addition, this rule does not consider if the total is soft or hard. The dealer must hit a soft total of 17 at the online blackjack tables and in some casinos as well. Do not forget that a hand having an ace contains a soft total of 17. So based on whatever is more favorable, the ace can be valued as either 1 or 11.

In reality, this worsens the players’ conditions while improving gaming conditions for the casinos. It increases the dealer’s mathematical advantage over the player by a small amount. It also affects the ideal approach to taking on each hand.

Counting Cards & The Soft 17 Blackjack Online Rules

You can estimate the amount of high and low cards available in the decks if you are proficient at counting cards. This enables you to adjust your wager size and hand strategy choice to take advantage of the times when the deck is still in your favor.

You have to know that card counting is a complex online casino blackjack strategy that involves numerous factors, not the least of which is the dealer’s use of the Soft 17 card. According to the True Count, a player can double if he/she has 11 in possession and the dealer’s up card is an Ace.

The True Count must be +1 or more in the ‘Dealer stands on soft 17’ (S17) game, while it merely has to be -1 or greater in a ‘Dealer hits on soft 17’ (H17) game. This and other instances where they needed True Count to diverge from basic strategy is less for H17 games can be found in the Prestigious 18 counting approach.

The House Edge In Online Casinos and Its Effects In Light Of the Soft 17 Rules

The proportion of your wagers that the casinos will ultimately profit from you is roughly referred to as the house edge. I consider thousands of hands when I speak about the long term. Anything can transpire in the short term, particularly the very short term. 

Therefore, if I state that a game does have a house advantage of 0.56 percent, it indicates that mathematically, for every $100 wagered, the house is predicted to earn an average of not more than 56 cents.

Also, this can help you determine what it will cost you each hour to play particular online casino games. It just comes down to multiplying the number of wagers hourly, the typical wager amount, and the house edge. For example, your projected loss is as follows if you’re competing in a game in which the average bet size is $20, there are 70 hands dealt hourly, and the house advantage is 0.56 percent.

Furthermore, $7.84 per hour × $20 per hand multiplied by 70 hands per hour. The house edge is impacted by modifications to the conditions of the rule, particularly when it comes to the dealer striking a soft 17. The house edge increases by 0.2 percent when a dealer knocks a soft 17 rather than standing on it.

Although that doesn’t seem like there is much variation between $7.84 and $10.64 per hour in the example shown above between 0.56 percent and 0.76 percent, losses each hour on average are 1.5 times higher. Consider it comparable to the price difference between purchasing a movie ticket for $7.84 and $10.64.

Some blackjack online casino game players believe that since the dealer will bust quite often, this rule benefits the players rather than the house. However, although the dealer will fail more frequently, they often get better; thus, this is more than compensation.

The Adjustments You Can Make To Your Strategy For Your Blackjack Online Rules

Given that games with four or more decks are currently the most popular format let’s examine the adjustments you must make to the basic blackjack strategy in these games. The best basic strategy choice in a multi-deck blackjack game varies depending upon whether the dealer must hit or stand on Soft 17. There are three main circumstances in which this is the case.

In these basic strategy circumstances, doubling down entails playing the hand more fiercely. In addition, there are three other circumstances when the strategy charts advise you to modify your fundamental online blackjack strategy if your deck has the Surrender rule.

There are only 2 changes to your fundamental plan this time. First, whenever the dealer’s up card is an Ace, these situations can arise when you have precise permutations of 18. So rather than standing, you may hit Ace-7 v Ace; instead of splitting a pair of Nines v Ace, you should shoot Ace-7 v Ace.

Final Thought

In conclusion, the Soft 17 rule is prominently featured in blackjack regulations. It is prominently displayed on every blackjack chart, but in practice, it does not raise the house edge on its own, and as a result, it has very little bearing on playing strategy.

You don’t need to pay so much attention to it so long as you understand how Soft hands operate and the unique exceptions to standard strategy. Stay tuned here and on our social media for further updates on online casinos.

FAQs