Splitting in blackjack generally means splitting cards face up, unless the dealer has asked for a signal to split. When splitting, each player either takes half of the deck or passes.
This is usually done by placing half of the cards face up on the table, with the remainder placed facedown in the middle. .
If both players choose to split, each player receives two new cards. If one player chooses to pass, they receive only one new card.
If both players choose to split, they receive three new cards apiece.
The rationale for splitting is that it increases your chances of hitting a higher card. In theory, if you have a 10 and an Ace, it’s much more likely that you’ll hit a 2 than if you keep the 10 and put the Ace back in the deck.
Theoretically, if two players each have two different cards that add up to 13 (a natural), then they’ll both be winners even if neither player hits a jack or joker (since 2 + 13 = 15).
However, in practice this rarely happens because most decks are not as evenly divided as this. Therefore, even if one player splits and gets two 13s while the other player only gets one 13, they’re both still likely to lose since they now both have 16 total points – four more than before.
So although splitting is theoretically helpful, in practice it often doesn’t make much of a difference.
