Don't make stupid pair-split decisions. You're doubling your money on the table when most dealers don't know correct pair-splitting basic strategy anyway. One exception is in effect when you have a very high count and a pair of tens against a dealer low card. Your count may indicate that you should split the tens, and there are some Indian reservation casinos, riverboat casinos, and foreign casinos where most people play so stupidly that you can go right ahead and split those tens and just blend into the crowd. But in Nevada, and many major casinos anywhere, this is one pair-split hand you ought to play incorrectly. Likewise, it is one of the few hands you ought to play incorrectly when you have a high bet on the table. Splitting ten-valued cards is an unusual play for both stupid and smart players. Few players break up a hand totaling 20, and this play often looks suspicious because it's only made by rank beginners and card counters, and if you've been playing an otherwise intelligent game, you probably won't pass for a rank beginner.
There are a few pair-split basic strategy violations that fall into the category of two-bit deceptions, and some of these plays look pretty stupid. With a neutral count, failing to split a pair of nines versus a deuce costs little, and looks very amateurish. This is one of those errors tourists always make because they don't want to break up an eighteen. Better yet, and it costs just a bit more, splitting nines against an ace looks really dumb.
Finally, here are a couple plays that really do cost almost nothing (about 10 per $100 bet), and look far stupider than they are: hitting a pair of twos or threes against a dealer 4 instead of splitting.
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Tags: blackjack, card counters, online casino, riverboat casinos