When do you split in blackjack? How you know whether it's best to surrender may well depend on what the house allows. If you close and surrender, half of your wager will go to the house — but at least you save the other half of your bet and live to play another hand. In this case surrendering with a pair of 7s can be seen as a wise decision. When you're playing on an online gambling site they may not offer surrender in a single deck game, so again, check the rules. If you play a losing hand, just dust yourself off, get back up and take the lesson as one of many learned. If the option to surrender isn't available, you should take option 2 and hit.

What Not To Do With a Pair of 7s

Something you definitely shouldn't do with a pair of 7s is double down. Holding cards that total anything over 11 gives you a much higher chance of going bust, so choose any other option but this. Also, never split if the house rules are “no double after a split” (NDAS.)

Blackjack is a game of skill and there are many variations of the rules. These will always impact a player's strategy. It's essential to play each and every hand to its best advantage. Having a figurative ace up your sleeve and knowing what your best odds are when you're dealt a pair of 7s — or in fact any other pair — will depend on what the dealer's upcard is. Knowing the likelihood of you or the dealer pulling a given combination or sequence of cards also requires players to be observant. You'll need to watch what cards have already been dealt and weigh up what's likely to come next.

Practice all the scenarios and never forget that it's what the dealer's holding that should inform any decision you take. The dealer is required to keep drawing until they get to 17 or higher so there's always the chance that they'll go bust before you. Don't forget that gambling is always about statistical probabilities and there are never any guarantees. That said, playing a strategic game and knowing when to split, hit or surrender is all part of the fun.

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