By Henry Tamburin
No other hand makes blackjack players feel queasy than the dreaded 16. Players hate to hit the hand because they are afraid to bust. So many chicken out and stand no matter what the dealer shows. Others opt for the surrender option if it’s available figuring losing half a bet is better then losing it all. If your 16 comes as a pair of 8’s most players are reluctant to split if the dealer shows a 9, 10, or ace because they are afraid of losing two bets instead of one. Then there is the 16 made up with an Ace counted as 11 (i.e., soft 16). So what’s a player to do when he gets a 16?

If the dealer has 16 or less, then he will draw another card. A special situation is when the dealer has an ace and any number of cards totaling six points (known as a 'soft 17'). At some tables, the dealer will also hit a soft 17. If the dealer goes over 21 points, then any player who didn't already bust will win. There are two versions of the blackjack strategy chart, one being when the dealer stands on a soft 17 and one being when a dealer hits on a soft 17, which means they require different actions. When the dealer has a six, both strategy charts are the same in terms of what to do but there is one exception which you can read about below.

First, let’s focus on a hard 16. That’s a hand that does not contain an Ace or if it does the Ace counts as one. Some examples of a hard 16 would be 10-6 or 5-7-4 or 7-8-Ace.

The correct basic playing strategy for hard 16 is to stand when the dealer shows a small card (2 through 6) and hit when the dealer shows a high card (7, 8, 9, 10, or Ace). Following this playing strategy will not guarantee that you will win every time but that you are more likely to lose less in the long run.. Let me explain.

Suppose you are dealt a 10-6 and the dealer shows a 7 upcard.

If you hit you win on average 30% of the time and lose 70%.

If you stand you will on average win 26% and lose 74%.

Note that you improve your chances of winning the hand by 4% if you hit rather than stand. But the dealer is still an overwhelming favorite to beat you because he will win 70% of the hands to your 30%. But is it better to win 26% of the time by standing or 30% of the time by hitting? You should hit because it will increase your chance of winning by 4%, not much, but every percentage will help you in the long run when you play blackjack.

So the bottom line with a hard 16 is this. Even by following the basic strategy you will lose more hands than you win but in the long run you will loss less than following a seat-of-the-pants strategy. Losing less on hands where you are the underdog is just as important as winning more when you are the favorite.

What if your 16 consists of three or more cards like 5-7-4? Normally the basic strategy ignores the composition of the hand. However, if you have a hard 16 hand consisting of three or more cards, then you should stand when the dealer has a 10 showing. The reason is that you have consumed a few of the small cards that you need if you were to draw. This tips the odds in favor of standing.

Some casinos allow players to surrender. This means you give up the opportunity to play out your hand and automatically lose half your bet. Even when surrender is offered, most players don’t like “giving up” without a fight. So they rarely surrender. That’s unfortunate because surrendering a hard 16 when the dealer shows a 9, 10, or Ace will save you more money in the long run than hitting. In fact surrender is always the best option when your chance of winning a hand is less than 25%. Take the hand of hard 16 against a 10. If we hit our chance of winning is 23.4%. This means the dealer’s chance of beating us is 76.6%. If we played a hundred hard 16’s against the dealer 10 with those probabilities, we would end up winning about $23 and losing $77 for a net loss of $54 on average. By surrendering on every hand our net loss would be $50. Get the point? You are better off losing $50 then $54 which is why surrendering a hard 16 against a 10 is the better play because you will save $4.

If you happen to be dealt a soft 16 (like Ace-5), you should never surrender and you should never stand. Your first option is to double but only if the dealer shows a weak 4, 5 or 6 upcard. If not, then hit.

Finally, we have the pair of 8’s. The correct basic strategy play is to always split the 8’s no matter what the dealer shows. Even though you will lose money on both 8’s when you split, the combined loss in the long run will be less than the amount you will lose by playing the one hand as a 16. Splitting 8’s against a dealer 10 by the way is also a slightly better play then surrendering.

No question that 16 is a lousy blackjack hand. Unfortunately, it’s one of the most frequent hands you are going to be dealt in blackjack. But, by following the above playing strategy you will be optimizing your chances of winning more, and losing less, in the long run. It’s the smart way to play blackjack.

Henry Tamburin has been a respected casino gambling writer for the past 50 years. He is the author of the Ultimate Blackjack Strategy Guide and was editor of the Blackjack Insider newsletter. You can read his latest articles on blackjack, video poker, and his personal playing experiences at https://www.888casino.com/blog/writers/henry-tamburin

Suppose you are the only player at the BlackJack table. So it is just you and the dealer. The dealers upward facing card is a 2, and you hold a hand of a 13 (10, and 3 cards). You then decide to hit your 13, however you receive a King, and this causes you to bust because you now have 10,3, K which is 23.
The dealer then flips his/her face down card and the dealers cards are a Queen and the 2. So the dealer now has a 12.
Obviously at this point the dealer has won. So here is my question. Does the dealer keep drawing cards, until he/she exceeds the number 16? Or will the dealer stop because the only player at the table has already lost?
Furthermore, let's suppose the dealer hits the 12, and receives another Queen, which would give the dealer a Queen, 2, and Queen which is 22. So effectively the dealer would also bust.

The delaler will not play out his hand if there are no players in the game. And if a player busts, and the dealer then plays out his hand (because there is still at least one active player still in the game) and he subsequently busts, the player still loses because the player busted first.
There are many good books on blackjack at your local library that explain all the rules of the game.On a hand in which all of the players have busted, the hand ends once the last player busts. The dealer does not waste time by playing out the dealer's hand, the dealer stops drawing cards, discards the cards on the table and moves on to dealing the next hand.
The fact that the dealer was on a course to bust is irrelevant. Think of it this way -imagine you are in a two player game with the dealer. You go first and hit a stiff 16 and you bust. The dealer takes away the chips you had bet and your cards. The next player at the table has a a 20 and Stands. The dealer then reveals his cards, hits and busts his hand. Nothing has changed in regards to you as a player who has already busted -you have still lost the chips that you bet.If there is one player, and that player busts, the dealer will not hit his hand, no matter what he has.
EXCEPTION: If there is a sidebet in play (has an active bet on it) that depends on the dealer's final hand, the dealer SHOULD hit his hand IAW table rules (as if the player had not busted); this will be dependent on jurisdiction and house rules, as the paytable for the sidebet will (most likely) not have tried to account for the incidence of all players bust before sidebet resolution.
However, no matter what happens with the sidebet, the player's main bet has been lost because he busted before the dealer resolved his hand.
Reiterating what was said above in, hopefully, simpler language that addresses your question.

Hi GreasyJohn,
I own several Black Jack books, and none of them explain that scenario I described. I ordered the books from Amazon.com. I recently read an excellent book on Black Jack and the author talks about a 'Greasy John' who use to play Black Jack in the 70's and 80's. Greasy John would eat Fried Chicken at a black jack table and purposely scare off other players at a table so that he could be the only player. I am wondering if you coined that name from the legendary greasy John who was an excellent black jack player, and who had a rudimentary form of card counting that he would use. Or possibly we are fortunate enough to have the real Greasy John hanging out on this forum, which I find would be quite amazing.
I see you have posted 1008 times, so I presume it is ok to ask Black Jack questions on this forum?
Your answer really does not answer my question though. You replied that the dealer would not play out his hand if there were no players in the game. My scenario involves one player and the dealer. Not 'No players'. So your answer didn't seem to help much. I believe

Hi SnapBack,

In Blackjack The Dealer Has To Hit What Year

First, I did answer your question. You mentioned that it was just you playing against the dealer but you had busted. So when the dealer got to his hand there were no active players still in the round.
Please tell me who the author is that refers to Greasy John being a player that was active in the 70s and 80s. In the book Beat The Dealer (revised edition from 1966, and I would guess the 1962 edition) on page 174 there's mention of Greasy John who was an early blackjack 'system' player who had already passed away before the book's release. I don't recall seeing any other book refer to him. I took my handle from this character.

In Blackjack The Dealer Has To Hit What You Look

GreasyJohn, Sir -
A fun Black Jack book I read recently was named Black Jack Autumn. I really liked that book. I will bet you have read that one as well, because I'll bet you are a pro. I would recommend that book if you have not read it.

SnapBack,

In Blackjack The Dealer Has To Hit What You Mean

A blackjack pro is a person that makes his/her living playing blackjack. A simi-pro is someone who supplements his/her income playing blackjack. Although I am a counter who has made a lifetime profit playing blackjack, I am, by definition, a recreational player.
I don't think I've read Blackjack Autumn--I don't recognize the author.

In Blackjack The Dealer Has To Hit What City

In Blackjack The Dealer Has To Hit What You Lyrics

I would recommend you read The World's Greatest Blackjack Book. It's my favorite book on the subject. I would not encourage you to learn Hi-Opt 1 (the counting system the book originates) if you are playing 4 or more deck shoes. It is a difficult system to employ with an ace side count in a game with more than two decks.

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