Hitting Hard 15 or 16 in Blackjack

Question

Should I hit a hard 15 or 16 against a dealer's seven through ace in blackjack?

Answer 1

Yes, you should hit a hard 15 or 16 against a dealer's seven through ace in blackjack. While there's a high chance of busting, standing is even worse as the dealer has a good chance of making their hand. Following the math and hitting in this situation is the correct strategy.

Comments

I like that you're going back to basics rather than explaining more about card counting.  It's a nice welcome to those who are new to this channel.
Here's how I explain hitting vs. standing on hard totals to new players:
Fours, fives, and sixes are up cards that most frequently bust, so you never hit anything that can bust.  Sevens and higher don't bust often, so you hit up to 16s.  Twos and threes are kind of in-between, so you hit on 12s but nothing higher.

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Good video and very good to see I had most of them correct. The only part that leaves me thinking is the hit on 15 or 16 if the dealer has a 10. If you hit, you risk busting or hitting a low card (A, 2, or 3) and still can end up losing. I would rather take only one risk and hope the dealer busts.

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Needed to hear that Hard 15 and 16. I'd come across times when im dealt this hand and I ask to hit and the dealer looks at me with surprised eyes and repeats what I said to make sure she heard me correctly. Even other players at the table would say "you should have stayed or that was a bad move" on the times I do bust the hand. It really makes me double think and reminense about if I should be hitting it the first place. Thanks for the video to bring my confidence back up and basically I just need to say fuck you in my head to the players that say that shit.

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16 vs 10 is about half half to hit or stand. If true count is positive stay if negative hit

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In New Zealand though, the hard 15/16 rule is different in a way because our casinos don't put a card under their card. They only have one face up card and the next card that comes out of the shoe will be the dealers. So if we hit on a 16 and get a 3, great, but the dealer will have a picture card and that 3 would have been more detrimental to the dealers hand than helpful as the next card will most likely be a picture card and I have just given the dealer a 20 against my 19. We're also not allowed to double down on a soft number in New Zealand. Lame, but that is the rule.

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Usually it seems kind of ok to buy insurance (regardless of hand dealt) IF the table is full of players and IF none of the players have any face cards.  The chances of a dealer having it, it seems to me, is pretty high.  But other then that, sure.  Yikes doubling on a 12 or 13 to a dealer 2?  Also, I can always tell if a blackjack player can play well (seems everyone says they do) by a couple sample hands, chief of which is how they handle their 16's against a dealer 7 (still hit) (or unless your 16 is comprised of 5 or more cards).  All not so great players always yelp to STAND, when of course, it is to HIT.  So this dude is on point.

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So many people screaming to me "LEARN HOW TO PLAY BLACKJACK" when I hit on 15 and 16 lol. "PLAY FOR THE PLAYERS NOT FOR YOURSELF". Yeah right. I almost got kicked out of a casino when doubled with A7 because the whole table fought me. I swear if online blackjack didn't give such terrible odds (No surrender/only double on 11/No splitting more than once etc etc etc) I'd stick to online.

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with a 12, you hit it always and keep hitting it seeing more cards to help your  count unless you are near the shuffle card, insurance- only take it when count is high, always split nines except 7, 11 versus ten is double when count is high, if count is really low you keep hitting get more of low cards out of way, only hit 15 or 16 when count is really low, or better yet throw them in and take 1/2 bet off if casino surrounds, soft 18 - double down when count is really really low - or hit it to get low cards out. If you hold your cards in hand, and count goes low, keep hitting to get low cards out even if you go over 21. Just to get the low cards out of way. Then throw cards away so dealer can't see them.

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Excellent explanations on the common mistakes. I wish everyone in my casino can watch this. I simply cannot enjoy blackjack in casino tables because of these exact mistakes mentioned in this video that I did not commit. I always follow the basic strategy perfectly but when I did the opposite of those mistakes, I will get chastised left and right and getting blamed for causing everyone to lose, especially when I hit on 15,16 against 7 to 9 (but I will surrender against 10). And I'm tired of trying to explain the logic behind the correct decisions. Even the dealer would join them against me. Good thing the casino has the electronic table game for blackjack where there is a real person dealing the card with a 'live' cam, and there is a machine for each player to place bet etc. So one dealer can serve countless number of players depending on the number of machines and we cannot see what other players are doing. It's not the same as those online blackjack but it is difficult to show how this is done in words.

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can you go over what to do with a player’s 16 when you reach that 16 with four or more cards, against a dealer’s 7-A but particularly against a 10?  Do you play the hand any differently than if you were dealt a 16 vs a dealer’s 7-A?

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I understand the math about hitting hard 16 against dealer's 10. Dealer could have 7 cards under out of 12 that make him pat, and just 5 would make a player's hand better, while 8(of 13) cards would break player. A player's choices are bad or worse. But staying on hard 16 against dealer's 7 isn't the same odds as if the dealer showing a 10. Only 5 cards under(out of13) make dealer pat, and of the 8 left, some would break him or put him nearer a likely break total; while 8 cards still would break the player. Isn't that much closer to a 50-50 risk for the player to hit or stay? Or even SLIGHTLY in players favor to stay then?

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I have two questions about hitting a hard 16, first, does the count change if you would hit it or not? second, i heard that hitting a 3 card 16 is worse than a 2 card 16?