A 21st birthday key is a South African tradition, and you likely got yours in silver, in wood or piped in icing on a birthday cake! Why do families choose the 21st for the key? In South African law, you come of age at 21. Although the age of majority was legally moved to 18 on 1 July 2007, many Mzansi families still hand the key over at 21… and why wouldn't we? Who are we to mess with tradition – and an excuse for some lekker cake!
Here at Springbok Casino, 21 is the total you're aiming for when you join one of our blackjack tables – Blackjack, Suit 'Em Up Blackjack and Blackjack + Perfect Pairs. In all these variants, the Ace is the one card in the deck you can count in one of two ways. Count it one way and you hold a soft hand in blackjack, while you hold a hard hand when you count it the other way. Thing is, these hands are played very differently…
When Is a Hand Soft & When Is It Hard?
A soft hand in blackjack is any hand in which you count an Ace as 11 and your total is still 21 or less. A hand is hard when every Ace in it is valued at 1, or when it has no Ace at all – a 9 and an 8, for instance. Two Aces can never both be valued at 11, since 22 is already bust, so a pair of Aces starts out as a soft 12. Soft totals therefore range only from soft 12 to soft 21, and in the four hands below, you can follow the value of the Ace as you draw:
- Ace and 5 is a soft 16, and after a 9 you count the Ace as 1 for a hard 15.
- Ace and 7 is a soft 18, and after a 3 you have a soft 21.
- Ace, 2, and 4 is still a soft 17, because the Ace is still valued at 11.
- Ace, King and 6 is a hard 17, because with the Ace at 11 the three cards would total 27.
Why do we like a soft hand so much at Springbok Casino? You can't bust a soft hand with one card… Go past 21 with the Ace at 11, and you value it at 1 instead, so after one hit you still have a live hand, with a hard total at worst. From that point on, the hand is hard for good, and you can bust on your next card as with any other hard hand. Take a hit on a hard 16, by contrast, and you bust on any card from 6 upwards, Bokke!
The Soft Hand Rule Our Dealer Follows at Springbok
Our dealer plays every soft hand in blackjack by one rule, and it is cast in stone (or rather in print!) on the felt of all three Springbok blackjack tables: "Dealer must hit soft 17". In full, we hit any soft total of 17 or less and stand on soft 18 or more. On hard totals, we hit 16 or less and stand on 17 or more. Our dealer never chooses a play, so you can predict every move we make from the cards on the table. We apply that rule whether you bet R2 or R500.
Do you play your own soft hands any differently because of it? Of course you do, mense! Strategy charts for blackjack are drawn up separately for a dealer who stands on soft 17 and a dealer who hits it, and at Springbok, the dealer has to hit… Your best play on a few soft totals differs between the two charts, so we base our soft-hand advice on the chart for a dealer who hits soft 17. Soft 18 and soft 19 are two of those totals!
Soft Totals & Hard Totals Compared – Our Table Rules on Both
Soft 17 and hard 17 are both a total of 17, yet our dealer hits the first and stands on the second – which is why the word "soft" is part of the rule on our felt! On every other total, we hit or stand the same way whether our hand is soft or hard – we hit both a soft 16 and a hard 16, and stand on both a soft 18 and a hard 18. We've set the two totals side by side below, with the value of the Ace, the result of one more card and the play for our dealer and for you:
|
Feature |
Soft 17 |
Hard 17 |
|
Example cards |
Ace and 6 |
10 and 7 |
|
Value of the Ace |
Counted as 11 |
Counted as 1, or no Ace |
|
One more card |
Can't bust the hand |
Over 21 with a 5 or higher |
|
What our dealer does |
Hits |
Stands |
|
Standard play for you |
Draw another card |
Stand |
You play the two totals as our dealer does – you stand on a hard 17 and draw another card to a soft 17. Why draw to a 17 at all? Stand on it and you win only when our dealer busts, since we never stop below 17. Hit a hard 17 and you bust on any card from 5 upwards, while if you hit a soft 17 of Ace and 6, you're on a soft 21 with a 4, or on a hard 17 with a 10. That's why drawing to a soft hand in blackjack on 17 is the standard play, Bokke!
Doubling Down on a Soft Hand Against Our Up Card
You may double on ANY two cards here at Springbok Casino – it's the fourth line of the Rules panel on every blackjack table in our lobby, right under the soft 17 rule. When you double, you place a second stake equal to the first, and we deal you one card only. You can double once per hand, and you can double straight after a split. When do you double a soft total? The answer depends on the card we show face up.
The dealer busts most often with a 5 or a 6 showing, and with any up card from 2 to 6 we have to draw at least one more card after turning the face-down card over. Our 6 appears in all five of the lines below. We took the lines from standard strategy for four to eight decks with a dealer who hits soft 17, which matches the rule printed on our felt. Each line applies to a soft hand in blackjack on your first two cards:
- You double soft 13 or soft 14 when we show a 5 or 6, and hit on anything else.
- Soft 15 and soft 16 are doubles when we show a 4, 5 or 6, and hits otherwise.
- Double soft 17 on our 3 to 6, and hit it on every other up card.
- Soft 18 is a double on our 2 to 6, a stand on our 7 or 8, and a hit on our 9, a ten-value card or an Ace.
- Soft 19 is a double on our 6 alone, and you stand on it for every other up card.
Doubling a soft hand in blackjack on 18 sounds reckless, doesn't it? Ja, it takes a bit of nerve, yet when we show a 2 to 6, doubling is the standard play for a soft 18 at our Springbok Casino blackjack tables. You can double only on your first two cards, so once you've drawn a third card, you hit a soft 17 or less and stand on a soft 18 or 19 instead of doubling. Hold Ace, 3 and 4 when we show a 5, for instance, and you stand on that soft 18.
Practice Soft Hands on Our Money in Springbok Practice Mode!
Five doubling lines are a lot to get into your kop, so we give you R1,000 in practice mode to learn them before any of your own rand is on the line. In practice mode, you have access to the full Springbok Casino with a R1,000 practice balance, and that includes all three of our blackjack tables. Do you need an account first? Yep! The Sign Up link is at the bottom of our Log In panel, and once you're registered, you access practice mode in three steps:
- Enter your Username and Password in the Springbok Casino Log In panel.
- Press the Practice Mode button instead of Log In, the button for real-money play.
- Open the Table Games tab and play your soft hands from the R1,000 practice balance.
We allocate the practice balance once, so put it into the soft totals you're least sure of – soft 18 when we show a 9, for a start, or soft 17 when we show a 3. When you switch to your own rand, every bet stays in ZAR, and we add a comp point to your account for every R10 you wager. Wager R1,000 and you've earned 100 points, which you redeem for R1 in the cashier's Redeem Comps section – a kiff little extra for playing blackjack!
Quick FAQs on Soft Hands in Blackjack at Springbok Casino
Well, Bokke, that's how to value the Ace, when our dealer hits, and which soft totals to double on each of our up cards. We've answered four questions about every soft hand in blackjack at Springbok Casino, with the rules printed on our felt to make it clear. Those rules are identical at all three of our blackjack tables, no matter the size of your stake. If there’s anything we haven't covered, reach out to our support team!
Q: What is a soft hand in blackjack?
A: A hand in which you count an Ace as 11 without going over 21. Ace and 6 is a soft 17, while a hand with every Ace counted as 1, such as Ace, King and 6, is a hard hand.
Q: Does the dealer hit soft 17 at Springbok Casino?
A: Yes, at all three of our blackjack tables. Our dealer hits any soft total of 17 or less and stands on soft 18 or more, as printed on the felt of every table in our lobby.
Q: Can I double down on a soft hand at Springbok Casino?
A: Yes, when the soft hand in blackjack is your first two cards. You may double on any two cards here at Springbok Casino, once per hand, and we deal one card after the double.
Q: Is a natural blackjack a soft hand?
A: Yes – an Ace and a ten-value card on your first two cards is a soft 21 and a blackjack. We pay it at 3 to 2 on your first hand, so a R10 bet wins R15 and a R500 bet wins R750.
Pick Your Ace's Value & Open Our Blackjack Table at Springbok!
Now, open the Table Games tab in our Springbok Casino lobby, choose Blackjack, Suit 'Em Up Blackjack or Blackjack + Perfect Pairs, and gooi a R2 chip in the circle. Count your Ace as 11 while your total stays at 21 or less, count it as 1 the moment it has to be, and double that soft 18 on our 2 to 6. Try that double in practice mode first if it still sounds bold… then play your next soft hand in blackjack for real, Bokke!