World Gaming Magazine

28 WGM #60 2018/07 wgm8.com 游戏 PLAY 在 21点游戏中，玩家的起手牌有软硬之分：硬牌 和软牌。但凡你的起手牌中有A，这手牌就是软 牌，除非另一张牌是公仔（10、J、Q 或K），你 拿到黑杰克；或者另一张牌是A，你拿到一对A。起手牌 为软牌有八种可能：A2是软13，A3是软14，A4是软15， A5是软16，A6是软17，A7是软18，A8是软19，A9是软 20。A在21点游戏中有双重身份，既是1又是11，因此拿 到软21完全有可能——只要拿到一张A，以及两张或更多 张加起来是10的牌（当然不会是起手的两张牌中）。 然而软12却不存在，因为拿到AA后，没有人会把其 中一张看作1、另一张看作11来使用。这个对子一分牌， 就是两个11点，有很多胜出方式。如果幸运再来两张公 仔，就拿到两个21点。将两张A分开打是基本常识，就算 你是第一次玩21点，第一手牌拿到AA，而你看起来不知 如何是好，荷官也会善意地提醒你，你要分牌。 初学者不久便都会学到这一点。当然，有些想象力丰 富的玩家会选择不分，而是叫牌，有时甚至加倍。他们简 直是在外太空玩21点，长远来看必定输钱。 今天我们重点说说软17。首先，我们来看下荷官的软 17。我们知道荷官拿到17点或更大，必须停牌。 那他们拿了A6呢？在澳门，荷官拿到A6与拿到任何 其他组合的17点一样：停牌。 然而在玩家手中的A6就不同了，它们既可以是17点又 可以是7点。我们该怎么办？为做出正确决定，就要回到我 们曾多次提到的期待值（EV）概念上了。在21点游戏中， 17点是一手弱牌，它对付荷官的任何明牌（6除外）都是 负EV。就算荷官手上是张6，它的EV也只是略正而已，长 期来看基本只是打平。 扑克牌中A到K共13张。如果在A6上叫牌，就有四次 改进机会 （A、2、3 或4）；四次拿到公仔的机会（10、 J、Q 或K），将软17变成硬17。这些还无大碍。其余五次 机会中，非但不能提高，还把点数搞得更糟。不过好在这 手牌还未爆掉，如有必要还可以继续叫牌（通常是在荷官 明牌是7 或更好时）。没有人能预知未来，不过你在21点 牌桌看到A6时，应该清楚局势不妙，要想赢这手牌，则必 须改进。 如果你是激进型玩家，又感觉今日运势不错，面对荷 官的5和6，你甚至可以加倍。尽管加倍后只能再来一张 牌，但我们知道荷官5和6爆掉的机会很大。总之，永远不 能坐在软17上不作为，必须再叫至少一张牌。 I n blackjack you can think of hands as being in two categories – hard hands and soft hands. Whenever you are dealt an ace in your starting hand you have a soft hand, unless the other card is a 10, J, Q or K (giving you blackjack) or another ace (giving you a pair of aces). There are eight starting soft hands with A2 being soft 13, A3 soft 14, A4 soft 15, A5 soft 16, A6 soft 17, A7 soft 18, A8 soft 19 and A9 being soft 20. With an ace able to act as either 1 or 11 it is entirely possible to get soft 21 by holding an ace and two or more cards that total ten (although not in your starting two cards of course). There is no such thing as soft 12 because with AA, nobody should use a single ace as 1 and the other ace as 11. Splitting this pair gives you two 11s, which gives you so many more ways to win. Should you be lucky enough to draw two more 10s you have two hands that total 21. Splitting aces is such a basic move that should you be playing blackjack for the first time and get dealt AA as your first hand – and you look like you don’t know what you are doing – the dealer will tell you to split it. Everyone learns to split aces very soon after beginning to play blackjack. Of course, some players with rich imaginations will choose not to split. They hit and sometimes even double down, but they are simply playing blackjack on another planet and will lose money in the long run. Today our focus will be on soft 17. First of all, let’s talk about what happens when the dealer is dealt soft 17. As you should be aware, when the dealer is dealt 17 or higher, the house always stands. What happens when the dealer is dealt A6? In Macau, when a dealer is dealt A6 it is the same as being dealt 17 via any other card combination, the result is the same and the answer is simple: they stand. However, when you hold A6 it is a totally different affair. In a player’s hand A6 can be 7 or 17. So what should you do? Well, in order to make the correct decision we have to go back to the concept of EV (expected value). In blackjack, 17 is a weak hand – it is a losing hand against all dealer up-cards except a 6, and even against a 6 it only boasts marginally positive EV. It is essentially a break even hand. There are 13 cards from A to K. If we choose to hit on A6 we have four chances to improve our hand by drawing either an A, 2, 3 or 4. We have four chances of getting a 10-value card (10, J, Q or K) and turning our soft 17 into a hard 17. No harm done. For the other five chances we end up with an even worse hand than 17, but it’s only marginally worse and we can continue the fight and keep hitting if necessary (usually when the dealer has a 7 or better). The hand is not busted yet. Nobody can predict the future, but when you look down to see A6 at a blackjack table you should know this is not a great spot and you often have to improve your hand to win. If you are an aggressive player and feel lucky, you can even double when the dealer has 5 or 6. We only get one card after doubling, but we know the dealer has a high chance of busting. In summary, never stand on soft 17. Always draw at least one more card.