Can You Split a Jack and Queen in Blackjack?

Most blackjack games use a standard 52-card deck, which means there are four suits of 13 cards each. Aces are worth either 1 or 11, 2 through 10 are worth their face value, and a Jack, Queen or King (J,Q,K) are each worth 10.

An Ace and a 10-value card together make what’s called a “blackjack” and automatically win the hand unless the dealer also has a blackjack. If both the player and dealer have blackjacks, it’s a “push” or tie and nobody wins or loses that hand.

If you’re dealt two cards of the same value, you can “split” them into two separate hands by placing an additional bet equal to your original wager. So, if you were dealt two 8s (giving you a 16), you could split them into two hands of 8 each by placing another bet.

You would then be dealt two more cards to complete each hand—hopefully giving you better chances of winning both hands.

Now that we know all that, the answer to “Can you split a jack and queen in blackjack?” is…maybe? It depends on which blackjack game you’re playing. The reason is that some blackjack games use what’s called a “soft 17 rule.

” That means the dealer must hit on any soft 17 (any hand containing an Ace that totals either 7 or 17). But if the dealer is standing on a hard 17 (a hand not containing an Ace that totals either 7 or 17), then he can choose to either stand or hit.

In games where the dealer hits on a soft 17, it generally benefits the player to split any pairs consisting of a Jack and Queen. The reason is that if you don’t split them and just hit, your chances of making a 21 (or getting close to it) go down significantly because now you have two low-value cards instead of one high-value card working in your favor. If you do split them and get lucky enough to receive two more high-value cards, then you have increased your chances of making two 21s instead of just one—and we all know how much fun it is to win two blackjacks in one hand!

The bottom line is that whether or not it benefits you to split jacks and queens in blackjack depends on which rules are being used for that particular game. But if you want to err on the side of caution, it never hurts to split them—especially if the dealer is hitting on soft 17s. Who knows? Maybe your next big win will come from splitting those jacks and queens!.