Standing on 16 vs. 7-A

[jmpoehler]

Question for the experts:

Is there ever a time to stand when you have 16 vs. 7-A.

If you have 5,4,4,3 it seems logical to possibly stand since some of the cards you need are already in your hand (especially if dealer is showing A, since this is another card you could use).

Is there a rule to live by in these situations for non-card counters?

[Ray]

It's called the "Rule of 45". Example: 925, 457,844,745,etc stand on all
of these 16 vs 10. If its got a 4 or 5 in it...stand. I'll add something else to think about, inaddition to some of your needed cards being in your hand.
When you have to take a 4th card hit, the probability that you will bust is
very high compared to a 3rd card hit.

[midnite]

jmpoehler- While I am no expert and never claimed to be, I will try to answer your question. In a heads up game and those were the first cards out of the shoe, yes, you would stand with your four card 16, against the dealers face card. A counter would stand against a face card, in this case. Most of the time, when I have a three or four card 16 that contains a 4 & a 5, I stand vs the dealers 10. ie. 5-5-6 = stand. 7-5-4 = stand. 2-5-5-4 = stand. I would not stand light against the Ace. In a 6 deck S-17 game, the dealer will only break about 17% of the time. In a 6 deck H-17 the dealer will break about 20% of the time, when he has an Ace up.

[Grifter]

jmpoehler – There are two rules you can live by as a non-counter, at least against a 10.

1. Rule of 45 as posted above by Ray (note you only need one 4 or 5 in your hand, not two as posted above by Midnite).

2. Any time there are more low cards than high cards shown on the board, stand with 16 vs 10.

Grifter

[Ray]

The rule of 45 mentioned above does not apply to dealer 7/8/9/A.
The B/S player should still hit against these cards. Also hit 10,6 vs 10
and 10,3,3 vs 10 and other combinations that do not contain 4,5.

How about 6,2,2,2,A,2,A vs 7-A........you still hit. The bottom line is to
follow B/S with the exception of the "Rule of 45".

Ain't there always exceptions? Yes, see Grifters comments.(item 2)

[jmpoehler]

Does the rule of 45 and the Dr. Pepper rule still apply for a 6-deck or just a one-deck. I know Wong says the dr. pepper rule only applies for the one-deck in his book Basic Blackjack. Doe anybody have an opinion on this subject? or any data to back up what you should do?

Also does anyone know any other little "secrets" besides the Dr. Pepper Rule or the Rule of 45?

[Ray]

Rule of 45 & DP apply to 6 decks...DP, due to shear volume of cards, does
not apply to 8 decks. There are other nice things to help your game if you
are willing to "Board Count"(big cards vs little cards shown). Doubles(soft)
have the rule of "9" with two exception: " If your small card plus the dealers card add to a total of "9" then double. Exception: Dbl. A4 vs 4.
Also Dbl A2,A3 vs 5,6..
Ray