When a player is dealt 12 vs. 2 in blackjack against the dealer, knowing the right move can be a little tricky. First, the right blackjack strategy in this situation depends on the cards that make up the player’s 12 value cards. The possible combinations that can get you a 12 include 2-10, 3-9, 2-8, 5-7, A-A, and 6-6 cards.
For the last two cards (A-A and 6-6), the right strategy would be to split the cards to create a new hand. With the AA card (which is a soft 12), you can also choose to hit, since there’s no risk of exceeding 21.
However, for the hard hands ( 2-10, 3-9, 2-8, and 5-7), the right strategy can be a little tricky to figure out. While some people might recommend standing and waiting for the dealer to bust, this isn’t a very good move.
The probability of the dealer busting is not as high as you might expect. For this to happen, the dealer has to draw a couple of ten cards (or a 10 card and another high card). Since non-ten numbers outnumber 10 cards in the deck, the odds of the dealer busting are quite low. In fact, it only happens 35% of the time in a six-deck game.
On the flip side, you only have to draw any of the denominations from 5 through 9 to improve your total without bursting. If you don’t hit the hand, you’ll lose 65% of the time. But if you hit, you’ll only lose 60% of the time. The odds are clearly still in your favor if you hit, which makes it a better strategy than standing.
