What is Dealer hits soft 17?
Dealer hits soft 17, often abbreviated H17, is a blackjack rule requiring the dealer to draw another card on a soft 17; its opposite, S17, has the dealer stand.
When the dealer holds an ace and a 6, or another combination totalling soft 17, the H17 rule requires another card. This lets the dealer improve the hand more often and raises the house edge by roughly 0.2 percentage points compared with S17.
The rule is usually printed on the table felt, for example 'Dealer must stand on all 17s' or 'Dealer hits soft 17'. Basic strategy charts differ slightly between the two versions, so players following a chart need the correct one.
Along with the blackjack payout and doubling rules, the soft 17 rule is one of the main levers casinos use to adjust the profitability of the game. Many casinos in the United States have moved low-limit tables to H17 in recent decades, while some higher-limit tables still use the S17 rule as a selling point.
