Blackjack - when does Ace count as 1/11

[ChrisGreaves]

(I figure PUZZLE people play cards, so ...)

OK, we are learning blackjack; The ACE can count as either a one-point or an eleven-point.
I read conflicting notes after a web search, and it seems to me that the player can flip-flop throughout the hand, switching from, say 1 to 11 back to 1 back to 11 at will.
I also read that "stand" and "hit" must be hand signals at real casinos so the cameras can "see" what the player is "saying".

OK.
IF you play Blackjack on a regular basis, how often can you switch between 1/11 for an ace, and how do you communiocate this to the dealer?

We are only playing at home, so there is no criminal risk here; we are just curious novices who have been playing (just the two of us) for almost 48 hours (off and on!), and haven't been able to get a satisfactory answer to this question.

(Gives casino-camera signal for "Thanks In Advance")

[StuartR]

It's not so much that it flips value as that the player holding the Ace can count it as whichever is most advantageous - at any time.

[BobH]

From Wikipedia (bolding and underlining are mine):

The players' object is to win money by creating card totals that turn out to be higher than the dealer's hand but do not exceed 21 ("busting"/"breaking"), or alternatively by allowing the dealer to take additional cards until she busts. On their turn, players must choose whether to "hit" (take a card), "stand" (end their turn), "double" (double wager, take a single card and finish), "split" (if the two cards have the same value, separate them to make two hands) or "surrender" (give up a half-bet and retire from the game). Number cards count as their natural value; the jack, queen, and king (also known as "face cards" or "pictures") count as 10; aces are valued as either 1 or 11 according to the player's choice. If the hand value exceeds 21 points, it busts, and all bets on it are immediately forfeit. After all boxes have finished playing, the dealer's hand is resolved by drawing cards until the hand busts or achieves a value of 17 or higher (a dealer total of 17 including an ace, or "soft 17", must be drawn to in some games and must stand in others). The dealer never doubles, splits, or surrenders. If the dealer busts, all remaining player hands win. If the dealer does not bust, each remaining bet wins if its hand is higher than the dealer's, and loses if it is lower. In the case of a tied score, known as "push" or "standoff", bets are normally returned without adjustment; however, a blackjack beats any hand that is not a blackjack, even one with a value of 21. An outcome of blackjack vs. blackjack results in a push. Wins are paid out at 1:1, or equal to the wager, except for winning blackjacks, which are traditionally paid at 3:2 (meaning the player receives three dollars for every two bet), or one-and-a-half times the wager. Many casinos today pay blackjacks at less than 3:2 at some tables.[4]

[Rudi]

Happy New Year Chris....

Have you been away gambling over the festive season?
I hope you aced it at the blackjack tables!

[ChrisGreaves]

It's not so much that it flips value as that the player holding the Ace can count it as whichever is most advantageous - at any time.

Thanks Stuart. I had gotten the feeling that one can choose - and re-choose - it at any time during the hand, but couldn't find a web page that told me so.

Do you happen to know the hand-signal for stating "one" or "eleven"?

[ChrisGreaves]

aces are valued as either 1 or 11 according to the player's choice.

Thanks Bob. I think I had read this, but it didn't tell me whether I had to nominate "1" or "11" at the start of the hand, or whether I could nominate it during the hand, and whether I could re-nominate it as often as I liked!

[ChrisGreaves]

Happy New Year Rudi....

Have you been away gambling over the festive season?

No. Just playing cards at Ms B's.
She likes gambling, and I don't gamble, so I monitored a hundred games of Gin Rummy and found it wasn't a gamble. I now get my week's grocery money from her in about six or eight games. She still thinks we BOTH are gambling, but it's a cert that I come out ahead on pretty well every sheet of six games.

I hope you aced it at the blackjack tables!

Not yet; probably never; just at home. M s B thinks I'm warming up for a session at the local casinos, but I'm really thinking that I can make enough off her at blackjack to add a 2-litre tub of Chapman's Frozen Yoghurt to my weekly grocery list.

[StuartR]

...Do you happen to know the hand-signal for stating "one" or "eleven"?

I've never heard of such a thing, it's always patently obvious which value is to your advantage.

[BobH]

aces are valued as either 1 or 11 according to the player's choice.

Thanks Bob. I think I had read this, but it didn't tell me whether I had to nominate "1" or "11" at the start of the hand, or whether I could nominate it during the hand, and whether I could re-nominate it as often as I liked!

Somewhere in the dim dark distant recesses of my cranium, I recall that the cards 'speak for themselves,' and it is not up to the holder of a hand to declare them. That might have been a specific rule for a specific game, but somehow I remember it as a global constant.

WRT to blackjack, that would mean that the ace would play in whatever manner it was most favorable to the player unless the hand was 'bust.' IOW an ace an 8 and a 2 (lowest value 11) 8would be 21 unless the player also drew another card higher than 8. Of course any reasonable bj player would take a hit with 11 because it is impossible to bust and a hit might mean a low card (that's why card counters count the shoe). I believe, however, that a 'natural blackjack' (being an ace and a face card) would beat the ace/8/2 hand if the dealer hit the natural. That might not be a rule of the game but only a rule of the house.

[ChrisGreaves]

... I recall that the cards 'speak for themselves,' ...

OK. That makes sense.
The game seems to be logical, and when an ace is dealt, if counting it as 11 would mean bust, then (obviously) one would count it as 1.

It just struck me as odd that web pages for beginners say "The player can choose ..." rather than "the value will be obvious ..."