European No Hole Card rule

[clemthegem]

Hi,

I'm a beginner in the UK.
Could somebody please explain to me why the ENHC rule has any bearing on Basic Strategy?

I understand that the dealer collects all player bets in the event of dealer's BJ, and obviously that means you're worse off than if he returned your extra bets.
I just can't get my head around why it matters at all that the dealer's second card is dealt after everybody's played rather than it sitting there face-down.
Is it to do with the dealer being able to check for blackjack before offering insurance? Is insurance ever the right decision to make?

[KenSmith]

The important difference is what happens when the dealer has blackjack. With the US rule, the dealer checks for blackjack before any additional decisions are made. That means you can't lose a second bet by doubling or splitting.

When the dealer does not get a second card until after you play, you could potentially lose more than one bet if you doubled or split.

For that reason, you should not split or double in an ENHC game against a dealer Ace or ten. One exception: Continue splitting Aces vs dealer ten.

[clemthegem]

That makes perfect sense now and what you say reflects the strategy cards for ENHC rule I have. I notice also that with ENHC rule, 8s are not split against 10s or Aces. Must stop telling myself "always split 8s"! Seems to me ENHC is a pretty rotten rule.
Thanks for your help.