One of the 1st steps any blackjack player should take is to learn the basic strategy. Some of these recommended moves seem rather dreadful. Exactly what basic strategy move do you particularly despise. Please also inform us if you go against the basic strategy recommendation in such cases or do you grudgingly follow it anyway.
One of the best strategy has always been to follow your instinct and it has worked well for some players most times, though not all the time.
As a general rule. Always split (a soft 12 total is not great, and you have a chance of getting two 21s, both almost definitely winners).
Splitting Shortcuts
For some players, it's easier to memorize the splitting strategy as follows:
Always split Aces and 8s
Never Split 4s, 5s, and 10s
For 2s and 3s, let n=2 or 3 and split on dealers n+17
For 6s, 7s, and 9s, let n=6, 7 or 9 and split on dealer's 2n
Don't change your bets too often. A highly varying bet is usually a sign that someone is counting cards - all it takes is for the pit boss to be counting cards too to be sure you're counting, and then you're out of there!