Amen to that. A bad player cannot “take” the card that was “intended” for the dealer. They do this thing called shuffling, where the cards are randomized. The dealer has exactly the same chance of busting whether or not any single player made or did not make a play that you didn’t like. These blackjack players that believe in voodoo just piss me off to no end. Just play your own hand and STFU.
Yep. I’m always amazed by how many dealers there are who don’t understand the odds of the game they’re dealing.
It’s uncanny how almost every dealer will (correctly) tell you that Insurance is a sucker bet, while from the other side of their mouth they’ll state with conviction that surrender is always the sucker bet.
Me? I’ll always take whatever the casino gives me. Damn right I’ll surrender my 16 to any 9, 10, or ace; and I’ll surrender my 15 to a dealer 10.
Look at the blackjack table. Emblazoned in big white letters right in front of your eyes are the words: “INSURANCE PAYS 2 TO 1”
As for surrender? Sometimes there is a small plaque attacked at hip level to the pit bosses desk/booth reading “Surrender Available”. Often, it is not even posted there… you have to ask if they have it, and most people have never even heard of it-- because it’s never publicized!
Hmmmmm… you have any doubt that the casinos know which one is a sucker bet and which isn’t?
I think half the casinos would do well to offer five-card-charlies at a 1% advantage to the player, for the sheer reason that idiots would start hitting nineteens and twenties.
Bricker, I understand and share your fristration, but the bottom line is that each player is playing with their own money.
I know the odds and play them, but if the guy next to me hits on his 13 when dealer is showing a 6, well, it is his cash on the line. No one at the table will pay him if he “takes one for the team” by making his own hand lose for the rest of the table to win.
(I know that probability-wise that this action doesn’t matter, but the perception at the table is that it does.)
So, if buddy doesn’t hit when he wants to and the table wins, but he loses, I hope you will be the first gy to replace the $10 he has bet on the hand, since he “won” it for you.
I get frustrated to, on the inside, but ultimately it is not my money he is playing with, no matter what the perception of it may be.
Of course. I always play basic strategy, so it’s unusual that I’d give someone cause to scream at me for my choice… but I’d never complain about someone else’s choice, bad or good. Just make it quick. If you’re going to hit a hard 18, fine by me. Just do it, so we can keep the game moving.
Very valid point. I once had a dealer tell me that taking even money when I had a blackjack and the dealer showed A was “the only sure bet in Vegas.”
Again, play however you want to…just PLAY. Don’t stare dumbly at your cards as though the face cards’ illustrations contain the encoded key to the correct play.
How about that. That’s what I get for mostly playing six-deck blackjack. (I just learned last night that the casino about the same distance in the opposite direction from my house has two-deck blackjack. I think I’m gonna start going there more often, even if I have to spend more time dealing with the interstate.)
Of course, you never want to double with the dealer showing 10 or A playing European blackjack because of the no-peek rule. Wouldn’t you hate to have twice as much money down on the table just to learn that the dealer had blackjack?
Well they call face cards “Van Goghs” for a reason. They are so pretty to look at… getting distracted by all the talent that goes into making them…
That is my biggest pet peeve is the agonizing wait for other players to make their decisions. Unless they have $100+ on a hand. The odds don’t change, but my sympathy with their situation increases.
That being said, if they don’t look like they can afford to be playing for $100 a hand then I wish they would just walk away.
The right play is the right play, regardless of the money. I can’t stand people that dither over hitting a 15 against a dealer 8. It’s the right call, so do it. Or, if you don’t want to play that way for whatever reason, then don’t. The point is that waiting will not change the situation. The cards will keep their same value, no matter how long you stare at them. Do whatever you’re going to do…and if the money is too big for you, then stop playing and go home.
Bricker, don’t ever watch this.
Seriously. The first words I saw when poking around the cite were “never split eights.” Um, what? I think you mean always split eights.
Heh - reminds me of my first time at a casino. I had won $75 and retired to the bar to await my friends. Two skeezy biker dudes sit down next to me, the fresh-faced 21 year old college student.
Guy: Got any coke?
Me: Huh?
Guy: Coke. Blow. Snow. Cochise. Brainbuster. (and on and on…)
Me: Uh, no.
(a few minutes pass. They order raw oysters.)
Guy: See that chick over there? (Points to 50 year old waitress in the obligatory short skirt – the WORST looking waitress in the joint) I bet I can get her upstairs.
Me: Uh-huh.
Guy: You get the hotel room, and we can party.
Me: Naw, I don’t think I’m going to do that.
Guy: Come on.
Me: No.
Guy: What about if you go first?
I’m not a squeamish guy, but the thought of going second, or god forbid, THIRD, almost made me vomit in my Johnny Walker.
I played with a guy who split queens. I couldn’t beieve it. I also could believe how pissy some of the other players got because he “screwed up the shoe.” Morons.
Ravenman meets more interesting people than I do. All I got was some skank (probably a hooker) stroking my ear with her finger and telling me how cute I was.
We’re aware. But it’s not a terrible move (like not splitting 8s or doing it against a dealer’s ace) and I’m there to gamble. And it’s not like we’re doing it with a lot of money on the table.
