I’d guess that the number of people who think they can gain an edge by counting cards is significantly larger than the number of people who can gain an edge by counting cards. According to a math professor where I went to school who taught an occasional blackjack strategy seminar (in addition to being a math professor, he is a professional magician, and has been blacklisted from some casinos for counting cards), if you mess up basic strategy on one hand per hour of blackjack, you’ve negated any advantage you might have had from the counting.
Blackjack basic strategy isn’t rocket science, but it’s a lot more complicated than basic strategy for most casino games. I bet most people who try to count cards end up screwing it up and betting more with worse odds.
If the dealer doesn’t check, then how are you to know? If the dealer has an A showing and doesn’t check the hole card, and you have an 8 - 3, basic strategy tells you to double. If it turns out the dealer had the BJ, you lose only your original bet, not the doubled poprtion.
OK. Thanks Bricker and Peter Morris. I had forgotten the context of the OP because I’ve never played in a game where the dealer didn’t check. I’d never even heard of it.
The reason that was given by the Government(who decided that casinos will not deal hole cards in Austraia) was that it would eliminate possible cheating from a dealer looking at the hole card. A dealer could give signals or possibly people at other tables could see the hole card -leading to cheating.
I have no cite to back me up. Just 5 years casino croupier experience.
Well, certainly it has the effect of increasing the house edge, even if that’s not the stated aim. No doubt there are several reasons for it, and that is one of them.
Where have you played? The rule that you lose only your original bet is, as far as I know, true in Nevada and Atlantic City, and in the riverboat casinos in Mississippi, in Foxwoods, and in the Dominican Republic. That’s everywhere I’ve played.