Three faces of eight
5 July 2004
By Mark Pilarski
Dear Mark,
I have not seen any Basic Blackjack Strategy
that suggests doubling down on a hard eight. All
I have read or seen on Basic Blackjack Strategy
states you only hit the hard eight. Do you have
a professional's view of the decision to double
down on eight? I do not remember you addressing
this issue. Dan J.
Because single deck games are harder to find
than the proverbial needle in a haystack,
current writings on blackjack, (as well as on
blackjack basic strategy cards) are created for
multiple deck games. Usually they all suggest
the same thing: Hit your hard eight against any
card the dealer is showing. However, Dan, if you
happen to stumble upon a single deck game, it is
commonly recommended that you double down on a
hard eight when the dealer is showing a five or
a six.
Dear Mark,
Do all casinos use the same dice size on their
crap games? Mickey H.
Most dice on crap games today are the size of a
three-quarter inch cube, but the size can vary
up to a sixteenth of an inch because different
companies make dice.
Up until the early sixties, dice were somewhat
smaller, measuring about five-eighths of an
inch. The increase in size was for a few
different reasons, the foremost being complicate
life for the cheaters. It is much harder to
"palm" or "switch" the bigger dice. Another
reason is that as crap tables grew larger to
accommodate more players, it became advantageous
to have larger spots making it easier for the
dealers and players to read the numbers.
I once positioned a five-eighths inch die next
to a three-quarter inch cube at the end of a
crap table, and what a difference an eighth of
an inch makes! even with my botched lasik
surgery.
Dear Mark,
A quick question about Texas Hold'em: Let's say
the five community cards are all hearts. For
example, the board shows the 6, 7, 8, 10, and
Jack. In my hand, I have the Ace of hearts. Do I
get to play my Ace of hearts and take the pot,
or am I screwed and the pot is split? Our poker
group had a minor argument the other night and
would like clarification. As long as I have
played, we have played that if you can make a
higher flush, then you win. Andrew R.
Correct you are, Andrew, in that your pocket Ace
of hearts ranks supreme and you can marry it
with the just four of the other hearts on the
board (the five face-up cards in Texas Hold'em).
Your Ace-High Flush would be higher than any
other flush whose highest card ranks lower than
the ace. If ever the highest card in the flushes
of two opponents is the same, the hand is
counted down to the next highest card to see
which flush is higher. This countdown can
continue until the final card of the hand
determines the higher flush.
One exception (there's always one, n'est pas) to
your specific example would be if someone were
holding the nine of hearts as one of their two
pocket cards. They trump your hand because that
player would have cards in sequence, making
their hand a Straight Flush.
Gambling quote of the week: I believe that some
good poker players actually employ a degree of
extrasensory perception (ESP). While I've never
studied the subject in depth, it seems to me
there's too much evidence to ignore that ESP
exists or that most people have it to some
degree. Doyle Brunson, How I Made $1,000,000
Playing Poker (1979)
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