Pips, Passes, Pairs, and
Ribs to Spare
11 November 2005
By Mark Pilarski
Dear Mark,
Your last week's column describing pips was not
totally accurate. It has been my experience
dealing in a casino that what you call a pip
below the rank of a card is not actually a pip.
Could you please clarify your original answer?
David B.
Although my casino breeding identifies the suit
indication -- the single diamond, heart, spade,
or club -- beneath the number or letter as a
pip, there are a few in the gaming industry,
like yourself, who believe that the smaller
symbol beneath the number or letter designating
the rank of the card is not a pip, but is part
of the index, that number or letter plus the
smaller suit symbol beneath it. Using that
description, then each face card has two pips,
each ace has one, and each 2-10 card, has as
many pips as the number that represents its
rank.
Incidentally, your feedback, David, is one of
the many queries I’ve been sitting on over the
years regarding playing cards and the
manufacturing of them. Now that my son is a
first-year student at the Cincinnati
Conservatory of Music at the University of
Cincinnati, Queen City side trips to the U. S.
Playing Card Company, not to mention Skyline
Chili, and the Montgomery Inn for ribs, are
shoo-ins. Join me?
Dear Mark,
Can the shooter who controls the dice designate
whom he wants to shoot the dice in his place?
Also, can you ever increase your bet on Don't
Pass wagers? Danny F.
The answers to your questions, Danny, are no and
no.
If the game is over on the come-out roll (a 2,
3, or 12 appear), or the point was rolled, the
shooter continues to be the shooter for another
game, or he can pass the dice if he wishes, but
it has to be to the player just clockwise of the
shooter.
Bets on the Don't Pass line can always be
decreased or removed, but cannot be increased.
On the flip side, wagers on the Pass line cannot
be removed; they can, however, always be
increased.
Dear Mark,
Are there any simplified rules as to when to
split cards in blackjack? Shelly B.
Sho' nuff, Shelly. Splitting pairs is an option
by which you can increase your original wager.
When you receive a pair of cards of the same
value, such as two 4's, you are allowed to match
your original bet with an equal new one,
splitting the two cards into separate hands.
Each card then becomes an independent hand, with
a new wager of equal value applying only to the
hand to which it is attached.
Split hands are then played out one after the
other, both receiving additional cards and
following the same hit, stand, double or split
rules (many casinos allow you to split Aces just
once) as would a normal hand of blackjack.
Because the two hands are independent, either
hand can be won, lost, or a combination of both.
Here are seven easy basic strategy rules that
apply to splitting pairs:
$ Always split aces.
$ Always split eights.
$ Never split fours, fives or tens.
$ Split twos and threes only when the dealer has
four through seven.
$ Split sixes when the dealer has three through
six.
$ Split sevens when the dealer has two through
seven.
$ Split nines when the dealer has two through
six, and eight or nine.
Gambling Wisdom of the Week: "Believe it or not,
the beautiful lights, the around-the-clock
activity, and the festivity and fast-paced
action can sometimes make idiots of otherwise
well-oriented, clear-minded individuals." -- Len
Miller, "Playing Games for Fun and Profit"
|
