Some dealers have blackjack strategy
know-how, others do not
October 23,
2009
Dear Mark: I
wanted to comment last week about dealer's
giving blackjack advice. My experience is that
all they have ever given is bad advice. The soft
18 you mention this week is the prime example.
Not only do I have everyone at the table angry
at me for hitting an 18, the dealer usually
chimes in that I shouldn't have done that or
trying to talk me out of it when I ask for the
hit.
Another dealer got
angry at me for not drastically increasing my
bets when I won seven hands in a row. I argued
that the next hand could have as easily been a
loss of my hard earned profits. By the way, I
walked away from table eventually with a win,
albeit small. Phil R.
Hold on,
Phil. The question I answered was in regard to
WHETHER dealers were allowed to give advice, and
NOT whether you should seek counsel or whether a
dealer’s guidance is any good. Case in point:
Yours Truly, who learned how to deal cards on an
ironing board and while pitching cards across
the room into a hat.
During my
virginal hours of dealing blackjack, if a player
got a pair of aces, and then split them, I made
the airy decision that if he split aces and got
two face cards he just got himself two
blackjacks, so I paid off accordingly, 3 for 2.
I was actually paying this unmerited royalty on
split aces until a pit boss finally noticed my
generosity. The last thing you would have wanted
from me then was my $.02 worth, just the free
money I was doling out.
The
deal, pun intended, is that some dealers know
the game cold and others don’t. It would be much
better to learn basic strategy to a point where
it becomes your automatic response, or – while
working up to that proficiency – to carry along
a basic strategy card and refer to it in those
tough-decision moments.
A
basic strategy card gives you a concise and
definitive play for every starting hand you will
be dealt. Using a card will ram the casino edge
down to less than 1%. As long as you do not
bring a blackjack game to a dead halt, most
casinos will allow you to use your strategy card
right at the table. This way, Phil, the advice
is right every time.
As for a
dealer getting hot and bothered about you not
increasing your bets while winning, he might
have been trying to recommend the 50% winning
progression method of wagering. The progression
would work like this for a $5 wager: $5, $7,
$10, $15, $22, 30 etc. You keep increasing your
bet until you lose, starting back over with a
flat bet (table minimum) of $5. Winning
progression is actually not a bad way to go,
Phil, and you might want consider it over flat
betting.
Dear Mark:
Last week in Vegas we were at the Wynn Casino
and I was watching a table game called
'Blackjack Switch.’ The dealer was trying
to get me to join the others in playing the game
by telling me it had better odds than Blackjack.
After watching for 45 minutes I could not see
how the player had better odds. If
anything, I think the odds were greater for the
casino. Almost every round the player lost
at least one of the two hands.
My thought is this is another gimmick to
take our money with the odds much higher for the
casino than in regular Blackjack. Your
thoughts would be appreciated. Frank S.
Yes, Frank, there is such a gimmick game
where they actually allow this cheating
maneuver, swapping cards between two hands.
Called Blackjack Switch, it is a
mutant form of blackjack where a player is dealt
two hands and is allowed to trade cards between
them. Outwardly, Frank, this seems like a great
rule that favors the player, but unfortunately
any gain is offset by the other rules that
favor the house. Natural blackjacks are paid 1:1
instead of the standard 3:2, and a dealer 22 is
a push.
Yet, even with rules that
counter any advantage gained by being allowed to
interchange your cards between hands, the house
edge with perfect basic strategy, which is
difficult and specific only to this game, along
with the different rule variations from casino
to casino, is relatively small, anywhere from
0.16% - 0.58%, which, Frank, can be lower than
in regular blackjack.
Gambling Wisdom of the Week: “Man
conceals; poker reveals.” --Lee Robert
Schreiber, Poker as Life
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