Dear Mark, In
a crowded casino, when there are no blackjack seats are available, why can¹t
a player just make a bet alongside another player on the game? Tom R.
"Back-of-the-chair-betting"
is generally not allowed in most stateside casinos, though some casinos, especially
outside the US, allow players not actually seated at the table to make bets at
blackjack.
These players are called
standees. To make a wager, a standee would place bets in the betting circles of
gamesters who are already perched at the table.
The downside, Tom,
is that when betting from behind, you are in observation
mode only, since the sitting players get to make
all the decisions without the advice of the standees.
Without chips-and-a-chair, standees must swallow
those decisions and smile.