Dear Mark,
I like playing blackjack and feel that I play "by
the book." Occasionally I am at a table where
there are what my friends and I term, "free
radicals"; people who hit their 15s when the
dealer is showing a six. Often, I get frustrated
and just get up and go to a higher limit table.
There I find the play less reckless. Sometimes,
however, the crazy play helps. I won two hands yesterday
(at Caesar's in Vegas) when a woman hit a hand when
she clearly should not have. Her hits prevented
the dealer from making a 21 twice causing the dealer
to bust out. My observation is that it seems like
random play helps as much as hurts. Do you feel
it best to avoid those types of players at your
table or does it really matter in the long run?
Paul G.
Practically
all blackjack players have lost a decent-sized wager
due to some nincompoop playing ugly on third base. The
dealer is showing a 6 as her up-card, and all the players
at the table stand on their stiff hands. Everyone, that
is, but the nitwit on third base. He whacks his hard
15, is dealt a 10, and busts. "Hey you @ !! &
^ % jerk," we all mutter under our breath, "That
10 was the dealer's bust card.
"It happens every
day, in every casino, on every blackjack game. No
wonder we tend to believe that the play of some
dunce taking the dealer's bust card influences our
hand.
The fact of the matter is, Paul, that a player taking
the dealer's bust card has no impact on the overall
outcome of your play. One of the biggest fallacies
in gambling is the notion that mediocre play will
have a long-term effect on the game in general.
Mathematically, shoddy play will only influence
the outcome of Shoddy's wagers, causing Shoddy eventually
to fall a casino casualty. Not you.
True, unorthodox play by an inexperienced player
can impair the outcome of any individual hand, but
the converse also occurs every day, in every casino,
on every blackjack game. The player who mistakenly
hits his hard 15, draws a 5, and the dealer proceeds
to bust out with a 10. Do you congratulate him for
his psychic play? Include him on your Christmas
card list? Hardly!
My recommendation is to concentrate on your cards
against the dealer's up-card. If bungled play by
an inexperienced player takes away from that concentration,
move your rump elsewhere.
