Blackjack players share some oddities

by John Grochowski

Provided adequate trials in blackjack, any hand that can be dealt eventually will.

Of course, some hands are a lot more probably than other people. The genuinely rare ones stick in our minds and we tell other players about them.

For this month’s “Table Speak,” blackjack players share some oddities.

BOB: I had a hand for the ages last week, and not in a excellent way.

It involved both splitting pairs and doubling down. I played it by the book, but it was an unmitigated disaster. We know that takes place.

I played it proper, but I lost SEVEN BETS.

It is one particular of my preferred hands that a lot of people miss. You turn the probability from loss if you hit or stand to a tiny profit if you split.

I bet $25 and I split my original two-2. On hand No. 1 was dealt an additional two and resplit.

Back to hand No. 1. Next card was a 9. I doubled and was dealt a 5 for 16.

On hand No. 2, I drew a 4, then a five, then a three, for 14. The standard technique play is to hit 14 against 7, as you know. I did what I need to, drew an 8 and busted.

On hand No. 3, Yet another two came up. I split those, and yet another $25 was on the line. I drew an eight. Time to double down again. This time I drew a 7, so I had 17.

Finally, I drew yet another 8 on the final two, doubled down once more, and drew a 3.

I could hope for a dealer bust, and if she turned up 10 for 17, I’d at least salvage a push on one double.

No such luck, but at least it was fast. The dealer had an Ace down, so she had 18 and beat all my hands. So the final outcome: I lost two $25 bets on the first double down one $25 bet on the bust hand two $25 bets on the double down that was a 17 and two $25 bets on the double down that was a 13.

That is a $175 loss on what started as 1 $25 bet.

This isn’t my initial go-round and we’ve all noticed those swings just before. But man, it’s still exasperating.

YVONNE: I had one of those hands that created me want they really paid Charlies. The dealer had a ten up. I had a 2 and a four.

Subsequent was a 3, then yet another three. Four cards, and I only had 12. Then I drew yet another two, then an Ace. So that is six cards and 15. The dealer nevertheless has that 10 up and I’m considering, wow, I have to draw a seventh card.

I actually struggled with that. There had been so a lot of low cards out currently. But I bit the bullet and signaled a hit. Miracle of miracles, it was a five. That gave me 20 and I’m thinking it was all worth it.

Naturally, the dealer flipped up one more ten. All I got out of all that&nbsp was a push. Beats losing, but why couldn’t it be a six?

SAM: The casino was permitting only three players at the table and there have been only three chairs, all spaced out.

As the cards have been becoming dealt, the 1st player got a King, I was in the middle and got an Ace and the last player also got an Ace. The dealer’s card was face down.

Then the first player got an Ace, I got a Jack, the last player got a 10 and the dealer turned up an Ace.

The dealer asked if anybody wanted insurance coverage. No a single did, and the final player said, “If there’s any time you are not going to have a ten, it is with all this on the table.”

He couldn’t be a lot more wrong. The dealer had a Jack down and what we had was a table complete of pushes.

I know it would be a lot significantly less most likely with seven players, but I think this was the only time I’ve ever seen a “full” table where each and every player and the dealer all got blackjacks on the very same hand.

HECTOR: I started six hands in a row with an Ace. I couldn’t think it. Neither could the dealer. By the fourth hand she was saying, “There’s the automatic Ace.”

I wish I could say I got a bunch of blackjacks and won large bucks, but that didn’t occur. There was only one blackjack. There also was a pair of Aces I split and won both hands. I lost 3 of the six hands. So there was a little profit with the split and the blackjack, but it felt like a letdown following all those Aces.

KATIE: A guy next to me was playing the match game for a handful of hands, or at least it seemed like it. We were obtaining the exact same cards for four hands in a row. The 1st time we pointed and laughed about it. The second time the player on the other side of him said, “Oooooh, once again!” and everyone picked up on it.

It wasn’t just that I’d get 17 and he’d get 17. I’d get a 9 and an eight and he’d get a 9 and an 8. I got a King of spades and a ten of diamonds and he got a King of spades and a ten of diamonds. We both had six and five against the dealer’s 9, and we each doubled down and drew 9s. Then we both had 9-7 and stood against a six, but the dealer pulled out an 18.

The dealer said it need to be destiny, and the guy said, “My wife would go for my destiny going beyond cards.”