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Feature
George
Pappadopoulos
It has come to my attention that within the gambling arena, the game of blackjack has many myths that circulate at its tables. My goal here is to examine them and then explain the realities. By having an understanding of these myths and how to overcome them, it then becomes possible to reduce the edge a casino has over you—which is always a good thing in my book. Let’s begin with my favorite myth: that other players at the table affect your play. It never ceases to amaze me how many people actually think this is true. In last month’s article I touched briefly on this particular myth, but it’s such a huge misconception that I feel compelled to mention it again. I can’t state more emphatically that other players have nothing to do with your play. As long as you are following perfect basic strategy, what someone else does is irrelevant. Let me ask you a question. When was the last time you thanked someone for making a basic strategy blunder that wound up helping you win? For example: the guy next to you is sitting with a hard 16 against the dealer’s 6, and low and behold, he asks to be hit, drawing that 10 which would have made you go bust. You, on the other hand, get a sweet 3 on your A-7 that gives you 21 on your double down and the dealer goes bust! Did you say THANK YOU? I’ll bet not, but you know it has happened. You just don’t remember, because it’s easier to remember the time when he took the 10 you needed and you lost. Everybody remembers those cards, but if you conducted a study to determine just how many times you won or lost in this manner, you’d find that it comes out a wash in the end. So as long as this person isn’t driving you crazy, just sit back and do your thing secure in the knowledge it doesn’t matter one iota what the other player does. Here’s another myth: insurance is a good bet. This one almost makes me laugh out loud. Taking insurance has been proven mathematically incorrect by every expert who has ever played the game. Yet every blackjack table in every casino in the country, if not the world, has insurance. I wonder why? Could it be because it’s a house bet? First I’d like to define insurance, and then I’ll explain why it is such a horrible bet. In situations where the dealer’s upcard is an ace, the player has the option to take out insurance to protect his bet in case the dealer has blackjack. The player’s insurance wager is an amount equal to half his original bet. If it turns out the dealer has blackjack, the player is paid 2-to-1 on this side bet. If the dealer doesn’t have blackjack, the player loses his side bet and the game continues as usual. This means you could still be beaten by the dealer and lose your original wager as well. Never take insurance even when you have blackjack; the odds are still against you. Let’s do the math. For simplicity’s sake we’ll use a single deck, but the theory is the same regardless of the number of decks. In order for the dealer to get blackjack, he must have a ten-value card under his Ace. This means he has 15 chances out of 49 to get that ten (remember, you already have an ace and a 10.) The odds of this happening are 69.2 percent, or three -and-a-third odds against that happening. With those odds, do you still think it’s worth risking an additional 50 percent of your bet? I sure hope not.
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