| Here the player bets on how many hands he will win in succession (from 2 to 5). The house edge is anywhere from 8 to 14%. Ouch! Suited 6-7-8I wouldn't say this is a common practice and as far as I know casinos permit this as long as the player approves of someone else betting on his hand. I've actually made bets on another player's hand if I see a player hesitating to double down on an obvious double down play. I just ask him if I could make the double down bet. And in most cases the player will say OK (only once has a player refused my request to do so). Fred Renzey, author of Blackjack Bluebook, has developed a name for this technique -- "Hand Interaction" -- and has an article on this site about how to use this technique to your advantage. Fred describes advantageous situations that arise when players double down for less, or don't want to pair split, or when they take even money for a blackjack. If you want to learn more about Hand Interaction, I encourage you to check out his excellent article. If you have to leave the table for a bathroom break, should you leave your chips on the table and ask the dealer to watch them? Lots of players do this but I prefer for security reasons to take my chips with me if I have to take a break. If you need to leave the table for a few minutes, just ask the dealer if she can hold the spot for you. Usually the dealer will place a plastic button in the betting circle to indicate that the playing spot is reserved. However, don't abuse the privilege. Usually casinos will reserve a playing spot for up to 10 minutes and after that they can and usually will allow another player to play that spot if you don't return (especially if the casino is crowded). Are you allowed to use a cell phone while you play blackjack? Most casinos have regulations that forbid players to use electronic devices including cell phones while they play blackjack. However, most players who must make a call while they are playing (for example, a player gets a page), can do so by just stepping away from the table and then using their cell phone. By the way, this turns out to be a technique used by some pros to avoid betting in a negative shoe. They fake getting a page when the count goes south, make some excuse that they need to me a call, and then wait until the shoe is over before returning to the table. I was told that the basic playing strategy that you read in books is not correct because it is based on a complete random shuffle when in fact in the real world of the casino the cards come out in a non-random way. Should I stop playing the basic strategy? If what you say is correct then casinos would go to great lengths to create non-random shuffles. The facts are: 1) non-random shuffles can help or hurt the player equally, and 2) casinos go to great lengths to shuffle the cards in a manner to create as close to a random shuffle as possible. In fact some casinos have resorted to using mechanical shuffling devices (Continuous Shuffling Machines), which their manufactures claim will give complete random shuffling of the cards. I wouldn't give up on the basic playing strategy. |
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