Las Vegas thread and MSE guide 2009

MORPH3US wrote: »

Quick question....

4 of us are going to Vegas in May and are busy commiting the Blackjack optimised strategy to memory....

I was wondering, which casino's are funny about you having the cards with the strategy on at the tables....

And what are casino's like about people (playing) helping others (players) at the table.....

i.e. if my fiancee and I are playing and she doesn't know what to do, could I tell her to hit / stick etc, or is that frowned upon?

I hope you don't mind if I give you a little advice. B/J is the only game in the casino where what has gone before affects what will happen next. All other games are pure chance. Because of this there is a mentality amongst A LOT of players that if you don't play "basic strategy" correctly you are ruining the game for the rest of the table. I have seen people get shouted at by other players when they deviate from the known way to play. Me, I just leave and find another table. Because of this I would suggest that you find a small denomination table IE $5 and at the most $10 until you become proficient in basic strategy.
Here is a little test. I am holding a soft 18 and the dealer is showing a 9, what should I do?

Stoneman I dont play BJ, so I dont know the strategy, but I am guessing the dealer will hit 19 in all probabbility?? so I guess you would hit soft 18....but thats prob wrong, as I said I dont play the game

stoneman wrote: »

I am holding a soft 18 and the dealer is showing a 9, what should I do?

Not got it memorised yet so not certain....

As above, likelyhood is dealer will get 19, so stand is not an option, obviously wouldn't double down so either hit, split or surrender....

Don't think I could split, so surrender?!?!?

Like I said, just started learning it

Correct, you should hit, but you look at the faces of people at the table when you hit an 18 against a 9, even my wife cringes when I do that, sorts the real players out from the ones that don't have the courage of their convictions when it comes to the strategy.

stoneman wrote: »

Correct, you should hit, but you look at the faces of people at the table when you hit an 18 against a 9, even my wife cringes when I do that, sorts the real players out from the ones that don't have the courage of their convictions when it comes to the strategy.

I'm no expert on Blackjack but would never hit on this. Simply because the chances of actually improving your hand are so slim - only A,2,3 can make it any better and you already have one Ace, not even counting how many others are on the table. If the dealer gets 19, nevermind, but I would prefer to make them play, rather than me make my hand worse and go out first.

Like I say, I'm certainly no expert but my theory is to stay in the game as long as possible. Once you bust, it's not good to you even if the dealer busts. I also try and get the first seat so I'm not affected by what everyone else does.

Will now have a read of the above link to try and improve !!