Betting more than one hand is good or bad ?

Dear Wizards and fellow friends,

If I'm using basic strategy and some card counting , would it be better for me to bet 2 hands (the last 2 to the dealer) so I can control the cards that the dealer will get.

Anyone had any experience in this ?

Thanks.

Quote: crovax

Dear Wizards and fellow friends,

If I'm using basic strategy and some card counting , would it be better for me to bet 2 hands (the last 2 to the dealer) so I can control the cards that the dealer will get.

Anyone had any experience in this ?

Thanks.

You cannot control the cards that the dealer gets unless you know what cards are coming. Play your own hand(s).

IMHO , if you playing the European style black jack where the dealer get the 2nd card last , You should be able to control it if you're using basic strategy on the last hand to the dealer .

Thanks for your reply.

Playing 2 hands at $10 is better than playing 1 hand at $20. Ignore card control. Just make the best play to Basic Strategy on both hands. If using an Advantage Method, ditto.

It's better to play 2 hands with positive counts to get more good cards and more money on the table.

But I also echo what the first poster said, you can't "control" the dealer's cards. Play your own hand properly, according to the count. You are not in control of whether the dealer is going to bust or not, regardless of how many hands you play.

Any unseen card is the same as any other unseen card (with the exception of shuffle tracking, which is very hard to do and impossible to this degree of accuracy)

I understand that playing 2 hands at $10 each will result in less volatility than playing 1 hand at $20. But are there other reasons why playing 2 hands is better (from a mathematical standpoint)?

Quote: jeremykay

I understand that playing 2 hands at $10 each will result in less volatility than playing 1 hand at $20. But are there other reasons why playing 2 hands is better (from a mathematical standpoint)?

Other than variance and being able to play more hands during a player advantage count, I can't think of one.