Weird Hands

I have been playing free blackjack on this site for practice lately. 2D, DAS, LS, H17. You know, to keep in practice. I was wondering lately if the dealer got a hand consisting of a lot of cards how the software would handle the situation. I just found out. I was dealt a 7,3 vs a dealer 2-up, doubled down and caught a 6.

The dealer's hand went like this: 2,A,A,3,7,A. Then the next card was delivered below the 2 and continued, A, Q, for an 8-card bust. What are the odds of an 8-card bust I wonder? I remember reading in Beat The Dealer that a 7-card 21 was about a 1 in 5,000 chance (I think it implies a 7-card 21 or under).

Anyone else seen any whacky hands?

I usually don't remember many individual hands. But this one stands out, because of both the unusualness (<- probably not a word) of it and because I misplayed the hand.

Double deck game, about 67-70 cards penetration. We are about 60 cards in, playing heads up with the dealer, so I thought I might just get two more rounds if things went well. Running count was +6 (with less than a deck remaining that works out to about true count +8. I unintentionally side count aces when playing double deck, because with only 8 aces, it is almost hard not to notice them. Only 1 ace had been played in the previous 60 cards.

I play a predetermined max bet, but I have allowances for something I call a "super max bet" which is an extra 50% of my max bet, during very rare high advantage occasions and this was just such an occasion. So, I throw out my "super max bet" for what I hope will be the final two hands. I draw a two card twenty. Dealer has an Ace up.

Now here is the mistake.....I take insurance. Even after 3 high cards the true count is still above the +EV insurance threshold, but because I knew most of that abundance of remaining high cards still consisted of mostly aces and not the 10-value cards needed for the dealer to have a BJ, I failed to realize it was really below the +EV insurance threshold.

So, dealer turns over his second card an Ace and I lose my insurance bet. Dealer's next 3 cards are Aces for a total of 5 Aces and then turns over a 6 for 21 to beat my "super max bet" 20.

So I lost my super max bet, I lost an additional insurance bet, which was a mistake to have even made. And the 8 card total for the round used up all the cards and the cut card had come out meaning I didn't get that additional round I was hoping for. Lose-lose-lose situation. lol.

Quote: kewlj

So, dealer turns over his second card an Ace and I lose my insurance bet. Dealer's next 3 cards are Aces for a total of 5 Aces and then turns over a 6 for 21 to beat my "super max bet" 20..

Sometimes, just sometimes, all those aces are stuck together...

Don't you wish you split?

Quote: TomG

Don't you wish you split?

In hindsight?.....sure. :)

And possibly, after knowing the dealer didn't have BJ, and knowing that 6 aces remained of the 30-some cards, it may have been the right play. But figuring something like that on the fly is beyond my capabilities as I am mostly a keep-it-simple type guy.

Splitting 10-value vs an Ace and then drawing an ace to each card would have definitely been an attention getter, especially since I was playing above what I perceived as this store's comfort or tolerance level, so that might have had long-term consequences anyway. That is the type of thing when reviewing the tapes, they might just decide you doing something more advanced than card counting, like Ace sequencing or hole-carding.

years ago, at the Revel (and I may have taken pics of Hess in a trip report), the following two weird hands occurred:


First weird hand: dealer had a 7 showing and I had 4,4 and was then dealt 4 then 4 then 4 again for a 20 (I won the hand)

Second weird hand: dealer had a 6 showing and I had a 10,6 -- the dealer has 6,2,2,2,A,A,2,A for an eight card 17

Once playing DD at Stratosphere heads up after a new shuffle: Dealer and I both got blackjacks in the first Two hands.

At the Golden Nugget in 1990 I got 4 blackjacks on a row.

So just now I was playing some single-deck blackjack for practice when the following hand occurred. I was dealt 2,2 vs the dealer 2 up-card. I split my 2s and receive another 2 which I split. So there are all four 2s staring at me. On the first two I receive a jack, hit again and get a 5. On the second two I receive a 9, then double and catch a 7. On the third two I catch a 8, double and catch a 6. Dealer turns over a Jack then hits and gets a 5.

So my first hand is a push, the second hand is a double down win, and the third hand is a double down lose.

Net result zero. But not something you see very often, espically in a single-deck game.

Quote: Greasyjohn

So just now I was playing some single deck blackjack for practice when the following hand occurred. I was dealt 2,2 vs the dealer 2 up-card. I split my 2s and receive another 2 which I split. So there are all four 2s staring at me. On the first two I receive a jack, hit again and get a 5. On the second two I receive a 9, then double and catch a 7. On the third two I catch a 8, double and catch a 6. Dealer turns over a Jack then hits and gets a 5.

So my first hand is a push, the second hand is a double down win, and the third hand is a double down lose.

Net result zero. But not something you see very often, espically in a single-deck game.

Max bet on next hand!

I was playing a Blackjack machine where 6 cards without busting is an automatic winner. I had a 6 card soft 21 (A3A222) so I couldn't lose no matter what I did next. I got cute and hit my 21, oops apparently it didn't know what to do because as soon as I pushed the hit button the machine locked up and malfunctioned. It went to a green screen and said call attendant.

It erased everything. Luckily the casino did pay me all my credits after explaining the situation.

They said they had to shut it down and call both gaming and the game manufacturer.

Before you got cute and hit your soft 21 you got cute and hit your soft 19. What's up with that?

Quote: Greasyjohn

Before you got cute and hit your soft 21 you got cute and hit your soft 19. What's up with that?

Well he had a soft-19 with five cards. Taking a hit is an automatic winner.

But I bet Axel was at the machine, looking at his basic strategy card (probably basic strategy for UTH, thinking it's BJ), and thought "Okay, I got a 19....dealer has a 5 of clubs.....the goal is to get to 21, right? Okay - hit me!!" To his delight, he got a deuce, ending with 21. Now he probably thought, "A 6 card 21 is nothing, but I got three deuces, if I hit again and catch a deuce, that's four deuces!, that's gotta pay a bonus, right?"

Quote: Greasyjohn

Before you got cute and hit your soft 21 you got cute and hit your soft 19. What's up with that?

I was hole carding the SH!T out of that machine.

Quote: RS

Well he had a soft-19 with five cards. Taking a hit is an automatic winner.

But I bet Axel was at the machine, looking at his basic strategy card (probably basic strategy for UTH, thinking it's BJ), and thought "Okay, I got a 19....dealer has a 5 of clubs.....the goal is to get to 21, right? Okay - hit me!!" To his delight, he got a deuce, ending with 21. Now he probably thought, "A 6 card 21 is nothing, but I got three deuces, if I hit again and catch a deuce, that's four deuces!, that's gotta pay a bonus, right?"

If that had a bonus card of the day on 4 deuces, you dam well better believe I would've tried to claim it.

True story.

An off strip casino ran a double ANY TOP LINE HIT promotion. It didn't have to be a hand-pay jackpot because they had lots of lower denominations that weren't hand pays on the top jackpot. They didn't want to alienate the low rolling locals(I agree with that theory), thus the top line hit wording. Video poker and keno was excluded(perhaps keno was actually not excluded but they made it 8 out of 8 or something rare). The progressive slots they would only doubled the base non progressive amount. Basically a worthless promotion.

Hmm.....What to do, what to do? certainly can't wast a perfectly good promotion.

Well They didn't say Video BJ was excluded, so I played Video BJ and got double on any blackjacks for a while. It was more waiting than playing. Eventually management caught on and cut me off.

Quote: Greasyjohn

So just now I was playing some single-deck blackjack for practice when the following hand occurred. I was dealt 2,2 vs the dealer 2 up-card. I split my 2s and receive another 2 which I split. So there are all four 2s staring at me. On the first two I receive a jack, hit again and get a 5. On the second two I receive a 9, then double and catch a 7. On the third two I catch a 8, double and catch a 6. Dealer turns over a Jack then hits and gets a 5.

So my first hand is a push, the second hand is a double down win, and the third hand is a double down lose.

Net result zero. But not something you see very often, espically in a single-deck game.

So you had a TC +3 and hit your J-2 vs dealer 2? =)

Quote: Romes

So you had a TC +3 and hit your J-2 vs dealer 2? =)

Are you hinting a 'stand' would have been better? Espically with TC +3?
;-)

About 20 years ago I was playing a United Coin CEI Blackjack game. I had a 19 and the machine drew to an 18 and said Dealer wins.

I called Nevada Gaming and when they showed up they called United Coin. United Coin engineer was talking to gaming saying that it could not happen. Finally the engineer came to the site to see the game and was in disbelief. It turns out this game offered a 6 card charlie for the player as an automatic win but by mistake also gave that rule to the Dealer. They paid me once they realized what happened and after 2.5 hours I got my $30.

Quote: TwoFeathersATL

Are you hinting a 'stand' would have been better? Espically with TC +3?
;-)

The I18 can be found on the Wizards Hi/Low intro page =P... but yes. However he may have not been using Hi/Low, which I think GJ said he uses AOII for SD/DD (correct me if I'm wrong). Thus, his play may have been correct for his count... maybe =).

Quote: Romes

The I18 can be found on the Wizards Hi/Low intro page =P... but yes. However he may have not been using Hi/Low, which I think GJ said he uses AOII for SD/DD (correct me if I'm wrong). Thus, his play may have been correct for his count... maybe =).

The whole post was built around the word 'espically', but not entirely.
Ya gotta love GJ......

Quote: Romes

So you had a TC +3 and hit your J-2 vs dealer 2? =)

You're probably right. I reconstructed the hand to see what you are getting at and it dawned on me. I use Hi-Opt I with an ace side count where 2s aren't counted.

And yes, now I realize that A/W was going to get an automatic winner by hitting his soft 19.

Weird hands you say?
I win.
Weirdest hands, period.
2F

Quote: TwoFeathersATL

The whole post was built around the word 'espically', but not entirely.
Ya gotta love GJ......

I only said "espically" because all four 2s in a single-deck game were staring at me.

Reminds me of the time I was practicing single-deck and both the dealer and myself got A,A.

Quote: TwoFeathersATL

Weird hands you say?
I win.
Weirdest hands, period.
2F

2f, you always make comments about hands. Do you have a weird hand or a missing finger. It's ok if you do, we will all still think you are 1 of a kind.

I have a good friend, longtime backpacking compadre, that has 11 fingers.
OK, 2 thumbs and 9 fingers.
Quite unusual.

One of a kind?
Prolly not.
It's a big world out there.

I was just practicing yesterday and dealt myself 2,2 vs dealer 9-up. I hit and got another 2 then 7 then 8. Pretty sight.

Two examples I think are much stranger.

First was at Frontier about 20 years ago. Playing single deck. All 4 players drew BJ. Dealer had 10 showing, and of course didn't bother to peek. After everyone was paid he turned over his hole card, It was another Ace. We all got to have private conversations with security at that point. They told me they'd been watching the guy next to me for a while, but couldn't figure out what he was doing. Wanted to know if I'd seen anything.

The other I saw recently on YouTube was from a poker tournament. 1 guy had JD, KD. The other guy had AC, AS. The flop was AH, 9C, QD. Then 10D, AD, So the guy with quad Aces lost. Announcer said the odds were 2.7 billion to 1. Even stranger - Ray Romano happened to be sitting at the table. Google "most unlikely poker hand" if you want to see the video.

Quote: Rio481

Two examples I think are much stranger.

First was at Frontier about 20 years ago. Playing single deck. All 4 players drew BJ. Dealer had 10 showing, and of course didn't bother to peek. After everyone was paid he turned over his hole card, It was another Ace. We all got to have private conversations with security at that point. They told me they'd been watching the guy next to me for a while, but couldn't figure out what he was doing. Wanted to know if I'd seen anything.

The other I saw recently on YouTube was from a poker tournament. 1 guy had JD, KD. The other guy had AC, AS. The flop was AH, 9C, QD. Then 10D, AD, So the guy with quad Aces lost. Announcer said the odds were 2.7 billion to 1. Even stranger - Ray Romano happened to be sitting at the table. Google "most unlikely poker hand" if you want to see the video.

Yes, those are weird. I've heard about the quad As beaten by the Royal flush hand. There's also a YouTube from a poker tournament Hold 'em game where the board is a royal flush.

Here's a recent royal flush bad beat

https://youtu.be/Z44hQPWt6QY

Quote: Ibeatyouraces

Here's a recent royal flush bad beat

https://youtu.be/Z44hQPWt6QY

That was fun to watch, but the play is excruciatingly slow.

Playing blackjack at a place that I have known to have pretty good blackjack rules, S17. I have a big bet out because I know the shoe is rich. I get AA against a dealer 4. I split. I get two more aces.

He makes a sad face and goes to the next guy, I ask, can't I resplit? Answer is no. Now that I think of it, maybe I could have called the pit over to check. Anyway, rough hand. Dealer ended up with a 17.

This just happened a few days ago. 5 players ,all players hit and make multi card 21s dealer makes a 4 card 21,so there were 6 21s
on the same hand.

Quote: Rio481

Two examples I think are much stranger.

First was at Frontier about 20 years ago. Playing single deck. All 4 players drew BJ. Dealer had 10 showing, and of course didn't bother to peek. After everyone was paid he turned over his hole card, It was another Ace. We all got to have private conversations with security at that point. They told me they'd been watching the guy next to me for a while, but couldn't figure out what he was doing. Wanted to know if I'd seen anything.

The other I saw recently on YouTube was from a poker tournament. 1 guy had JD, KD. The other guy had AC, AS. The flop was AH, 9C, QD. Then 10D, AD, So the guy with quad Aces lost. Announcer said the odds were 2.7 billion to 1. Even stranger - Ray Romano happened to be sitting at the table. Google "most unlikely poker hand" if you want to see the video.

Great stories, Rio! Especially that first one; it's like out of a movie, that one, and a movie I'd like to see. Thanks, and welcome to the board.