Penetration at DD BJ at The Cal? (9/27)
Quote: LostWagesHas anyone noticed the penetration for DD BJ at the Cal? With a 2-deck hand shuffle, how does the "cut" work? I've not played at a live table before, so I am curious about procedures. Thanks in advance for sharing your experiences.
The cut is done by hand by one of the players.
You can't generalize about penetration--it varies from dealer to dealer. There might be house policies regarding when to break the deck, but how well they are observed varies. I played against one dealer at MSS whose default setting was to shuffle up when there was less than 1 deck remaining. Then she was replaced by someone who would deal as long as there were 20 cards left (before the cut card), or at least it seemed that way.
From back when I was dealing the game, how quick you were to break the deck often depended on whether you got a frowny face from the pit boss if you ran out of cards and had to reshuffle in the middle of the hand. I was told that the game was slowed down when that happened.
My advice is, if you care about such things, watch the dealers and note who shuffles early and who shuffles late. There will definitely be variations. In your situation, though, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Good penetration benefits the basic strategy player, but only slightly (in that for that much more of the time you're playing, you're essentially playing against a single deck).
I must be at the "sponge" stage of learning BJ and procedures - I'm soaking up all the info you've shared, and I think I can understand it intellectually. As predicated, I've yet to enjoy the emotional experience of playing at the table with real people (vice my iPAD and BJ trainer games). I don't have any bad habits to break with my inexperience, so I'll go and just enjoy the game and put your thoughts into practice.
Since you mentioned you used to deal, I read an article about watching the dealers when they take their "peek". http://blackjacklife.com/blackjack-dealer-tells/#more-268 Basically, if the card is a 2-6, the dealer has to bend the card higher than if the card was a 7-10.
Just curious as a cat, thanks for sharing your experiences!
Quote: LostWagesJoe,
I must be at the "sponge" stage of learning BJ and procedures - I'm soaking up all the info you've shared, and I think I can understand it intellectually. As predicated, I've yet to enjoy the emotional experience of playing at the table with real people (vice my iPAD and BJ trainer games). I don't have any bad habits to break with my inexperience, so I'll go and just enjoy the game and put your thoughts into practice.
Since you mentioned you used to deal, I read an article about watching the dealers when they take their "peek". http://blackjacklife.com/blackjack-dealer-tells/#more-268 Basically, if the card is a 2-6, the dealer has to bend the card higher than if the card was a 7-10.
Just curious as a cat, thanks for sharing your experiences!
Actually, in a peek game, the most likely card to cause a double-take is a 4, because the top of the numeral looks the same as the top of an A. Likewise, a deuce can look like an Ace because you see a single pip in the center.
I've played against dealers who realized I was using that info (for instance, they saw I was playing perfect basic strategy but suddenly, I stood on a hard12 against a face card) and then they started peeking twice when they actually had a 10 in the hole...
