You & the dealer heads up! Only way to go.

Or is it? I have a friend who thinks the ONLY way to go is heads up vs dealer. That way you don't have all the LOSERS around you screwing up your hand.

I look at it a little differently. It doesn't matter! Sure you can see all the hands that screwed yours up, but your hand is an individual event and it doesn't matter at the end of the day who sits around you. And yes I have sat at a table with an 11 against a dealers 6 and had some beginner split 10's next to me. And of course he gets 2 10's and looks like a genius to others and I get a deuce instead of the 10 I should have received. But I've won big money setting at a table full of beginners!

I don't criticize his method because it's as valid as mine. I just don't believe one is better than the other.

Or is it?

The idiots who play badly can help or hurt just as much as if the shuffler had a slightly different shuffle.

I.E. It doesn't matter.

On the other hand, emotionally, it's hard to overlook their dumb action while you have money on the table. And that can break your concentration / rhythm / whatever, causing you to make mistakes too.

Therefore, both arguments are valid. It's just that his argument is valid for a reason he isn't even considering.

If you want to be the only player, you need to be in the high limit room or else a higher limit table in the main casino. You can always buy solitude by playing 300.00 a hand. At what cost? Well things will be moving fast if you are the only player and that means that whatever that house edge is, it will be coming at you over and over again without pause. Soon, the free drinks and the rapid play will exert an effect on you ... and you start doing the stupid mistakes that others make.

So what has been gained?

Oh... you like being seen plunking down 300 per hand ... well, okay: then its ego not some rube splitting tens that disturbs you.

Quote: Yoyomama

Or is it? I have a friend who thinks the ONLY way to go is heads up vs dealer. That way you don't have all the LOSERS around you screwing up your hand.

I look at it a little differently. It doesn't matter! Sure you can see all the hands that screwed yours up, but your hand is an individual event and it doesn't matter at the end of the day who sits around you. And yes I have sat at a table with an 11 against a dealers 6 and had some beginner split 10's next to me. And of course he gets 2 10's and looks like a genius to others and I get a deuce instead of the 10 I should have received. But I've won big money setting at a table full of beginners!

I don't criticize his method because it's as valid as mine. I just don't believe one is better than the other.

Or is it?

Great post! I couldn't care less about the decisions of other players.

Heads up is indeed the only way to go for me because having the advantage I want to be dealt as many hands per hour as possible. It has nothing to do with the other players. Some prefer 1 or 2 players at their table so they can wong out in minus counts and let those players eat the small cards. To each his own.

Yes, an incorrect action of another player can hurt you. But it is as likely that it will have an opposite effect and help (imagine that idiot splitting his tens, and getting two sevens, with a ten sitting behind them for your 11).
In the end of the day, it's a wash.

Yeah, it seems more like angry guys trying to explain their loses by blaming others. Never hear much about the other players at the table when they win!

Always remember that your chances of winning or losing are unaffected by anyone else at the table, - or how they play their own hands.
It's if you let them hit or stay on your hands that you may be in trouble.

Quote: Yoyomama

I look at it a little differently. It doesn't matter!

In the long run, it doesn't matter. In the short
run, where you place your bets, it can matter
a great deal. Especially if you've had a couple
drinks. If the guy next to you gets your 10
because he screwed up, you can tell yourself
all day long it doesn't matter. But right then,
in that moment, it sure as hell does.

Quote: Yoyomama

Yeah, it seems more like angry guys trying to explain their loses by blaming others. Never hear much about the other players at the table when they win!

Exactly. No one remembers when the guy at 3rd base hits his 15 versus the dealers 6, when it saves the table. Its also funny when the people who don't even play basic strategy themselves (like not hitting A7 vs. dealers T, not splitting Aces or 8's, etc.) trying to scold someone else for not playing BS.

I recently read an article that's somewhat related here:

http://fogofgambling.blogspot.com/2011/12/blackjacks-basic-strategy-chart-and.html

Quote: FleaStiff

If you want to be the only player, you need to be in the high limit room or else a higher limit table in the main casino. You can always buy solitude by playing 300.00 a hand. At what cost? Well things will be moving fast if you are the only player and that means that whatever that house edge is, it will be coming at you over and over again without pause. Soon, the free drinks and the rapid play will exert an effect on you ... and you start doing the stupid mistakes that others make.

So what has been gained?

Oh... you like being seen plunking down 300 per hand ... well, okay: then its ego not some rube splitting tens that disturbs you.

Say what? If you want to be the only player, you open up a table and play by yourself until you leave or someone else joins your game. No need for the rocket science crap.

Quote: kaysirtap

I recently read an article that's somewhat related here:

http://fogofgambling.blogspot.com/2011/12/blackjacks-basic-strategy-chart-and.html

It's a good read. What bothers me the most are friends of mine that get angry and believe switching tables, playing heads up, going to another casino, blah, blah blah, is the answer to their funk. If you don't have the bankroll take a break! Have lunch, call your girlfriend or call your other girlfriend! Getting mad and "act a fool" does nothing to your eventual outcome. Now I just avoid going to casinos with them. I came here to win and have fun and not listen to them whine.