An easy way to let people know about WOO

Every time someone questions a play I make at BJ, where I'm going by the basic strategy, I tell them to go to Wizard's site and read up on the probabilities. Hopefully they'll take my advice. There are too many old timers with their own "systems" who go on hunches more than anything, and they always try to contradict the advice I give others on obvious hands. I always remind the player asking for advice that it's his money and ultimately his decision, however tonight every time I told him to double he ended up winning.

Quote: derik999

however tonight every time I told him to ...

that can backfire, as even advantage betting can wind up on the rocks.

Thanks for the free advertising. However, I've noticed the only times strangers will pay attention to your advice is if you're doing signficantly better than them over a long period of time. It isn't unusual that after an hour of playing blackjack I will get solicited for advice, in which case I'm happy to give it. I'll sometimes quote my site as the source of the advice, without saying it is my own site.

I did just this at the Excalibur. It was a situation where two of the players (my friend and I) had 16's (non 8's) v. the dealer's 10. We both surrendered, the lady next to us told us never to surrender. We ran through why we surrendered to counter, and the dealer jumped in and said never surrender 16's v. a 10 because the odds of winning the hand are 50-50 if you take a hit OR stand (your choice). We schooled him, and I honestly believe at the end of the discussion, he understood. Or maybe he was just placating for tokes.

I used to feel it was my obligation to tell others (especially newbies) the best play, but a lot of the time this led to people getting pissed off or worse, losing money. Then I just tried defending my own plays when someone would question why I doubled on that soft 18 against a 6 or hit a 12 against a 3. But I found that if someone was questioning my plays, they were already too set in their ways to listen to reason. So now I just shrug it off when someone questions me or when I see others making obvious mistakes. I'm not superstitious enough to think it will affect the outcome of my own had. The only time I'll talk about basic strategy is if a play specifically asks for advice, but even then it will be a modest "I would hit."

This is kinda what I was getting at in the "Weekly Coffee Meeting" thread, where I suggested that, when we meet the Wiz, that we gat a stack of WOO/WOV business cards to pass out.

For what it's worth, I discovered WOO about two years ago, and have recommended the site about 5 times. These were all newbie players that, for whatever reason, picked me to answer thier questions.

Sometimes it's how you say something....

True story, years ago at Cesars Plaace, two BJ players, me and old lady, we'd been there all of 30 mins and barely said a word (5:00am) An African American gent just joined the game. his first hand K-K he goes to split, the old lady looks him dead in the eye and says....

"young man, if you had a 20 inch penis would you cut it in half?" He didn't split the Kings - lol.

Holy crap! That's funny!

I was having drinks seaside in Hawaii with Christopher W Clark one of the foremost whale researchers in the world, and advisor to the White House. A woman joined us and she began chattering about her whale watching tour she went on that afternoon, and telling us all about whales. It was like listening to someone tell Julia Child how to cook. He was silent the whole time and totally appreciative of everything she had to share. I figure if he can stay silent, then I can avoid telling people at a blackjack table what to do.

Quote: pacomartin

He was silent the whole time and totally appreciative of everything she had to share.

Perhaps because she was giving him a new perspective, and/or he was being reminded one his own start in whale research.

It's kinda like listening to a new BJ player come to the conclusion that it's reasonable to assume that the dealer's hole card is a ten and/or that the dealer will draw a ten....and then hearing what else the player has discovered or questioned about the game.