Better BJ player

Bondy3

Well-Known Member
#1
my boss has been talking a lot about how good he is at blackjack for over a year, I think he plays on a regular basis but never have we played together,

he proposed a little competition, we each buy in with $500 and whoever gets to $5000 first wins (or goes to $0 first looses), looser pays the winner $5000

I am pretty sure the best strategy here is just to min bet basic strategy and hope you get lucky.

we would be playing 6D H17 RSA DOA 75% pen

I don't know how good he is, 5k is a lot more money to me than it is to him,

think this competition is worth the time to do?
 
#2
Bondy3 said:
my boss has been talking a lot about how good he is at blackjack for over a year, I think he plays on a regular basis but never have we played together,

he proposed a little competition, we each buy in with $500 and whoever gets to $5000 first wins (or goes to $0 first looses), looser pays the winner $5000

I am pretty sure the best strategy here is just to min bet basic strategy and hope you get lucky.

we would be playing 6D H17 RSA DOA 75% pen

I don't know how good he is, 5k is a lot more money to me than it is to him,

think this competition is worth the time to do?
I assume your min bet basic strategy plan means you are betting on him busting out. That would be a tough way to end up with ten fold what you started with.
 

QFIT

Well-Known Member
#7
Forget counting. This requires a tourny strategy, and your strategy is highly dependent on his bets and results. An unusual one as there is not a fixed number of hands. But, the most important factor by far is to sit at his left. (Meaningless in a tourny as bets and play rotate, but he wouldn't know that.) This provides an enormous advantage, if used correctly. And, you would have to define what "first" means. If you both hit the goal in the same round, is that a tie, or does the person that gets paid first win? And define rules carefully. If you split hands, and the first hand paid puts you over, but the second puts you under, did you win?

A tourny player would have a fantastic advantage over a normal player. But, this is not a simple area.

OTOH, if you lose, you lose. If you win, you have pissed off your boss. Is that winning?
 

jaygruden

Well-Known Member
#8
This guy sounds like an egomaniac. If he's so confident tell him you want odds. Feed his ego with "you're too good a player for me to not get odds" and "you have way more money than me". You start with 1K and he with $500. If you win he pays you 5K and if he wins you pay him 1K or whatever you can negotiate. In my experience......gamblers like the action so much that they will make a host of concessions just to get a game and stay in action.

Use a simple level one count and play a $10 table with a modest spread. He's likely using positive progression system. It's probably close to 60/40 that he'll go bust before hitting 5K (bc pos prog. is worse than flat betting). By getting odds it's maybe worth +EV......then again if you like your job you may not want to embarrass him........that could be -EV for you.:grin:
 
#9
QFIT said:
Forget counting. This requires a tourny strategy, and your strategy is highly dependent on his bets and results. An unusual one as there is not a fixed number of hands. But, the most important factor by far is to sit at his left. (Meaningless in a tourny as bets and play rotate, but he wouldn't know that.) This provides an enormous advantage, if used correctly. And, you would have to define what "first" means. If you both hit the goal in the same round, is that a tie, or does the person that gets paid first win? And define rules carefully. If you split hands, and the first hand paid puts you over, but the second puts you under, did you win?

A tourny player would have a fantastic advantage over a normal player. But, this is not a simple area.

OTOH, if you lose, you lose. If you win, you have pissed off your boss. Is that winning?
xTTWO
 

rookie789

Well-Known Member
#10
Qfit is Correct

A tournament strategy is correct for you to win this bet if accepted, state to your boss (employer) "I'll give you the advantage to pick your seat first" then select a seat to his left.

But, please reread the last sentence in Qfit's informative post paraphrased as, is winning this bet beneficial or detremental to your expected employment with this employer?

Counting cards will be of little or no benefit in a heads up match as presented given other strategy you may employ.
 
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#11
rookie789 said:
A tournament strategy is correct for you to win this bet if accepted, state to your boss (employer) "I'll give you the advantage to pick your seat first" then select a seat to his left.

But, please reread the last sentence in Qfit's informative post paraphrased as, is winning this bet beneficial or detremental to your expected employment with this employer?

Counting cards will be of little or no benefit in a heads up match as presented given other strategy you may employ.
Take third base. Your boss will probably take it if you give him the option, then there is no seat to his left to pick. He may be a tournament expert who is playing you.
 

rookie789

Well-Known Member
#12
Take 3rd base?

If your boss is a tournament (player) expert as tthree suggests as an option, decline the bet! Actually if it's a 2 player table "winner takes all" match and a specific number of hands are not specified, seating is irrelevant as you will be betting last every other hand with no pre-determined final hand.

Perhaps in best interest of a future relationship with your boss just state something such as "Boss, I think you're a better blackjack player than I am, let's have a beer together Friday after work instead, I conceed".
 
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BJgenius007

Well-Known Member
#13
Bondy3 said:
my boss has been talking a lot about how good he is at blackjack for over a year, I think he plays on a regular basis but never have we played together,

he proposed a little competition, we each buy in with $500 and whoever gets to $5000 first wins (or goes to $0 first looses), looser pays the winner $5000

I am pretty sure the best strategy here is just to min bet basic strategy and hope you get lucky.

we would be playing 6D H17 RSA DOA 75% pen

I don't know how good he is, 5k is a lot more money to me than it is to him,

think this competition is worth the time to do?
He is not serious about the competition. He knows you cannot afford paying hims $5000. He wants you not to compete and admit he is the superior BJ player based on the conditions he set.

And if you foolishly accept the challenge, it is likely that you will lose because to grow $500 ten fold, you need to take high risk actions that you will be too afraid of taking.

But the good news is that it is the most likely he won't take your $5000 after he wins.
 

Bondy3

Well-Known Member
#14
1) my boss is not a tourny player
2) $500 BR is small for card counting
3) $10 min bet $500 max bet at the table

if I win I will get paid and I don't think it will adversely effect my job, hes worth millions and I think hes a regular black chip player.
 

Bondy3

Well-Known Member
#15
rookie789 said:
Perhaps in best interest of a future relationship with your boss just state something such as "Boss, I think you're a better blackjack player than I am, let's have a beer together Friday after work instead, I conceed".
we will never grab a beer together after work... (well, once, but it was super awkward and will never happen again)
 

duanedibley

Well-Known Member
#16
jaygruden said:
It's probably close to 60/40 that he'll go bust before hitting 5K (bc pos prog. is worse than flat betting).
His chances of reaching $5k are much worse than that with a $500 buy in - less than 10%. Bondy's primary strategy should be to avoid busting out, and of course other tournament principles like being in position are important. With this much on the line he'd do well to read the "Blackjack Tournaments" page on this site and invest $15 for a copy of Ken Smith's book on the subject.
 
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Bondy3

Well-Known Member
#17
duanedibley said:
His chances of reaching $5k are much worse than that with a $500 buy in - less than 10%. Bondy's primary strategy should be to avoid busting out, and of course other tournament principles like being in position are important. With this much on the line he'd do well to read the "Blackjack Tournaments" page on this site and invest $15 for a copy of Ken Smith's book on the subject.
my plan is to just avoid busting out, going from $500 to $5000 without ever loosing the $500 BR is a lot of luck and with so much on the line I'm going to try and not bust out first. I Think that will be his strategy as well.

I have read the blackjack tournaments part of the site, and I have played in 10 or so tourneys and I understand how it works.

I Don't think being in position is as important because if we end of the same hand its considered a tie and not the person who busted out first looses.

also there is no limit to the # of hands that can be played
 

QFIT

Well-Known Member
#18
Bondy3 said:
my plan is to just avoid busting out, going from $500 to $5000 without ever loosing the $500 BR is a lot of luck and with so much on the line I'm going to try and not bust out first. I Think that will be his strategy as well.

I have read the blackjack tournaments part of the site, and I have played in 10 or so tourneys and I understand how it works.

I Don't think being in position is as important because if we end of the same hand its considered a tie and not the person who busted out first looses.

also there is no limit to the # of hands that can be played

Sorry, if you don't think position is important, you do not understand tourny play.
 

jaygruden

Well-Known Member
#19
You always want to go 2nd if/when possible. You will know what you need to do based on his actions. It's the same reasoning as every college football team choosing to go on defense first in overtime if they win the toss. There is a huge advantage in knowing whether you need a FG or a TD to win.
 

rookie789

Well-Known Member
#20
Qfit and others, Tournament Seating Position Recommended ???

Table seating position based on this challenge is important only the first hand played when you should bet second (last).

This challenge includes an infinate number of hands so no prior knowledge is known when the final hand will occur, thus the seating position is irrelevant as a choice other than the 1st hand dealt.

Playing (betting) second the first hand is advantageous if your opponant makes a large or all in bet, you would want to make a lesser bet to take the low as a freshly shuffled deck(s) is negative expectation for both players.
 
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