Doubled a hard 20...

[Blue Efficacy]

And caught an ace. Within a month, dealers at two stores I frequent mentioned to me that some guy once did that. One of them claimed to be dealing in high stakes when it happened!

First, is it possible to know with such certainty that an Ace is next in a shoe game? On second thought, it probably is, since this mysterious player wagered a big chunk of change on it. I am only guessing it was the same guy at both shops that did this act.

Second, if you know you're getting an Ace next, WHY NOT SPLIT? That has got to be the strongest heat inducer in the game of blackjack, PERIOD. Not that splitting 10's won't draw heat, but nothing in the magnitude of doubling 20, and actually getting the ace. The only drawback is you may lose the other hand.

Third, perhaps this didn't really happen, and dealers enjoy making up stories that are fun to tell patrons?

[creeping panther]

Originally Posted by Blue Efficacy

And caught an ace. Within a month, dealers at two stores I frequent mentioned to me that some guy once did that. One of them claimed to be dealing in high stakes when it happened!

First, is it possible to know with such certainty that an Ace is next in a shoe game? On second thought, it probably is, since this mysterious player wagered a big chunk of change on it. I am only guessing it was the same guy at both shops that did this act.

Second, if you know you're getting an Ace next, WHY NOT SPLIT? That has got to be the strongest heat inducer in the game of blackjack, PERIOD. Not that splitting 10's won't draw heat, but nothing in the magnitude of doubling 20, and actually getting the ace. The only drawback is you may lose the other hand.

Third, perhaps this didn't really happen, and dealers enjoy making up stories that are fun to tell patrons?

I have done that often. As to the hard 20 there is a very specific time to do it that would come at very rare times, conditions.

It is my guess that this person was counting the aces only, as some do, and found a great many left and wanted to be crazy and put on a show and he did it.

CP

[EasyRhino]

The guy could have regularly made the move, and just lost tons of money.

But... if you knew for super-sure that an ace was coming, I guess doubling would be the optimal play?

[Sonny]

Originally Posted by Blue Efficacy

Doubled a hard 20...and caught an ace. Within a month, dealers at two stores I frequent mentioned to me that some guy once did that.

Was one of the casinos here in California? I remember Eliot Jacobsen did that once. That casino uses shuffling machines exclusively now.

-Sonny-

[ihate17]

Originally Posted by Sonny

Was one of the casinos here in California? I remember Eliot Jacobsen did that once. That casino uses shuffling machines exclusively now.

-Sonny-

I am sitting at a table that is serviced by an ASM which had a tendency to turn a couple of cards over (the casino calls this boxed) each shoe. I have a 15 vs dealer 10 and look at the shoe and see a 6 is the next card, so I double.
Dealer pulls the card seeing it was boxed and calls the pit while he is laughing and shaking his head. Pit asks me what I think he should do and I tell him that I did not bring that ASM into the casino, management did, so pay me. He does so but then closes down the game while they install a backup shuffler.
Of course it is a much better bet when you know exactly what the next card is than to double hard 20 just because the stack is rich in aces. Face it, unless you tracked a slug of cards where aces are the majority a stack with triple the normal amount of aces still only has 3 aces per 13 cards.

ihate17

[Martin Gayle]

Some things come to mind right away...

1. The dealer is full of it. Don't trust anyone in the gaming business.

2. The player was a cheat and had marked the cards

3. The player had cut to an ace and had honed this skill that he could be accurate, gutsy and confident enough to double his hard 20.

4. The player was next-carding. And had used legal methods to identify the ace. Either by seeing a card in the open shoe, the card has become marked in the dealers peek or even by edge sorting.

5. Player was a whale who does this often but about 8% of the time he will be right!

I would bet on no's 1 and 5 being the most likely. Next carding is very advanced, requires excellent patience and eye sight and those that have made a killing doing do not usually release their secrets on how to actually do it, only how to use it.

[shadroch]

I did it once on a machine.Meant to hit the stand button but pushed hit instead.

[Cardcounter]

I have seen dealers take doubling a hard 20 like they where doubling an 11 and deal the card right away to the patron give the player a 10 and bust them with a 30 and take there money. Some players don't know what they are doing and some dealers instructed by the casino will give absolutly no help to them. Any decision they make however ridiculous it is there decision and some dealers never interfear and quite a few will tell them that they have to take a card if they double down I have had players who don't know that.
As far as heat goes with doubling a hard 20 they pit will think you are an idiot for doubling a hard 20 especially if you are losing. If you are winning overall and double a hard 20 and catch an ace my first thought is this player is not a card counter he is a card marker or has a device to read the top card. But if they catch you marking cards they could charge you with a felony and send you to prison for 5 years.

[actuary]

Sometimes you get a glimpse of the next card. For example, the dealer pulls a card for a hit, but she misread the player's hand signal who actually wanted to stand. When this happens, the dealer might call the pit boss over who will often offer the card to the next player, or she will put it back down if she thinks no one saw it. I think this happens quite often and once I even doubled my 18 because I saw the next card was a 3.

Take advantage of the above because, in my opinion, its one of those rare things that adds to our advantage without extra heat.