Taking advantage of newbie errors.

T

Thunder

Well-Known Member
Does anyone know how much of a reduction in the house edge or advantage you get in a 6 deck game, if say you had the opportunity to bet on someone's double down hand because they were afraid to?
 
Thunder said:
Does anyone know how much of a reduction in the house edge or advantage you get in a 6 deck game, if say you had the opportunity to bet on someone's double down hand because they were afraid to?
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There is a really good article of it somewhere... Its called hand interaction. Let me see if I can dig it up.

Ah ha! By James Grosjean, called scavenger blackjack.
 
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Thanks for the link Sleight and Zen, I'd love to have control over a table like that. I've even had times where I told people the count was really bad and they should bet less especially when I see this crazy guy putting up half of his bankroll on a hand. Usually I just get ignored so I stopped trying to help people. It's also even more aggravating when you do help them and they follow your advice and instead of tipping you, they tip the dealer who think with two 4's you should be doubling down vs that 6 in a bad count.
 
Thunder said:
Thanks for the link Sleight and Zen, I'd love to have control over a table like that. I've even had times where I told people the count was really bad and they should bet less especially when I see this crazy guy putting up half of his bankroll on a hand. Usually I just get ignored so I stopped trying to help people. It's also even more aggravating when you do help them and they follow your advice and instead of tipping you, they tip the dealer who think with two 4's you should be doubling down vs that 6 in a bad count.
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You were telling people the count was bad? Not that I'm one for giving advice, but that has bad news written all over it. Maybe I'm just an a**hole, but who cares if people are making bad plays? Its their fault, not yours. Buy their doubles, splits, what have you, and thank the world for suckers, because then blackjack wouldn't exist.
 
That was during my I hate Harrah's Entertainment stage :) They didn't have my player's card or anything so I didn't care at that point.
 
I don't like this particular scavenger play, as it is worse for the other player (they can only take one card, instead of more), and they may not realize it. This isn't poker.

Splits, etc., on the other hand, are better for everyone.
 
johndoe said:
I don't like this particular scavenger play, as it is worse for the other player (they can only take one card, instead of more), and they may not realize it. This isn't poker.

Splits, etc., on the other hand, are better for everyone.
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The scavenger DD works best when you see a player make a larger than average bet. Say they are betting $10-$25 a hand and they suddenly jump to $50 and get that DD opportunity. They will most likely know the correct play, but do not want to throw an additional amount down.

Offering to go in partners on a hand works so well and is a huge money maker. I jump on opportunities like this and have quite a lot of success. There are times when I pull a couple of these plays and later that same person will want me to throw down half on a double or split even when I don't make an offer.

The majority of the time it's not that people don't have any money left to make the double, they just don't want to risk losing double their original bet.
 
johndoe said:
I don't like this particular scavenger play, as it is worse for the other player (they can only take one card, instead of more), and they may not realize it. This isn't poker.

Splits, etc., on the other hand, are better for everyone.
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Well, as the article mentions, it depends. If they already intended to double down for less, you are not changing their odds. You are just taking advantage of what they left open. There are also doubles that can help them (They have A,6 v 6 and intend to stay), although those aren't as common.
However, on the topic where you indeed are making doubles that are worse for the player, you are right, it isn't poker. But then again... so what? If you don't want to do it, thats fine. But don't be complaining that my win rate is higher than yours :grin:
 
Thunder said:
Does anyone know how much of a reduction in the house edge or advantage you get in a 6 deck game, if say you had the opportunity to bet on someone's double down hand because they were afraid to?
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You have to give me more information... How much is the player betting? Are they betting a $100 and doubling for $50 more? How much are you betting on your regular bets are you betting $10 a hand or a $100? What hand does the player have do they have 10 or an 11 what is the dealer showing? I need details to figure out your question. But on the bet it self you could have a big advantage as for the overall ev it could be pretty small.
 
Thunder said:
Does anyone know how much of a reduction in the house edge or advantage you get in a 6 deck game, if say you had the opportunity to bet on someone's double down hand because they were afraid to?
Click to expand...

You could use frequency and EV tables to figure out the overall reduction in HA assuming what you want.

In the meantime, maybe don't worry about it. It's reduced a little every time you do it :)
 
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