BJBlowHole
Member
Greetings, all. I've been reading this forum for awhile, and greatly enjoy the lively discussions.
I just returned from my 3rd Vegas trip this year. After observing the frequently bizarre play at some of the tables, I was compelled to write up a short summation of the game some of the players seemed to be playing. I hope you enjoy.
PLOPPY BLACKJACK (PBJ)
There are two ways to do PBJ. The first is in a casino, with cards and a dealer. The second is with creamy PB and grape J on white or wheat. Use the cut card to cut diagonally, and serve with chips (various denominations.)
The object of casino PBJ is to get as close as possible to 15 or16, without going over 21. If you go over 21, you bust. If you bust, you blame the person at the last seat (third base.) If YOU are at third base, you blame the person to your right. If you’re at third base and the only person at the table, you have no one to blame but yourself, so you should switch seats.
To start play, you will be given two cards face up, and the dealer will have two cards, one of which is face up, the other is down. Pay no attention to the card that is face up. It is just there to distract you. The important card is the one you can’t see. Pay no attention to it, either.
You must now signal as to whether you want to hit, stay, split, double, or surrender. The hand signals are as follows: to hit, scratch on your nose. To stay, wave your arms frantically over the table.
To double, put out more money, then say “Doublay, garcon!” This will get a big laugh, and everyone will realize you’re a True Insider. You will get another card. If you don’t like the new card, just wait until the dealer moves on to another player, then take the new bet back. Casinos hardly ever mind this.
You can also “Split Hairs”, as it’s called. You can split if you have two cards of the same color, i.e. a 5 of diamonds and a 3 of hearts. (Don’t make the beginners’ mistake of splitting because the backs of the cards are the same color.) Do the same thing you did to double, except announce loudly “Banana split, garcon!” Again, this will get a laugh, and everyone will realize you’re a True Insider. If you don’t like one of your new split hands—particularly if it busts—then take the cards and rip them in half. If the dealer says anything about this, just give her a red chip and say “There’s more where that came from.”
If you don’t like your cards at all, you can surrender. Just reach out and take half your bet back. The casinos hardly ever mind this.
So how do you know when to do what? There are strategy cards available, but they are all BS. Many even say that, right on the card.
The best thing to do is this: When you first get two cards, add them together. Since you don’t want to make any mistakes, do it slowly and carefully. Use your fingers—and even your toes!—is you need to. Each card is valued as its stated value (two, five, ten, etc), except that “face cards” count as 10. These include the Jack (monkey), Queen (Paint), and the King (Elvis.)
Aces count as 1 or 11, although don’t say which one you want it to be out loud, because then you must stick with that decision for the rest of the game. Just think it to yourself, and then you can change your mind later if you want to, and nobody will know.
Once you’ve added your cards, you should “hit”—take another card, if the cards total less than your desired goal of 15 or 16, but not if they’re 12 or over, unless you’re using an ace, in which case they should be three or above, but certainly over 9 and less than 17. In that case, use your gut feeling to decide what to do, because there’s really no way of predicting these things.
If you win the hand, chortle loudly and tell the rest of the players that they should have been playing YOUR way. If you lose, call the dealer a cheater. The casinos hardly ever mind this, and everyone will know you’re a True Insider.
There’s an advanced strategy called card counting, and it works like this. (Secret insider knowledge to come
When you play with six decks, the dealer will put the cut card in to eliminate about a deck, so you’re really only playing with about five decks. (Hardly anyone outside the casino knows this.) In those five decks are 260 cards. (270 if they forgot to take the jokers out.)
The secret to card counting is that every time a card comes out, count it. When you reach 130, you know that you are halfway done. As you near 260, you have a great advantage, because you know a shuffle is coming up, and you can stack up your chips and prepare to head for the bathroom.
Although other advanced strategy will be covered in future lessons (how to order cocktails, tipping the dealer, learning where first base, third base, and shortstop are) you now have the basic knowledge needed to make up to $1000 a day playing Ploppy Blackjack!
Good luck to you (or, as they say in the casino, “You again?”)
I just returned from my 3rd Vegas trip this year. After observing the frequently bizarre play at some of the tables, I was compelled to write up a short summation of the game some of the players seemed to be playing. I hope you enjoy.
PLOPPY BLACKJACK (PBJ)
There are two ways to do PBJ. The first is in a casino, with cards and a dealer. The second is with creamy PB and grape J on white or wheat. Use the cut card to cut diagonally, and serve with chips (various denominations.)
The object of casino PBJ is to get as close as possible to 15 or16, without going over 21. If you go over 21, you bust. If you bust, you blame the person at the last seat (third base.) If YOU are at third base, you blame the person to your right. If you’re at third base and the only person at the table, you have no one to blame but yourself, so you should switch seats.
To start play, you will be given two cards face up, and the dealer will have two cards, one of which is face up, the other is down. Pay no attention to the card that is face up. It is just there to distract you. The important card is the one you can’t see. Pay no attention to it, either.
You must now signal as to whether you want to hit, stay, split, double, or surrender. The hand signals are as follows: to hit, scratch on your nose. To stay, wave your arms frantically over the table.
To double, put out more money, then say “Doublay, garcon!” This will get a big laugh, and everyone will realize you’re a True Insider. You will get another card. If you don’t like the new card, just wait until the dealer moves on to another player, then take the new bet back. Casinos hardly ever mind this.
You can also “Split Hairs”, as it’s called. You can split if you have two cards of the same color, i.e. a 5 of diamonds and a 3 of hearts. (Don’t make the beginners’ mistake of splitting because the backs of the cards are the same color.) Do the same thing you did to double, except announce loudly “Banana split, garcon!” Again, this will get a laugh, and everyone will realize you’re a True Insider. If you don’t like one of your new split hands—particularly if it busts—then take the cards and rip them in half. If the dealer says anything about this, just give her a red chip and say “There’s more where that came from.”
If you don’t like your cards at all, you can surrender. Just reach out and take half your bet back. The casinos hardly ever mind this.
So how do you know when to do what? There are strategy cards available, but they are all BS. Many even say that, right on the card.
The best thing to do is this: When you first get two cards, add them together. Since you don’t want to make any mistakes, do it slowly and carefully. Use your fingers—and even your toes!—is you need to. Each card is valued as its stated value (two, five, ten, etc), except that “face cards” count as 10. These include the Jack (monkey), Queen (Paint), and the King (Elvis.)
Aces count as 1 or 11, although don’t say which one you want it to be out loud, because then you must stick with that decision for the rest of the game. Just think it to yourself, and then you can change your mind later if you want to, and nobody will know.
Once you’ve added your cards, you should “hit”—take another card, if the cards total less than your desired goal of 15 or 16, but not if they’re 12 or over, unless you’re using an ace, in which case they should be three or above, but certainly over 9 and less than 17. In that case, use your gut feeling to decide what to do, because there’s really no way of predicting these things.
If you win the hand, chortle loudly and tell the rest of the players that they should have been playing YOUR way. If you lose, call the dealer a cheater. The casinos hardly ever mind this, and everyone will know you’re a True Insider.
There’s an advanced strategy called card counting, and it works like this. (Secret insider knowledge to come
When you play with six decks, the dealer will put the cut card in to eliminate about a deck, so you’re really only playing with about five decks. (Hardly anyone outside the casino knows this.) In those five decks are 260 cards. (270 if they forgot to take the jokers out.)
The secret to card counting is that every time a card comes out, count it. When you reach 130, you know that you are halfway done. As you near 260, you have a great advantage, because you know a shuffle is coming up, and you can stack up your chips and prepare to head for the bathroom.
Although other advanced strategy will be covered in future lessons (how to order cocktails, tipping the dealer, learning where first base, third base, and shortstop are) you now have the basic knowledge needed to make up to $1000 a day playing Ploppy Blackjack!
Good luck to you (or, as they say in the casino, “You again?”)
