As part of diversifying the type of content found on his shorts, recently Brian Christopher has been sharing some sessions playing Blackjack, such as this one:
This particular one yielded a variety of questions. Here’s a couple.
Why did you only get even money for your 21s?
Jcmitchell0582 on Instagram
Brian’s playing on a 3:2 Blackjack table, which pays 3:2 on Blackjack when dealt on the first two cards (and when the dealer doesn’t have a matching Blackjack).
However, in the case of this video, Brian was dealt a pair of aces, and he split them. While he got a 10 point card on both of the hands, this is not considered a blackjack, because it was accomplished after the first two cards were dealt. So in the case of each of those it was paid even money.
I have an honest question. So the cards are shuffled. I just honestly need to know how 6 aces in a row is considered shuffled? Or am I missing something here.
Shazam799 on Instagram
If you ever looked at an unshuffled deck of cards, the aces aren’t clumped together. Instead, Ace through King are all together in a single suit, then the next set of a different suit together, etc. Then there’s the fact that there’s multiple decks being mixed together here.
So it would require shuffling for that many aces to end up coming out in such a short amount of time (it wasn’t all in a row, as there was a 5 drawn after the fourth ace, but certainly it was pretty close).
Why double vs a face?
Mickey N.
Basic Blackjack strategy recommends a player double down on 11 vs. almost anything (doubling down against an Ace is more nuanced). 4 out of 13 cards is a 10-value card, meaning a pretty good chance of getting to 21, and there’s also the 9, meaning a likely push against a dealer’s 10 they reveal another 10. You’re also guaranteed not to bust in drawing a single card on 11, whereas the dealer can still bust. So when you add up all the pros and cons, that 11 is a very strong double down call. (By comparison, if you have 10 against a 10, just hit.)
In Blackjack, double downs are elements that give you some of your best chances of growing your chip stack, and skipping those actually work against you by raising the expected casino advantage (since you’re giving up some of the winnings you would have received if you played to correct strategy).
Why does he take and burn a card after you bust on your second hand ??
asliceofstevee on Instagram
That we couldn’t tell you. You can see all the cards that followed, and if we played it out right, it looks like he would have done worse two hands later (the third hand outcome would’ve been the same).
Mistakes as a whole tend to be neutral, though, as some will be better and some will be worse, just like the player at the end of a table that keeps taking the dealer’s next card when they should have stood. Sometimes they took a bust card, and sometimes they took a small card that led to the dealer busting instead. Over time, mathematically, it evens out, even if we don’t like it when it happens, and as humans are more likely to recall the times where it hurt us.
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