By the way, who was the hustler and who was the "mark" in
the deal between our two high rollers at the beginning of
this story? Well, both 9
against an 8 and 18 against an 8 are 6-to-5 favorites to
win. Big Purple saw an edge and bought his way into it.
Third Base sold out half of his
edge for too cheap a price, cutting his total expected gain
down by one fourth.
Most serious blackjack players only object to the order of
the cards being changed when things are going well. This
suggests that if you're
winning, then the following cards in the shoe are stacked in
your favor, and shouldn't be tampered with. Let me correct
that. What it really means
is if you're winning, then the previous cards in the shoe
were stacked in your favor. That doesn't say diddley about
the following cards!
You should know that scientific studies on this very
question have been conducted. Using computers, millions of
hands were dealt recording the
outcomes of all "third" hands that immediately followed two
consecutive wins. What percentage of those "third" hands
were won? Virtually the
same percentage as all the other hands! So then, what's
sacred about the order of the cards? In that regard, every
next hand is a brand new ball
game.
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