Freaking out the other players!

I don't get the opportunity to make this play very often and one of the good ploppies said they'd never seen it done. I won't split 10's on a single deck because that obviously draws too much attention but this was pretty close to garnering the same attention. Single deck, 5 players, 2nd round, monster count, dealer has a 5 and I get the ace 9, so I double, and I'm 3rd baseman. You could hear a pin drop. Fortunately, we both got 10's so then I was instantly Einstein. Had it cost the table though, I believe the guns would have come out! There was so much chatter afterwards that the dealer felt compelled to yell player doubled on 20 while I said I only had 10. Yikes!

...if your move had saved the table, just forget it and continue playing. It isn't the first time you have pissed off other players and it won't be the last.

Cobbson

Congratulations on making the correct play knowing you would suffer "ploppy heat." It never ceases to amaze me how ploppies worry about things that shouldn't concern them and have no long-term effect on them.

get tripped out when you hit a soft 18

Recently players got very upset with me on the proper use of surrender and coming in and out of a shoe (which I probably shouldn't have done for cover reasons). It's like the cards know there should be a certain number of players at the table. And of course there is the old favorite that you must play consistently (such as always hitting or standing 16 vs. dealer's 10).

Dealers sometimes announce unusual plays like doubling A,9 to alert the pit to a possible card counter at the table. Other times it's to alert the pit a player may be a potential source of problems in the future, such as "I didn't give a hand signal!" when a 3 falls and the dealer makes their hand.

I think that's a bit paranoid, I don't think it (nearly) ever has anything to do with counters. It's to make sure the player really intends to make that play, and to ensure the floor guy is alerted to something unusual.

No paranoia here.

Dealers are instructed to call out strange plays. Probably the casino gives them examples such as doubling A,9 or even the ridiculous such as doubling 14 or something similar.

Then the dealer adds to this list things they think should be included. I have had things like doubling soft 18 and splitting 9,9 called out and it was just basic strategy but seemed weird (I guess) to that dealer.

What I have never had called out are some negative index plays like hitting 12 vs 4, which is one of those plays that basic strategy players will go nuts on.