your playing at a table and the count is good.player ask if he should split his whatever against a 5 or 6.you should tell the guy to split but you know if you do the cut card will come out and you wont get another positive round in.you tell the guy to hit.player listens.is that evil...
Intentionally giving wrong advice is pretty shaky, morally speaking. If I were in that situation, I probably would have said something like "Hmm.. I dunno, tough call. Go with your gut." That's the sort of response you should give anytime you're asked for advice, really.
I am not as morally upstanding as Voltaire. While I do not make it a regular practice, I once convinced a ploppy to split 4's against a dealer 10 in a very negative count. It probably helped that the ploppy was pretty drunk at the time. The ploppy ended up doubling one hand to 20, and hit the other to 19. The dealer flipped a 6 in the hole and then pulled a 5. The cut card came out and the ploppy lost all his money and left me with a decent heads up DD game.
I didn't lose any sleep, but maybe thats just me.
and offer to split the hand with him and get in on the action if you can. Make sure they know that if you lose or win you take your half and if you push you get your chips back.
Personally, I try to not give advice at any time, however my stock answer is something like this.
Basic Strategy says to do "thus and such" but it's your money in the circle so I'm not qualified to make the decision.
Wyrstle
If there is one thing to avoid at a Blackjack table, it's the use of technical terms like "basic strategy","probability" or "mathematically". Even if it's not such a flagrant giveaway as talking about the count or discussing indexes, it still tells the pit that you have got a clue about the game and probably read books about it and that's really not in your interest.
You should talk like the ploppies. If you still want to remain honest you can say: "I usually split but it might mess up the flow".
Francis Salmon
I'd prefer if you didn't.
Best case scenario, they bust out, increasing your hands per hour.
More likely, they realize you are an idiot and quit bugging you.
The last thing you want (most of the time) is to look like the table know-it-all, playing everyone's hand for them like a conductor supervising an orchestra. Another way to get rid of them is to say something like "I dumped 5 grand at this very table last night. I should be asking YOU for advice!" Also, if you actually wanted to help someone, there is a dilemma. What if the count calls for violating BS? Do you tell them the correct play NOW, possibly teaching them the wrong way to play in the future?
you should avoid establishing yourself as the "table expert." I'm not saying that you should tell everybody what plays to make all the time. When somebody asks me what I think they should do, I usually give some sort of noncommittal answer like "I'm not sure," or "it's a close call," or "you don't want my advice, I'm down a thousand bucks." Unless, of course, the play I really want them to make also happens to be the correct play. Then I might go ahead and tell them what I "think" the correct play is.
I just think it's immoral to intentionally tell someone to make a bad play (i.e. split sevens against a 10, stay on a 16 vs. 7, or whatever, you get the idea) for the purpose of chasing them away so you can get a better game. That's over the line for me. I think it's over the line, period. But, if you can live with yourself after acting that way, go for it.
First, the ploppy must be seeking your advice because you seem to know what you're doing. You shouldn't encourage his calling attention to your skilled play--but don't cut him off rudely. That can also draw attention; the pit won't like you running off a ploppy. Try something like:
"Ma'am (or sir), you're asking a guy who bought Microsoft at 86-1/2" or "You're asking a guy who voted for Richard Nixon--twice." This sort of good humored, self-effacing reply seems to get the message across that you would just as soon not be the plopppy's "consultant"
without getting anyone's nose out of joint. You can think of variations to suit your own persona.
And if anyone is curious, yes, I'm embarrassed to say, I did. Both-- Gawd!
DB
Most of the time, we are losing the next hand. This puts us in a situation where we are frequently in a low to neutral count the majority of the time. I personally like to see a player eating up cards on splits, etc. when the count is negative. I know you are thinking in terms of what is best at that moment in time, it's very easy to see this advice coming back to bite you in the *ss when he doesn't eat up cards in a low count because he hit instead of split.
We all agree it is bad to draw attention to yourself by answering a request for advice. However, any advice given can be an opportunity for cover if you include superstition in your answer. E.G., "it will mess up the flow of the cards if....". I will frequently help another player who asks for it, because I am a gentleman first, but superstition always makes it way into advice. I am also irritated by the poor play and the lack of understanding of the game by some people and thats why I am willing to help.
Finally, when I am ready to leave the table cause it bothers the hell out of me to see a guy split 10's to squeeze another 5 bucks out of a 6 upcard and lower his EV for the hand, I make sure to include superstition in my excuse to leave. "I can't seem to beat this dealer," or "you done fuctup the next hand for sure". I guess thats why I prefer to play alone.
"[You're] playing at a table and the count is good. Player ask[s] if he should split his whatever against a 5 or 6. You should tell the guy to split but you know if you do the cut card will come out and you wont get another positive round in. You tell the guy to hit. Player listens. Is that evil[?"
No, it's not evil, it's just money flowing directly from his pocket to yours. Some people find this immoral, because it is happening directly and they prefer such flows to happen indirectly. Indirectly is whenever a clueless player sits down anywhere in the casino to play 21; his losses are financing your winnings.
Other people find nothing immoral in your scenario. They rationalize that the clueless player is punished for not knowing what to do "against a 5 or a 6" and also that, if it wasn't you, it would be some other, clueless player, who would give the wrong advice at least some of the time. Well, here it is, one of those times, provided by you -- plus, someone, i.e. you, gets to benefit from the wrong play.
It all depends on where your moral compass takes you.
(The generic advice is "Don't draw undue attention to yourself but try to blend in and act like every other casual player. If a casual player would give advice, and if he would usually give some specific advice, deviating from such advice draws undue attention." So, if you will give advice, you'll never advise, for example, to split 10s.)
That's not the question. The question is whether or not you're okay with doing it anyway.
"Well *I* wouldn't do it, but this other guy did it like 8 times and won every one of them."
