Players telling you how to play & being abusive

How do you guys deal with other people at the table telling you how to play your hands? People see me thinking and they think I don't know what I'm doing and they'll say something like "take a hit". Any suggestions?
How do you guys deal with other players who continuously add up your hand for you because they see you hesitate for a second and they think you can't add. I find this to be insulting. Any suggestions on how to deal with this situation in a dignified manner without cursing?
My counting system advocates splitting 10's at high positive counts. How do you deal with people who make nasty comments or start cursing without cursing back yourself?

These folks are just part of the landscape. It is important to remember that you will probably never see them again and who cares what they think? By tomorrow morning, they will have forgotten that you ever existed.

Generally, I simply ignore them altogether, but if they persist, I have been known to tell them they can tell me how to play my hand when it is their money in my betting square. If they don't get the hint or say something like, "you have to take one for the team," I'll remind them that blackjack isn't a team sport.

In the end, just remember that what they think or say doesn't matter at all.

Nat,

In general, the advice given above by Bootlegger is solid, and is in fact what the vast majority of advantage players do in the situations you describe. I regularly find myself ignoring the pleas and curses of the other players... this is yet another good reason to play heads up!

However, you might wish to try the following approach, which I in fact used on occasion back in my early days...

Say you have 16 vs. X, you have $25 in the betting circle, and the OKIA (that's "obnoxious know-it-all") has a much larger bet, say $500. Hestitate before you make your play, as if you're having trouble deciding what to do. When OKIA finally tells you to hit, tell him, "I was planning to stand, but if you give me $25, I'll take a hit." Of course, if his advice is to stand, tell him just the opposite. Make clear, though, that the $25 is simply your fee for following his counsel... you still get to keep any money you happen to win on the hand, too.

If OKIA falls for it, by all means follow his words of wisdom. If you win the hand anyway, you've just made an extra $25 on a truly crappy hand; if you lose, you at least broke even, which is twice as good as surrendering. As long as OKIA is willing to "finance" your "education", you're living on Easy Street. Develop a sudden case of amnesia concerning the B.S. tables, so you have to "think" about every hit/stand decision, and you'll rake in an extra fortune at his table. Follow his advice for even really bad plays, like standing on 13 vs. 7, since you know you'll at least get your money back. Don't even worry about counting the cards or making index plays... you'll do much better getting OKIA to pay for your "lessons".

If OKIA spurns your offer, perhaps he'll finally come to realize that you don't appreciate his advice... probably not, though! This is why all AP's eventually develop a thick skin.

Hope this helps... that'll be $25, please ;-)

Dog Hand

then you're doing your job. Moving your money with the count and playing basic strategy gives you 70% of your gain. Varying plays with indices gives you the other 30%. Don't be afraid to not split tens, double soft 20 or double 8 if you think it's causing problems. When people start acting obnoxious, if you try and reason with them they interpret that as a sign of weakness and lay it on even more. I've had best results coming on strong with an amused smile and something like "When did you get a vote in my money? You one of my ex-wives or my accountant?" If they insist, then "Why are you sticking your nose in my pocket?" I find setting them straight quick was always the best way and avoids attention in the long run. You're there to take from the house the money the suckers are dumping, not win a popularity contest. Just don't come on strong when the pit people are around.

All counting systems advocate splitting 10's at high positive counts.

when people bitch about my hitting (usually when I hit 12/13 vs 4-5-6) I usually just say nothing..or that I don't play by the book. The irony, standing on 16 vs 7, which the idiots do constantly, is a much bigger mistake.

with some typical ploppy retort as:

"I just had a hunch;" or

"You can't improve a sixteen;" or

"A Ten always follows and Ace;" or

"Sometimes you just gotta go with your gut."

After a couple of those, and they'll usually conclude you're "hopeless," and leave you alone.

determine whether he is likely to respond violently and how likely you will be hurt if he does. I usually agree with Boot--on blackjack issues--but I disagree here. You may see the jerk in the parking lot. The best thing to do is act totally oblivious of verbal attacks on your play. If you have a confrontation with a jerk in the casino in which he is gaining the upper hand and the suits think you are an AP, then they may be slow to call security to restrain the jerk. Business owners have a common law responsibility to protect invitees--invitee is a legal term of art meaning anyone who enters a place of business open to him, not necessarily someone formally invited as on o comp deal--from known hazzards. You do not want to get hurt by a jerk and then sue sue him and the casino.

When the person giving advice is a smoker, quietly ask him/her some variation of, don't you find it ironic that you a smoker are giving gambling advice to a non-smoker. Left unsaid, at least initially, is smokers are gambling with their biggest asset, their health. Doesn't always work, but it generally makes them stop and think a little.

Variations of the above include:

Sorry, but it's hard for me to take gambling advice from a smoker seriously.

You're a smoker, advising me a non-smoker how to gamble, you gotta be kidding.

Why would I take gambling advice from smoker?

Appologies to all smokers on this board.

...be as arrogant, rude, obnoxious and uncivil as you can possibly be and -- SURPRISE!!! -- nobody will want to talk to you.

with "of course not, mind if I fart"

...being preachy and generally obnoxious.

Read his post again.

...let's say the "advisor" is not a smoker but instead has a beer or a cocktail in front of him.

How are the smoker comments any different from saying something like: "Why would I take gambling advice from some lush?"

Sorry, but preaching and/or uttering remarks calculated to belittle, ridicule and/or offend do constitute, IMHO, obnoxious and uncivil behaviour.

The OldCoot doth protest too much, methinks.

To repeat: "...preaching and/or uttering remarks calculated to belittle, ridicule and/or offend do constitute, IMHO, obnoxious and uncivil behaviour."

Are you a tobacco user or are you associated with the tobacco industry?

In an attempt to shift the focus away from the subject of my tactic for handling rude and abusive players who smoke, you try to personnally discredit me by calling me, among other things, arrogant, rude, obnoxious, uncivil and preachy and now you have the audacity to say your realtionship with tobbaco is irrelevant.

BTW, you may also want to reread your posts in this thread, they are preachy, uncivil, obnoxious, rude and arrogant the same uncharitable attributes you accused me of.

You may have the last word.

Two old coot's going at it. :)

I feel vindivated, a person, who shall remain nameless, but who's computer I used on a recent trip to post a reponse, thought I should let it go, but I thought it was too good to drop.:-)