Should I double or not?

There are times in pitch games that you're goin' to hold a Hard 5 or 6 vs. a Dealer's 3-6. Basic Strategy tells us to hit, but if the count is sky high, say, +40 for the hi-lo, it's better off to double. In Ian Anderson's classic, "Turning the Tables in LV," he doubled on the 5 and got barred (check out the chapter "Some good news & some bad news").
To be honest, I doubled on a 5 vs. 4 once in the shoe game. I won the hand, but it made me very uncomfortable...

From reading Ian's book, I gather he has mastered the art of expert play while looking like a ploppie. More power to him. But even he warns that nothing gets PC attention faster than a player who's using Basic Strategy for 30-40 minutes and then splits 10s or doubles on 5, especially with a big bet out. Your instincts are right. It's not worth it.

..."either he's an idiot or a card counter" category, much as splitting tens. Unlike splitting tens, the long return on such a play is so miniscule as to make it nearly worthless.

I once saw a typical ploppy style player double with hard 5 against a low card. What made it funny was that when he recieved a 3 as his hit card, he said "DARN - it figures I wouldn't get a high card". I resisted the urge to ask him just how many cards with a value of 12 or higher he thought were in the deck.

EE

ploppies do these type of doubles, especially asians.
many are true gamblers and very superstitous.

if you make the play, you may also be suspect of knowing the hole card.

i personally know all of the indices and make all of the plays and never got heat (max bet 2 x 200). i personally have had the opportunity to split 10 about seven times and double soft 21 once which also fall in the idiot category

people have all sorts of crazy reasons for doing things and if you can make them believe that then you can get away with it. i have never had the opportunity to double 5 vs 4,5,6 but i would do it and i doubt it will get me heat.

," but it made me very uncomfortable... " and that definitely won't help.

but like they said. if you play shoes you could go a lifetime without seeing the play so it ain't that important.
one thing fo sure, if i get the play and above RA index i don't see why i wouldn't make the play. how you act and what you do before, during and after the play makes a huge difference.