Thought it might be fun...

to post here the WORST advice you have ever heard a BJ dealer give a player. I am constantly amazed at the poor advice I often hear.

Although usually the dealers either hedge ("I don't know...tough call") or are spot on, BS-wise.

What brings this up is over the last couple of months I have heard:

Mirage :
"4s are like whores, never touch them." (i.e., never split 4s)

Slots A Fun:
When a player asked if he should double on an Ace vs a T,
"Nah...I know "they" say you should, but I wouldn't."

Again at Slots A Fun:
After I doubled on 8 vs a 6 in a SD, D8, S17 game,
"You really want to do that? Not a very smart move."
Then when my hand won, "You got lucky there, sport."

Horseshoe (SD, H17):
On splitting 9s vs A,
"You sure you want to do that?," with a condescending shake of the head.

WOULD LOVE TO HEAR THE GEMS YOU HAVE HEARD.

on the last quote! ds was allowed.

(Today) After asking the dealer why she cut off OVER 2 decks from a 6 deck shoe, she replied...."I cut off two to three decks because, believe it or not, it's to the players advantage".

= lower player losses per hour. G

penetration is the KEY to counting.

Dealer: If you like single deck, you ought to try SuperFun 21, You can double on any number of cards, hit split aces, lots of great rules.

Me: But what about the even money payout on blackjacks?

Dealer: You don't get very many blackjacks in single deck.

Me: Oh, really?

This was at the Lady Luck (downtown Las Vegas).

but most of the people at the casino are at best BS players

Here are 2 you'll hear all the time not matter where you go.

12 or 13 vs 2

Dealer: are you sure you want a hit? I got a bust card!

A7 vs T

Dealer: why you hit? you got a good hand.

I remember quite vividly, when another player asked why so many cards were cut out of play (nearly two decks on a six deck shoe) the dealer responded, "because we have to make sure that we have enough cards so that we won't run out". I of course, stayed silent and left the table very soon afterward, but if I heard this one again, I think I'd reply "you mean you need nearly 100 cards to complete the play of the last hand? Hell, even if you only cut a deck out of play at a full table, each of the players and the dealer would need to average over six cards per hand, which would be almost impossible, before you'd have to worry about running out of cards".

Sigh...O.K., so maybe I wouldn't say this, but it sure would be tempting.

Telescopic

Played with a young female Thai? dealer who had a very heavy asian accent. She started with the shaking head and giving advice routine, when in several juicy counts I started making radical departures from basic strategy.

However, on about the second occurance, on a doubledown soft 20 vs 5 play, I said, "Hell, I came here to gamble, I'm a gambler, you know.", as I slapped a matching max bet on the double.

As luck would have it, I was on the far positive side of the SD curve, and everything was working. The dealer quickly caught on, and I think she was getting as much of a kick out of it as I was getting money. "Ooh, you lucky gambler!", she would say as several non-standard double downs and splits, continued to pay off.

Several times she would pause, like if I was dealt two 7s against a 10, and ask, "You feel like gambling on this hand?" "Naw, maybe I'll be more lucky on the next hand", or "That's why I'm here I came to gamble" depending on the situation.

When I left the game, the dealer gave me her schedule for the rest of the week, and told me to be sure to come back and play with her, because she really enjoyed seeing someone so lucky.

You said:
Horseshoe (SD, H17): On splitting 9s vs A,dealer asked:
"You sure you want to do that?," with a condescending shake of the head
I have the same question as the dealer.

I play the Uston APC, and with a true count of +8 or greater the correct play is to split 9's against an ace up.

I understood that for the SD,H17 game, basic strategy called for not splitting 9's against an A. I also assumed that the count would have to be out of sight to justify splitting those 9's.

Wrong assumption. After your message I checked Wong's Professional Blackjack book and he gives a Hi-Lo index number of 2 for noDAS and 1 for DAS. My mistake, Sorry.

I only know what I read...on the web sites!

Unless I'm reading it wrong, according to Wizard of Odds, in a Single Deck, H17, DS game, which were the rules at the Silverton at the time (still apply I believe), Basic Strategy calls for a split 9s vs A.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

Check this out:

SD H17 DAS, you split 99 v A according to Griffin as well.

I was a little puzzled by doubling down on Ace vs T, though. ;-)

A dealer tried to convince me to play Casino War once.

when she (the dealer) almost INSISTED that my wife take even money on her $20 bet for her BJ when she (the dealer) showed an A. "Insurance? Even money?" asked the dealer. We were the only 2 players at this shoe game. Count (KO Preferred) was slightly negative. "Don't take it," I whispered to my wife. "Of course, she should take it. Why should she throw away the $20 she's gonna win?" said the dealer, who'd obviously heard my advice. "Why should she throw away the extra $10 she's gonna win when you don't have it?" I replied. This went on for a couple of minutes. My wife sat silently, while the dealer passively refused to deal, waiting for my wife to take the even money. I kept saying "Don't do it." (We were planning to leave in about 5 minutes anyway to see a show, so I knew we wouldn't be back.) Finally, dealer completed the hand--she (the dealer) did not have BJ (whew!).

A dealer hit her soft 21, got a 10, paid the table. The worst advices?
I play at a casino with ES (including against A), dealer advised: Never surrender, it's there for casino to make more money...

I was sitting next to an older gentleman at a 6-deck game this last weekend. I really think he was trying to be helpful with his little bits of advice (trying to take care of the poor, stupid little blonde girl at his table -- me) but when I split 8's against a dealer 10, he about fell off his stool. He told me to NEVER split 8's unless the dealer had a 3,4, 5 or 6. When I had to split again, and then double on one of my hands, I thought he was going to spontaneously combust. Thankfully, the dealer busted. He couldn't believe how "lucky" I was.

He was also very concerned that I kept hitting my "good" hands of soft 16 and 17, and when I doubled on an A7 against a 6, he gave me a five minute lecture on how you should never double down on an A/anything. He had very strong opinions regarding insurance as well -- i.e., he actually insured one of my "good" hands (a 20) FOR me out of his stack. Luckily, the next couple of times insurance came up, the count was pretty positive and I took it. He was delighted to know he had changed my mind!