I was playing the Shuffle Master Royal Match table game (blackjack machine) last night for my usual minimum bet (five bucks per hand) and a guy next to me was playing for 50 and 100 bucks a hand.
And he was quite amazing to say the least!
On one hand he had a pair of 5s and the dealer showed a 10-value card. He split the 5s, nailed 6s on both of them, and then doubled each one grabbing 10-value cards. He drew crummy double down cards but the dealer busted.
A few hands later he got a 20 and the dealer showed a 10. He split the picture cards and got two stiffs. But once again the dealer busted.
I will give him credit for one thing: he was consistent. He always split 10s no matter what. He always took insurance. And if he 'felt right' he even doubled down on 12s!
I didn't play very long but I saw quite a bit!
The major thing I took away from this was that if a person is going to invest so much money in playing this game then one would think that he would take a little time to learn how to play at least 'somewhat' properly!
But maybe if money is no object to him then it doesn't matter.
It would not surprise me if he also plays craps and his favorite bet is 'any seven,' positively the worst bet on the board.
I did not say a word but I did hear what appeared to be grumbling from a few people. I don't know if they were grumbling because they were losing or because this guy was winning with so many 'idiotic' plays!!!
I cannot envision any situation where one would split 5s or 10s against a 10 except if you were in a blackjack tournament and you needed to do something 'dumb' in order to have any chance of beating all the other players.