Know When to Hold 'Em and Fold 'Em - Gambling Etiquette

[CluelessBride]

Deadbody: Absolutely playing vs. an opponent as opposed to vs. the house is different. I just meant that sometimes a bad player *can* hurt you - which may be where the whole blackjack thing got started.

[deadbody]

Deadbody: Absolutely playing vs. an opponent as opposed to vs. the house is different. I just meant that sometimes a bad player *can* hurt you - which may be where the whole blackjack thing got started.

Not to veer too off tangent here, but a bad player hurting or helping you in blackjack is a bias response.  You are looking at the result of the card you got and would have gotten had your neighbor to the right done something different.

That is immaterial in terms of making the correct strategic play, as what your neighbor does is as likely to hurt you as help you.  All you should be doing in making the right play based on the strategy at the given time. 

Your results should be net-positive based on the good strategy and you don't want to be results focused as that is a sure way to end up losing (think hitting on 20 cause last time you got an ace).

As someone who did a good deal of studying of the business of playing poker professionally I would be willing to discuss more in-depth via PM cause any more posts like mine will probably take the thread even further off track.

[Sophia]

Went gambling a few weekends back and after repeatedly losing on the slot machines (I must have been playing "Wheel of No Fortune") I decided to try my luck at the black jack table. I have played the game before with friends but never at the casino.

A few times I made legit bets but the person next to me became upset and criticized my play, saying I took his card, the dealers bust card, etc. etc. He did seem intoxicated but it was very annoying and the dealer didn't do anything about it. I wasn't sure what to say so I just cashed out and switched tables.

This also happened a few times while playing poker. I understand that ribbing is a part of the game but I found it very annoying that one gentleman kept criticizing how I played my hand even when I won the pot. I didn't want to be rude and tell him to "shut up" but it really made playing less enjoyable.

Any card sharks or card guppies have experience dealing with this?

In Poker, if someone is giving a bad player grief for their play, a third player might say "Don't tap the fishtank."   It is a thinly disguised way of saying "don't chase off the bad players" i.e. Card Guppies.  What was done at the poker table was not only rude but stupid. 

I've never understood the Blackjack thing, though.  Since you have no information about the next cards, they are all equal.  Although the probabilities of certain cards coming out change with each new card shown. 

[Barb3000]

sounds like a good opportunity for "How kind of you to take an interest."

Probably wouldn't do any good though....

[rose red]

I don't know anything about blackjack or gambling, but isn't that what gambling is all about?  That it's a game of risk?

I think as long as you are not breaking any rules, you can play however you want.  I'm sorry, but if I play, I'm looking out for me, not some stranger.  But again, I don't know anything about gambling.

[PastryGoddess]

This is why I play baccarat.  The statistical difference between the dealer and the player are negligible making it as close to 50/50 as you're going to get in a casino.

I also like it because you don't have to play "properly" in order to receive that statistical benefit the way you do in blackjack

[weeblewobble]

This whole thing sounds like sour grapes on the part of the obnoxious guy.  (pout) "I would have won if you didn't steal all the good cards!"

If you're gambling, you're risking the possibility of losing your money to the laws of probability. Accept the consequences or stick to Monopoly.

[jpcher]

This whole thing sounds like sour grapes on the part of the obnoxious guy.  (pout) "I would have won if you didn't steal all the good cards!"

If you're gambling, you're risking the possibility of losing your money to the laws of probability. Accept the consequences or stick to Monopoly.

LOL! I agree with this.

Not everybody that goes to a casino knows the basic theory/rules . . . that's why it's a game of chance. The "wild card" like other posters mentioned is the one that makes the game interesting.

I'm betting that the dealer had an eagle eye on obnoxious guy. If you didn't leave the table or if he became even more obnoxious, I'm sure there would have been a few "men in black" unobtrusively hovering. Not because you weren't playing by the rules, but because obnoxious guy was was being just that . . . obnoxious.

[CluelessBride]

Not everybody that goes to a casino knows the basic theory/rules . . . that's why it's a game of chance. The "wild card" like other posters mentioned is the one that makes the game interesting.

I'm pretty sure the most important/basic rule of gambling is "The House Always Wins".  Granted, you might get lucky and win too. But its worth remembering that the odds and the environment are all stacked in the casino's favor.

[jpcher]

Not everybody that goes to a casino knows the basic theory/rules . . . that's why it's a game of chance. The "wild card" like other posters mentioned is the one that makes the game interesting.

I'm pretty sure the most important/basic rule of gambling is "The House Always Wins".  Granted, you might get lucky and win too. But its worth remembering that the odds and the environment are all stacked in the casino's favor.

Which is precisely why obnoxious guy was obnoxious! He was telling the OP that she was playing her cards wrong.

If I'm sitting on 18 and "feel it in my bones" . . . I just might want a hit. There's nothing in the rules of Black Jack that says that I can't do that, however "basic rules" says stick on 18.


(Yes, I did win a big bet doing just that, dealer had 16, if I passed on the 3 that was dealt? I would have lost.)

[Yvaine]

In Poker, if someone is giving a bad player grief for their play, a third player might say "Don't tap the fishtank."   It is a thinly disguised way of saying "don't chase off the bad players" i.e. Card Guppies.  What was done at the poker table was not only rude but stupid. 

That was my first thought--along the lines of "never interrupt your enemy while he is making a mistake." But then I don't know much about blackjack.

[Starchasm]

After a particularly bad fight at a blackjack table, I made the rule that I would NEVER play blackjack with my (former blackjack dealer) friend EVER AGAIN.  He would get IRATE if I didn't play exactly to the rules, but refused to move to my right so I wouldn't be "messing him up".  The table had been having a fun time until he started freaking out on me.  After that it was just an awkward silence.

He still doesn't understand why I won't sit down at a blackjack table with him anymore.

He admits that he knows it doesn't matter, but it's just a heavily ingrained superstition a lot of gamblers have.

[MissRose]

I've never played table games at casinos but have watched others play to see how things work for them.  If anyone is being rude in the way they play a game or try to win, I've not picked up on it.   I much prefer slot machines and walk away if I am not doing good.