Lose The Superstitions

You will sometimes see people make some weird plays in blackjack tournaments because of some bizarre superstitions. When you come to the table, leave the rabbit’s foot in your dresser drawer. I once played an online blackjack tournament with a guy who would act on a common superstition; he often hit 17s and 18s – hard hands, mind you – because he felt he was taking the dealer’s bust card. If you’ve played much live blackjack then you know this third-base position superstition quite well. Players often complain when the last player to act makes a play against basic strategy because of superstition and the dealer then draws to a made hand, beating the table. This fellow was making small bets and he honestly believed his actions were going to cause the other players at the table with big bets to lose those hands. He was following that common superstition that the third-base player controls the table. However, since the cards come out of the shoe randomly, this is certainly not the case. Of course, this guy was constantly busting and his play was not affecting the rest of the table. The only advantage I could see from making dumb blunders like following superstition is to put other players on tilt and, unlike poker, I’m not sure if you could gain much of an edge from it, especially if you are throwing away all of your small bets in the process. Another common superstition is to take insurance against the dealer ace when you have a made hand, like a 19 or 20. The theory is that you want to lock up a split in case the dealer has the blackjack. But just as it’s a bad bet at the live game, it’s also a bad bet in blackjack tournaments, perhaps even more so as it could cost you the lead against other players with similar hands. There are only a few reasons to take insurance in a blackjack tournament (none of them based in superstition), the most common of which is to correlate with another player who has already taken insurance or as a way to take the low post betting on the final hand if another player does not take insurance. Many blackjack tournament players also have their individual superstitions, such as not doubling with any ace in their hand or not splitting 7s or not surrendering a 15. Whatever the superstition may be, they are all silly and only cause that player’s game to suffer in the process. Just sit down and play your best sound game and let the other players make these boneheaded blunders. By Johnny Kampis- Blackjack Expert

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