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DOUBLE YOUR FUN
by Kenneth R Smith
Tournament expert Ken Smith has appeared on all four seasons of GSN's World Series of Blackjack, and had several appearances on the Ultimate Blackjack Tour on CBS. He is the author of the e-book,
How to Win More Blackjack Tournaments: Tips, Tricks, and Strategies to Supercharge Your Game. Ken hosts the popular website www.BlackjackInfo.com as well as the online tournament community at www.BlackjackTournaments.com. You can subscribe to his free email newsletter at http://www.blackjackinfo.com/news/. Ken also recently released his new pocket blackjack strategy cards, which are available in our BJI store.For me, doubling down has always been the fun part of playing blackjack. Slide one of your big plus-count wagers into the betting circle at your favorite casino, and there's nothing quite like the feeling when you're dealt a juicy eleven against a dealer six. That's why we play this game. Those opportunities to get more money working when we have the best of it will either make or break your night at the tables. When you're lucky on those doubles, it's rare to have a losing night. When you're not so lucky… well, there's always tomorrow.
Consider what a boring game blackjack would be without the ability to double down. Actually, I have played just such a game! Several years ago, I was at Harrah's St Louis casino for a blackjack tournament, and between rounds I headed to the bar for a cold beer. As a firm believer in the church of Anthony Curtis, where buying a beer in a casino is considered a sacrilege, I stuck a $20 into the nearest bar-top video poker machine and ordered a comped beer from the bartender. While he was retrieving my brew, I checked the video poker pay tables. Wow, nothing better than 7/5 Jacks. What a Hoover! (Think vacuum cleaner, and the money being efficiently sucked out of your wallet.)
I decided to check the machine for video blackjack. Many video poker machines also offer blackjack, but it's rarely a good deal. In almost every case, you'll find that blackjack pays only even money, instead of the usual 3:2. But, hey, I figure any blackjack game is bound to be better than 7/5 Jacks video poker. Sure enough, I found a game and started playing as my beverage arrived.
I didn't bother looking at the rules for the game, assuming they were likely to be pretty bad. For example, I expected to be allowed to double only with hand totals of 10 and 11. So I wasn't surprised when I was dealt a hand of nine and the 'Double' button didn't appear on the screen. However, when I was dealt a hand of ten and couldn't double, I began to wonder. I considered just how greedy a casino has to be to allow doubling on totals of eleven only, when the game already short-pays every natural blackjack.
I was almost finished with my beer when I finally happened to be dealt a hand of 11. By now, you know what I learned. I STILL couldn't double. That's right. This game offered only Hit and Stand. No doubling whatsoever. I didn't hang around to see if splitting was allowed. I think we have a winner in the Worst Blackjack on the Planet competition. Congrats Harrahs St Louis.
Don't worry, here in the tournament world, you won't find any such travesty. In the tournament world, we love doubling. In fact, we often double hands you'd never think of doubling in a live money game.
To use this tool to its fullest, you need to completely understand the cost and benefit of doubling down...
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