Can Bad Players Be Harmful To You At The Table?

A common opinion among many people is that the unskilled player can be quite harmful to those who "know what they're doing.” How many stories have you heard from sore losers who will tell you the little old lady on third base made a dumb play and pulled the dealer's bust card, or that the fellow on your right hit his 17 with a 6 which could have turned your 15 into a 21?

Anyone who is reading this knows that there's always an excuse for losing, no matter how outlandish people believe it to be. But if the general assertion is that bad players at the table are bad for your game, I can only reply that it’s nonsense. How in the world would a truly unskilled player know that he or she is taking a card that is bad for you or good for the dealer?

Of course, when you’re playing with a collection of ne'er-do-wells, you may become distracted if you're concentrating on or analyzing their decisions. If your concentration is really on the task at hand, however (that is, beating the dealer and counting cards, if that's your bag), you would have the self-discipline not to allow anyone's terrible play get to you.

When I play the game, I don't even think about the decisions other people are making at the table. I just look at their cards and include them in my count. Hey, let's face it; there’s only a small percentage of players as it is who can play a perfect game of Basic Blackjack Strategy, much less count cards. So it follows that whenever you sit at the table, you'll most likely be sitting with largely unskilled players. If that type of person distracted you, it would probably be difficult to sit down and play at any time. You'd go insane.

Furthermore, is there really a foolproof method of determining who is the good player and who is the bad player? There are, of course, some telltale signs, such as when a player hits an 18 or fails to split aces. But look - if a player holds a ten against a dealer's ace and doubles, you'd probably think it was the sign of a bad player, right? Well, in the Wong Hi-Lo count, among others, that is precisely the correct move when the count is +4 or greater.

So how do you really know for sure? As we are all aware, one of the card counter's greatest weapons is the skill with which he camouflages himself. Experts want people to look upon them as neophytes, to alleviate any threat of heat from pit personnel. So don't be so quick to jump to conclusions, and don't judge a book by its cover. More importantly, don't be so concerned about the plays others are making. Worry about your own game first.