Busting Casino Myths

Myths abound in every corner of the earth – and casinos are not exempt from this. I recently ran across an article by John Grochowski detailing some of the most popular casino myths and why they are myths. Let us take a look at some of them.

Blackjack: The third baseman is a team player, and shouldn’t take the dealer’s bust card. Wouldn’t it be nice if we knew whether or not the next card in the deck would make the dealer’s hand go bust? When you’re sitting at third base — the last position at the table to play before the dealer — and you’re pondering whether to hit your 12 against a dealer’s deuce, or whether to double down on your Ace-7 vs. a dealer’s 6, wouldn’t you like to be sure if you’re taking the dealer’s bust card?

Problem is, we don’t know what the dealer has face down, and we don’t know what the next card is. The proper basic strategy plays are to hit 12 against 2, and to double down on your soft 18 against a 6. But third basemen sometimes get hassled over such plays by those who seem to think there’s something mystical about the order of the cards.

Are you one of those who think in the same manner? How many times have you given the third baseman a hard time simply because you believed in this myth? Well, buddy, maybe it’s about time that you gave up on this belief.