Blackjack - Using Other Players For Extra Profit

Many players do not realise when they have profitable hands, or are not willing to double or split because of the cost of an extra bet. Other players will overestimate the value of a hand because they do not understand the mathematics behind the basic strategy. Because of this, a cunning player may be able to play another player's double or splits by paying the bet himself, or even getting another player to pay to play one of the players own split cards.

Consider a pair of sevens against a dealer 3. This hand favors the house whether the sevens are split or not, but the proper strategy is to split because 14 loses twice as often as a 7. Now if a smart player is able to offer one of the sevens to someone else, he is actually getting rid of a bad hand, and only having to play one hand of 7 against a 3, instead of two.

This can also be applied backwards. A person may be tempted not to split a pair of 2s against a dealer 5 or 6 card. In this situation a cunning player would offer to pay the bet and play one of the split hands, because 2 versus a 6 actually favors the player. Sometimes a player won't have enough money to split a pair of eights against a 7 or 6, and this is also a good situation to offer to bank the bet, since an 8 is favored to win against a 7 or 6. A cunning player will often 'team up' with other players so they feel obligated to split pairs, even tens.

A smart player can also get in on other players' doubles. Most casinos offer the player the ability to 'double for less.' That is, they are allowed to double down without matching their full original bet. If a player does this on a winning hand (any basic strategy double down hand is always a winning hand), a smart player can 'get in' on the double by offering to pay the rest of the double amount. A common situation is 11 versus a dealer 10. Most people prefer to only double for a small amount, a long term player should always offer to front the rest of the double bet, because in the long run a profit will be made.

If a player prefers to hit instead of double (because he is worried about receiving a low card) in some rare situations it is actually correct to offer not only to pay the double, but to also pay the player back their bet should the hand lose. This is most common with 11 versus a 6. When a player doubles on 11 versus a dealer 6 they win over twice as often as they lose, so it is okay to lose the double bet and pay out the player his original bet. This strategy works extremely well because from the other player's point of view, they cannot lose. And from the cunning player's point of view he is prepared to lose two bets because he has the knowledge that he will win a single bet over twice as often, in the long run.

From Wikipedia's