A Shuffle through the Blackjack Gaming Mailbag

A shuffle through the Gaming mailbag, with the blackjack brigade checking in this week:

Q. I was playing at Harrah's Joliet with some buddies, and there was a guy who was making mistake after mistake. He was standing on all his 16s, no matter what the dealer showed. I even saw him stand on Ace-5 once, and you can't bust by taking a hit there. The one that really got my friends going was when he hit 13 and the dealer had a 6. He got the 10 that should have gone to the dealer.

My friends got angrier and angrier, and finally left the table. They say that when a player is making mistakes like that, it hurts the whole table. I don't really see it, but they play more than I do. Can you explain?

A. If I could stamp out one myth in blackjack, it would be the idea that another player's poor decisions harm the rest of the table. On some individual hands, someone else's decision could mean the dealer doesn't bust, that instead of the card that would have put him over 21 he gets one that sets his hand at 17 or better and beats you. But just as often, the poor player's choice will mean the dealer doesn't get the card that would have made his hand, and draws a high card that busts him instead.

Take the situation that got your friends so angry. The player has a 13, and the dealer's face-up card is a 6. Let's say the next two cards are a 5 that would give the dealer a 21 and a 10 that w