EasyRhino said:
it's not the sort of calculation I'd be able to figure out on the fly.
To be clear: I didn't figure out the SD on the fly either. I knew the EV for doubling hard 11 v. dealer 6 was about 0.6, that's about it.
EasyRhino said:
Buying hands from players while just winging the calculations... serious chance of overpaying.
I've tried to memorize a number of EV benchmarks for the odd scenarios that often come up, I don't think I would make a horrible decision, although I might make a wrong one.
For instance, I was once down to my last 1.5 bets, put out one, and was dealt a hard 9 vs. dealer 6. Should I double for less? (I didn't, and in retrospect it was the wrong move - doubling was +0.30 and hitting was +0.18, so doubling for less would have actually been +0.23)
Another example was when I was dealt a 5-5 vs. dealer 9. Without asking, the dealer hits me for an 8. I complain that I didn't give a hand signal (I was going to double), and the PB tells me that I can either play the 18 vs. dealer 9 undoubled, or they could muck the whole hand, but that I couldn't double having seen the card. Fortunately, I remembered that hard 18 v. dealer 9 is EV<0, so I mucked the hand.
EasyRhino said:
Plus, you probably could have figured out some other way to get in on the deal more cheaply. Maybe go "teamsies' with him on the double. Wager $10 of your own for an EV of over $3... that's less risk and more EV.
That's actually what I tried to do at first. I told him that I'd double for him and we could split the winnings, and he declined. So I bought the hand from him, won, and the next time it came up (hard 11 vs. dealer 5) he accepted my offer to go partner with him (he was kind of miffed that I had won the first one). I think we lost. He went broke shortly after.