when playing single or double deck BJ, and you have a sufficiently low two card starting position that you find yourself at <17 after 4 card total...do you take the fifth card or do you believe that in such a situation you are doomed to pull a high card and bust?

 

Both. Its an unfortunate aspect of the game. I won't take that 5th card against a dealer 7. Against an 8,9,10,A dealer upcard, its doom.

 

If you're a basic strategy player, the rule is what it is. Hitting it (against a dealer 7 or higher) will work out for you more often than standing will. That's all basic strategy is: a list of the decisions that will work out for the player more often than the other options in a given scenario. It doesn't change with the number of cards you've been dealt (it might change things if you were counting and the large number of low cards in your hand was enough to swing the count positive enough to justify a basic strategy deviation, but honestly even that would be a relatively rare situation in a 2D game).

 

Hit it. I'm devoted to basic strategy.

 

this is my belief as well, but we had this topic come up during a session over the weekend and the discussion was, um, lively as you might expect

 

OK... I'm going to set this up with some assumptions:
2-deck game, with about 1/3 cut-away... so, 70 cards in play total.
The hand comes after 30 of those 70 are dealt, and before the deal, the count is even.
The two players ahead of you each get two tens & the dealer has a 10 showing. You have a 2-3...then hit a 2-9, for a total of 16.
The count is negative 3... hit.
Now, same situation, only your hand is 2-3-6-5 for a hard-16... but the other players have 4-9-7 and 3-6-3-8 for their 20s. Dealer still has a 10 showing.
Your count is +6.... stand.
On that second scenario, even if you were not counting, you should still stand, as you've now seen 3 of the fours and fives, significantly reducing your chances of hitting one on a single draw.

But - as a general rule, follow basic strategy... just try to temper that with what you know you've seen so far in that deal...not just that one hand.
In the prior hands, you may have seen a lot of small cards or a lot of larger ones... this knowledge should absolutely be allowed to influence your decision.
The fact that your current hand consists of 4 small cards is not enough information (alone) to justify straying from basic strategy.

 

thanks, helpful. I generally try to watch the 5's and A's to get a rough count and proceed from there

 

Oops.
That would be a +7, not +6.

 

Unless you're at the ElCo I doubt you'll see much single deck. That might involve more component adjustment.
But given their 1/2 deck cuts and hovering pit, why bother.

 

I play single deck at Harrah's/Lake Tahoe...double deck as well. Not the best rules (H17, no DAS) but better than playing the shoe IMO