Thanks Dakota for your post and Billy your facts are backwards, so let me explain what happened on the last hand. Cindy gave me as the final count, but I don't know what everyone bet. The button was on spot two so I had to bet after Mrs. P and ahead of BR1. I was $150 dollars behind BR1 and I figured everyone else would bet for position and not chase us, so I was trying to decide whether to bet big or small and chose to go minimum with the hopes that BR1 would put out a minimum $10 bet. I bet $170 which I realize now was not the right bet (if she bet minimum we would have tied if we both won), I needed $175 or possibly $185 to cover a blackjack (I think that is right). What I realized right after I slid my bet into the circle was BR1 didn't have any pink chips, the lowest she had was green ($25), so I really needed to figure she would bet some multiple of those and bet accordingly.
When I realized my mistake, I knew the only thing I could do was to hope for a double down hand or possibly hitting out to maybe 20. The problem was being pitch, I had no idea what she was holding, so I figured my best bet was to double down. I drew a 4,3=7, so I showed them and doubled my bet. What gets me now is I don't remember what she bet and if my double would have possibly been enough had we both won with a dealer bust. I think she bet either a $100 or $125. I don't recall what the dealer was showing up either because at that point I thought my best opportunity was to double without looking at whether she had me covered or not. She must have thought I had her beat with my double because she showed her cards to the dealer and seemed to wonder what she should do. She eventually tucked them.
The dealer then drew out to 20 which I think killed everyone on the table except BR1 which happened to be holding a 20, although I think it was an ace-nine combo, not two tens, otherwise I think she might have split them.
This is the final count:
Final Count:
Spot 1 500
Spot 2 1065
Spot 3 3060
Spot 4 50
Spot 5 45
Spot 6 3550
Spot 7 1420
It was an interesting final table. As you can see at hand 20 I thought about going for the difference all in one hand after the count, but I think I backed off because I worried if I lost then it would get me out of position to possibly have a chance to recover. My goal was to be BR1 on the final hand since I was betting first and bet enough to possibly get the low and an opportunity to split/double into a high if needed. Unfortunately I didn't catch BR1, but I think I did have a shot at the win in spite of everything. As everyone knows BR1 was the wild card and I heard from someone afterwards that she played completely different on this table. On all her previous tables she bet big and busted out. Somewhere she got some good coaching or learned from watching everyone play. I do recall that she played well, got cards and won split/doubles so I was always chasing her.
It was fun, and look forward to next time.
Pat