WSOB IV: Episode 5

KenSmith

KenSmith

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The next show in this year's World Series of Blackjack is set for Monday night, July 2nd, 2007. Tune in on GSN at 11 PM Eastern. In other parts of the country, check your schedule.

Episode 5 features Caroline Rhea, Darrell Arnold, Eli Haber, Hans Schmid, Jarek Markowiak.
 
I thought Darrell was going to jump out of his tattoos when he quickly realized Caroline was her only competitor next to Jarek :)
 
Congratulation

To both Jarek & Darrell for their 1st and 2nd places finishes last night. I didn't get to watch but the last hand, but I'll try and catch it tonight.

From what I saw, it appeared Darrell under bet the last hand (not covering Jareks DD) since he had the surrender option, but once again I didn't turn it on until after they already had their cards.
 
last hand

I believe the max bet was $50,000, and Darryl couldn't put out enough to cover a max bet dd by Jarek - he did put out enough to cover Jarek's dd with his own dd or split - but chose to stand on the twenty rather than split his tens, and give up the low to Jarek - with Jarek having 15, I think this was his best play - Jarek made the play he had to for the win, and lucked out - both players played the last hand right I think - luck went to Jarek -

was an interesting table - one drunk-all-in-guy blackjacked the first hand - the other slow played for a while - but eventually couldn't resist chunking out chips - they were the first two players out -

both Darryl and Jarek played very well
 
I Didn't See The Episode

What was the last hand scenario? You know, bankrolls, bets, playing order, the cards that came out?
 
Monkeysystem said:
What was the last hand scenario? You know, bankrolls, bets, playing order, the cards that came out?
Click to expand...
Final hand bankrolls (I'll refer to Rock n Roll Darrell as "R&RD):
R&RD 141,250
Jarek 104,500

The bets. R&RD bets first:
R&RD 40,000
Jarek 50,000

The cards:
R&RD 10,10
Jarek 9,6
Dealer 5

The play:
R&RD: He knows that he cannot win the table with a single wager if Jarek DDs and wins. He ponders if he should split. He decides to stand.
JAREK: He DD his 15 for 50,000 (what else?) and uses his power chip. His DD card is an Ace which he decided to keep, giving him a total of 16.
DEALER: Hole card is a 10. She now has a 5,10. She draws a 10 and busts.

Jarek wins.
 
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last hand

if darrell would have split his 10's
the next two cards were an A and a 10
meaning if he would have split his 10s against the dealer 5 he would have 21 & 20 and probably would have won the match even if jarek doubled down on his 15 and dealer busted
instead darrell stood on his 20 and gave jarek a chance to win
darrell still had his burger king chip also

right???

:joker:
 
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Right

he would probably have won - but he couldn't know what the cards were - he made the right decision to stand on the twenty I think - as the odds for Jarek losing on a doubled 15 were very high - Jarek made the correct play to keep the ace - came down to luck
 
Before tha last hand...

Hello tournament blackjack community.

It was a real pleasure to play in WSOB 07’ against this great group of players I met in the first round.

If anybody would like to know my reasoning for any particular bet or play at any moment from the cited below plays – just ask and I will do my best to answer it.

Here is play by play of last few hands for the episode 5:
Player first to act is indicated by bold font, card replaced (Burger chip) are in parenthesis and italic and new card preceded by letter r, hand totals are in square parenthesis.

9 Hands left .. Caroline ......... Darrel ........... Hans[/] ............. Jarek .............. Dealer
Bankroll ........... 150 ............ 138.7 ............. 97 ................ 124
Bet ................... 5 .............. 16 ................ 50 .................. 16
Cards (total) .. T, 4, 5 [19] ... T, 8 [18] .......T, 8 [18] ......... T, 9 [19] .......T, 4, 4 [18]
....................... Win .............. Push .............. Push .............. Win

8 Hands left ..Caroline ......... Darrel ........... Hans ............. Jarek .............. Dealer
Bankroll .......... 155 ............ 138.7 ............. 97 ................ 140
Bet ................... 7 .............. 16 ............... 10 ................... 2.5
Cards (total) .. A,5.9,T ... A, T [BJ] ......3,4,7,3 [17] ..... 6,T,T .......8, 8, 9
...................... Loss ............. Win .............. Win .............. Loss

Going into this hand I know that elimination card will show up and in the following hand and the player with the lowest brl will be eliminated
7 Hands left ...Caroline ......... Darrel ............ Hans ............... Jarek .............. Dealer
Bankroll ........ 148 ............... 162.2 .............. 107 ................ 137.5
Bet ................ 20 .................. 2.5 ............. 20/dd20............ 10
Cards (total) .. T, (4) r7 [17] ..3,T,2,T ...9,(6),2 dd2 [13] .. 5,8,9 .......T, 3, 5 [18]
..................... Loss .............. Loss .............. Loss ............... Loss

Elimin. hand .. Caroline ......... Darrel ........... Hans ............. Jarek .............. Dealer
Bankroll ......... 128 ............. 159.7 ............. 67 .................. 127.5
Bet .................. 2.5 .............. 2.5............. 50 .................... 15
Cards (total) ... T, 5 [15] .... A,5,8 ,T [18] ....T, 7 [17] ......... 2,A,5 [18] .......T, 8 [18]
..................... Loss .............. Push ............ Loss/Elim. ........ Push
 
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Jarek could still of won, if...

Had Darrell split and caught the 21 & 20, Jarek still could have won if Jarek still DD and hit 21 while Jessica hit a 20.

However after reading what the situation was on the last hand I liked Darrell's bet off $40,000. It covers both winning, Darrell win and Jarek BJ, both lose, and had he needed to Darrell, could have DD or split.

However with him sitting on a hard 20 and Jarek having to DD on a hard 15, I liked Darrell's stand. I would have play the final hand the same way. Darrell was just unlucky and Jarek played the way he was suppose to to pull out the victory.

There are a lot of very good tournament players, but as anybody that knows me knows, I think Jarek is at the top of the list. And he is a great guy as well, always willing to help you out with any question you may have. And very modest, most of the events he win's you may never even hear about, no inflated ego with him, just a nice guy and a hell of a tournament player.
 
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Darrell's Stand vs Split on T,T

TXtourplayer said:
However with him sitting on a hard 20 and Jarek having to DD on a hard 15, I liked Darrell's stand. I would have play the final hand the same way. Darrell was just unlucky and Jarek played the way he was suppose to to pull out the victory.
Click to expand...

You guys are forgetting that Jarek had a power chip. He had about 45% to win his DD and advance. That means Darrell had 55%.

Now if Darrell Split his tens, Jarek's proper play most of the time is Sr.
In this case Jarek wins only if Darrell loses 2 bets. And because he is playing no bust strategy, his probability to lose 2 bets is very small (much less than 45% if Darrell has no power chip, and with power chip it is way less).

So I disagree that Darrell was just unlucky. He was lucky enough to get pair of tens, and after split he would have 21 and 20. He simply didn't play well and Jarek did everything he had to.

Congrats to Jarek for deserved win.
 
Darryl's play

Arlalik may be right about Darryl splitting his tens - but - I disagree that Jarek's best play would then be to surrender - a surrender would win for Jarek only about 16% of the time - which would be the prob that Darryl would lose both hands (this is my very rough guess - someone should work out exact odds?) - Jarek's play then would be to follow through with his double - which would be sucessful 45% of the time, as Arlalik says - and that would win whenever Darryl failed to win both hands - since Darryl would win both hands only 31% of the time (more crude guessing) - that would give Jarek about a 31% ? chance - so - Darryl should have split - given that Jarek had his power chip - and Jarek should still have doubled - but - under the final hand pressure - hard to fault Darryl that much
 
arlalik said:
You guys are forgetting that Jarek had a power chip. He had about 45% to win his DD and advance. That means Darrell had 55%.
Click to expand...
No I didn't forget about Jareks power chip, that was how he got to check his DD card.

Darrell gives up the dealers bust by not spliting, but also the low. And if he splits and catches 2 stiffs, Jarek then has the surrender option for the possible win also.

But by staying he forces Jarek to either DD his hard 15 or hit until he gets 21.

Just my opinion, but I believe Darrell played correctly, but got unlucky, while Jarek also played correctly and got lucky. If I was in Darrell's place I would have plkay the hand the same way.

Between the two players, I would much rather have been in Darrell's situation once the cards were dealt out for the last hand.

You even posted that Darrell had a 55% chance of winning the way he played the hand.
 
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By betting 40K, over betting his lead, Darrell gave up the loss/push. No reason to do that just to cover a bj by Jarek.

Had Darrell split, Jarek would simply hit to get to two more than Darrell's lowest hand. (Yes, I know the next two cards), Giving Jarek a chance to win, while Darrell pushes. Or Jarek could surrender, depending upon Darrell's two hands. That would have been interesting to see, had Darrell split and received an 20-15,19-17, or something close to that.
 
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if darrell had split

if darrell had split his 10s
the next two cards were an A and a 10
giving darrell 21 & 20 (against a dealer 5)
what could jarek have done at this point
surrender and hope for a dealer 21 ?

:joker:
 
55% vs ???

TXtourplayer said:
You even posted that Darrell had a 55% chance of winning the way he played the hand.
Click to expand...

Yes TX I said he had about 55% by standing on 20, but I said also that he had much more by splitting.

Now if Darell split and have 21 and 20 as it could happen, Jarek had to hit to 21 and hope for dealer's 21.

It is becoming more complicated in this point. If Darrell split and get let's say 9 on first hand for 19, and get 8 on second hand - does he suppose to stay on 18 or replace it (let's assume he has a power chip).

And what is the best play for Jarek based on Darrell's different 2 hand combinations ( stiff-stiff, 17-stiff, ..., 21-20, because Jarek cannot win if Darrell has 21-21).

Guys try to answer these questions by spending no more than a minute on each (as in the tournament).:D

Good luck
 
I'm not saying your wrong

I'm just saying in my opinion Darrell played it the same way I would have. I'd make Jarek have to beat me by having to DD on a hard 15, even with his power chip. In this situation you don't want to beat yourself.

If you want to say what if, what if Darrell split and caught stiff/stiff? Now all Jarek would have to do is surrender his hand and hope for the dealer to make a hand to have won and Darrell would have given the match away.
 
No surrender

Duro had Darrell have split his 20 and made 21/20, then Jarek would have had to hit his hand to exactly 21 and hoped for a dealers 20 as well. As long as Jarek won his bet and Darrell pushed, Jarek would win.

The only way Jarek could have surrendered to win was if Darrell split and caught two stiffs and the dealer made a hand.


duro said:
if darrell had split his 10s
the next two cards were an A and a 10
giving darrell 21 & 20 (against a dealer 5)
what could jarek have done at this point
surrender and hope for a dealer 21 ?

:joker:
Click to expand...
 
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