[ohnonotthat]

Hey, if I was able to explain to my girlfriend why SHE needed to take penicillin for the, um, "kidney infection" that I got down in Mexico [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img] this should be easy.

Maybe this will help him to see the light.



The order of the cards is arbitrary.

Hitting a stiff from third base when the dealer shows vulnerable WILL sometimes hurt the table. However, standing will also sometimes hurt the table. In fact, you will sometimes hurt the table by sitting out, or by rushing back after having sat out.

The relevant factor is that there is no way to know beforehand; the effect(s) of these are events can only be seen in retrospect.

In most locales, a new dealer will burn a card even when in the middle of a shoe. In a few places he or she will burn 2 or more [cards]. Explain to him that this act is also apt to "mess with the order of the cards" but as with the unreliable anchorman there is no way to use this [arbitrary] behavior to predict future events.



Now allow me to help you to see why YOUR way of looking at this situation may be wrong.

If your friend is an otherwise intelligent fellow who, for one reason or another, is simply an easy mark for the "pull my finger" routine - why not just let him enjoy himself.

If he's not altering his blackjack strategy to adhere to this ridiculous belief and - FAR more importantly - if he's able to avoid these instances of "brain-freeze" in all other areas, it's more humane to simply allow him to believe in this, the boogeyman, and the other silly stuff we buy into before we wisen up.