BLACKJACK IN THE SUN: ARUBA

All the other rules varied by casino. In one of them, the dealer said you could take as much insurance as you wanted-that is, you were not limited to taking insurance up to only half the size of your original bet. As I mentioned elsewhere, the more you can; wager on insurance in the right situation, the better.

I didn't find out about this rule until the end of my stay or I would have taken''. advantage of it. I first noticed it when one player took twenty dol•; lars of insurance when he had only a five-dollar bet up. Th dealer got Blackjack and the player received forty dollars in turn. That will teach me to ignore my own advice and not ask dealer for the local rules the first time I sit down to play!

There is no heat (casino pressure) on counters. The deale and pit bosses are natives, and most of them were friendly an polite. This is more than I can say about some of the players. number were quite rude to the dealers, who endured the p treatment in anxious silence. After the first two days, I slowl, stopped camouflaging my play and started to jump my bets rath prominently. No one paid any attention.

I also stopped tipping. I am so used to tipping that I do it aut ' matically. In Aruba, I stood out by placing bets for the dealer.~ quickly cut my tipping down to occasional bets when I had had nice run. And then I would only tip a dollar or two, even though I was betting stacks of five-dollar chips.

The most startling feature of Aruba was the incredible quality of play at the tables. No wonder there is no heat! I have never seen more atrocious Blackjack playing anywhere in the world. These people would have lost their shirts playing Slapjack with the neighborhood kids. Most players would stand on totals of 13, 14, 15, or 16 against any dealer up card. Also, many stood on soft totals, such as A, 5 or A, 6.

One such poor player was a gray-haired woman playing third base at my table in the Caribbean casino. I was sitting immedi-ately to her right and having a steady winning session. She kept advising me not to draw so often.

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