A man says that incorrect play at a blackjack table resulted in everyone losing when they could have won. Now, he’s asking if he’s a jerk for pointing it out.
In a video with over 45,000 views, TikTok user Barry Dutter (@bvdutter) explains why he believes he lost at a blackjack table—and his heated reaction that prompted a response from the other players.
According to Dutter, he sat down to gamble at a $5 blackjack table at South Point Hotel Casino & Spa in Las Vegas.
“Now, I know what you’re gonna say. ‘Shouldn’t be playing at a $5 table.’ Whatever. It was an empty seat,” he starts.
When the game started, the dealer showed a 6—which, according to Dutter, is “the best of all possible worlds in the game of blackjack.”
From here, things went south.
What Went Wrong During This Blackjack Game?
Immediately, Dutter began to strategize.
“I look around the table, and I see the other players have, like, a 13 or 12 or 15, whatever, and I have a nine. So, obviously, I’m doubling down,” he says. “I’m the only player at the table who needs to take a card. Doesn’t make any sense for anybody else at the table to take a card if they’re playing basic strategy.”
The other players, it seems, were not “playing basic strategy.” Instead, they proceeded to hit and hit. This resulted in the first two players busting and the third player, an old man, hitting his 12 to a 14, then improving it to an 18.
When it finally got to Dutter, he doubled—resulting in a 15. The dealer revealed a 10 for 16, then drew a 5 to make 21. This meant that everyone at the table lost.
“And at this point, I just turned to the dealer, and I say, ‘Is this everybody’s first day? Because I can’t believe what I just saw,’” Dutter recalls. “Well, the mean man sitting next to me, he did not like what I just said. And he says, he suddenly blurts out, ‘No, it’s not my first day, and I don’t appreciate your comments!’”
From here, Dutter left the table to play elsewhere. However, the whole experience has him wondering, per the video’s overlay text, “Am I the A-Hole?”
Is This Man An ‘A-Hole’?
While the acceptability of his behavior at the end can be debated, the TikToker is fundamentally wrong about several aspects of blackjack.
If everyone had played according to Dutter’s ideal situation—and with the knowledge of all the cards in the shoe—he’s correct that he would have won. He would have 19, and the dealer would hit on 16, making him bust at 26.
That said, the rules of blackjack aren’t defined by a single player’s ideal situation. In blackjack, cards are dealt from a pre-shuffled shoe, and the order of the cards is fixed. In this specific case, if people had played differently, or if different cards had come out in a different order, the dealer might have busted. But this idea works both ways; statistically, there are just as many hands where someone ‘taking the dealer’s bust card’ actually saves the table.
Dutter seems to be looking at the outcome, then retroactively explaining his loss under the apparent belief that the card sequence would have unfolded in the same way, even though he had no idea what the card sequence would be before he started. This is what experts call “outcome bias.”
What If The Players Played Differently?
To provide a specific example with his story, Dutter chastises the player with 12 for hitting twice. But if the player decided to stand on 12 instead of playing, Dutter still wouldn’t have won.
Given that we now know the order of the cards in the shoe, we can play out a theoretical game in which this player plays according to Dutter’s desires, and Dutter plays ideally. In this version of events, the player stands on 12. From here, we assume Dutter plays aggressively. He does not double and instead hits. He gets a 2. Then, he hits again to get a 4. He hits again, giving him 21.
Once the dealer hits, however, he too would have 21. This results in a push where no one wins.
As should be clear from this example, it’s pretty easy to determine an ideal state of play after one already knows the outcome. It’s also incorrect to do so, as one does not know the outcome before the game begins.
Commenters Aren’t On His Side
In the comments section, many users agreed that Dutter was incorrect in his assessment and behavior.
“Not your job to educate people or comment on their play,” wrote a user. “Play the one hand, if you don’t like what’s going on, then move on. It’s a $5 table, you can’t expect the players to be experts.”
“Stop!!!!! If there were hard and fast rules for winning and losing, then it wouldn’t be called ‘gambling’, it would be called ‘simply follow these rules to get rich quick,’” noted another. “Gambling is about betting on what you believe in and having fun.”
“Let the people play their own cards. Worry about yourself,” advised a third. “nine out of 10 times if everybody played right, the dealer sweeps the board anyways even with threes, fours, fives, and sixes showing.”
@bvdutter They say that other players at the blackjack table do not affect your hand. But here’s another example that proves that’s not true! #Blackjack #BasicStrategy #Vegas #LasVegasVegas #ForYou
BroBible reached out to Dutter via Instagram and Facebook direct message.