Neutralization of the button position. In a game that I was personally involved in I learned first hand that secret bets are an invaluable tool in EBJ. Example. Hand 25. Four players. I was last to bet and BRL. Seat 4 and BR1 on the button with a 20,000 chip lead over me uses their secret bet. Seat 5 bets, as does seat 6. Sitting in Seat 3 I do a max bet. I forget the actual numbers but I do remember that the dealer shows a 9 and I have a 15. Based upon the other bets it came down to this. If I surrender I lose. If I stand and the dealer busts then I will lose because BR2 & BR3 had me covered on the high. My only hope is (1) to hit to 20 or 21 and hope that BR2 &/or BR3 lose or have the dealer bust and BR1 secret bets for 5000 or less. Based upon the prior 23 hands and play on other occasions I pegged BR1 for a min to 5,000 bet. I felt it would be highly unlikely for BR1 to risk much more than that, especially betting first on the button. I hit my 15 and received a 6 for a 21. Since BR3 has a stiff and the dealer was showing a 9 I felt pretty good. The dealer turned their card and needed to hit – the dealer bust. BR2 & BR3 had me covered on the high but I had hopes that since BR1 didn’t double I would have them until their secret bet of 25,000 was revealed and I was eliminated. Without the secret bet I would have doubled a max bet rather than simply hitting, knowing that it was my best option of advancing. However my skills in reading my opponents was not as keen as it needs to be and I had underestimated my opponent. Now I COULD claim that the increased variance introduced by the secret bet allowed a player with less skill than me to advance. However it is my contention that it was their skill in timing and their bet that beat me and not the “variance” of a secret bet. Whatever the reason I finished out of the money and more determined than ever to hone my psychological profiling skills. Damn the Variance! :flame:
