Does not playing the basic strategy in Blackjack hurt other players at the table?

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There are multiple questions on MathOverflow dealing with Blackjack basic strategy, how to derive the statistics and how to apply them. Though I can't seem to find anything specifically regarding multiple players at a table.

My question comes about from real world experience. If you have ever played at more than a few different tables in your life you will know there are players that get vehemently upset if you do not play the basic strategy (Ex. Not hitting on 16). I always chocked this up to "basic strategy is the best strategy to lose the least money over time". Though, as far as I can tell, basic strategy only applies to you.

But at a real Blackjack table there are usually multiple players each having their own mixed strategies. What can be said about the interaction of players strategies? For instance if two people are playing against a dealer, and 1 is playing basic strategy for the given parameters of the game and the other is not, is it detrimental to other basic strategy players if 1 other player is not playing basic strategy?


From what I've seen in some other answers its tough to calculate basic strategy even for a single player, so I'm don't think I can expect an exact calculated answer to this question (especially given the size of possible mixed strategies one could play in BJ). But maybe there is some intuition or some other math/stats that has been done regarding this?


EDIT: Thinking about it now, I guess the opposite question is applicable too can a set of players form some shared strategy which increases their odds of winning?

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In a game where the number of decks is relatively small, the players could use a strategy where all-but-one of the group draw as many cards as possible (while making bets as small as allowed). Then the last player (who bets big) has maximal information about the cards remaining in the pack, and can make better decisions based on this.

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The connection you cite in your first comment is a fallacy in probability. It is true that if a player hits a hand he "shouldn't" or doesn't hit a hand he "should" the dealer gets a different card and the result for the other players may be different. On average, the losses will match the wins as the dealer is just drawing a different card from the same deck, but people get very frustrated if the change in the dealer card is to their disadvantage.

For the question in your edit, the best the players can do is show each other their cards, meaning that each one gets a better count. They each then can make their decisions with better information.