Well, if you like the game, you'd really benefit from learning the Basic Strategy--knowing it well and adhering to it can make the game better for you than most conventional blackjack games you find in Vegas. I keep mentioning this because for this game, NOT knowing and following the Basic Strategy can be deadly. You'd be surprised at how complex it is, but it's definitely worth learning. You can reduce the house edge to 0.58%.

 

I remember a similar situation to the one you describe on a regular BJ game. The dealer turned over her hole card and hit several times until she had a six-card hard 17. She then hit that with a face card for a hard 27 and paid everybody--but this one woman, who was playing with her husband, piped up, "But you had 17!" That woman had already busted, but her husband, as well as the rest of us, all had stiff hands and were still in action. One guy had a hard 13, on which he had stood, and a $200 bet. We all gave that woman the laser death glare as the floorman was called. Fortunately, the floorman said that it was the house's fault that the dealer had "busted" and the results of the hand should stand.

 

I wonder if that woman would have made it out of there alive if the ruling had been that the dealer had a hard 17 and all the bets had been scooped up.