Dan: NONE of Rob's special plays are mathematically "sound" and he admits that. Not mathematically "sound" means that the conventional play has a larger "expected return." You can see that and he admits that. But his special plays are all designed to increase the chances of a big win that according to his strategy will allow you to reach a win goal and leave. You picked example #13 which is my favorite. I think in the commentary that I wrote along with this one I said it was the whackiest of special plays. And I think Rob said only twice in his life did he ever face a situation like this.

My son a couple of years back faced a similar problem. Playing DDB he broke up a pair of aces with three to the royal and drew the royal. It was a bad play, but he got the royal. You can't tell him it was a bad play as they counted out the royal money into his hand.