Taj London: Advantage PlayerSunday, July 19, 2009
Poker Adore
Excuse me sir, are you counting cards?
Casinos don't like it when you win. Sure they pretend they do, it's part of the act of creating an enjoyable, amiable atmosphere whilst emptying your pockets at the same time. Running a casino is a business, and they expect you, the punter, to pay.
Most of the location I play at I'm up overall. Glad to say I've attracted no heat from pit bosses as yet. However, I have been asked more than once by the dealers if I was a card counter. A card counters biggest fear is being caught and barred. In some places you will get barred from a whole chain of casinos or worse, be put on a counter list that is distributed to casinos. For me though, since I play at a series of independent casinos - this is not so much a worry.
So here I am again, hitting a small winning streak, and the amazed dealer can only think of one thing - he must be card counter. Yet the pit boss is no where around to be seen. So there is no actual heat. It's just the dealer trying to figure out how I'm winning.
Let's put it in context. Dealers are only at the tables for short stints at a time. They are not allowed to see my whole game. So it often happens that you hit a number of winning streaks with one particular dealer, whilst your losing streaks are spread amongst the other dealers. So the dealer is only seeing you win.
Another factor is that most blackjack players don't even know basic strategy. They are pure gamblers who make stupid, instinct plays not backed up by statistics. These players always lose, and they lose quickly (much more than the expected 0.5-1%). So dealers here have little experience with players who follow basic strategy, and thus last longer on the tables. If more players followed basic strategy, counters would stick out a lot less.
So when a dealer asks me if I count cards - it's not cause I'm getting heat, it's just a perplexed dealer who isn't used to seeing players win. Even if I wasn't counting, but just following basic strategy and hitting some winning streaks, they'd still think I was counting cards.
So I just lean back and deliver off one of my pre-formulated answers "Sure I'm counting. 1, 2, 3 upto 21. Anything over and I bust right?". This shuts them up pretty quickly.
Now, if a pit boss asks me if I'm counting - that's a different scenario.
Most of the location I play at I'm up overall. Glad to say I've attracted no heat from pit bosses as yet. However, I have been asked more than once by the dealers if I was a card counter. A card counters biggest fear is being caught and barred. In some places you will get barred from a whole chain of casinos or worse, be put on a counter list that is distributed to casinos. For me though, since I play at a series of independent casinos - this is not so much a worry.
So here I am again, hitting a small winning streak, and the amazed dealer can only think of one thing - he must be card counter. Yet the pit boss is no where around to be seen. So there is no actual heat. It's just the dealer trying to figure out how I'm winning.
Let's put it in context. Dealers are only at the tables for short stints at a time. They are not allowed to see my whole game. So it often happens that you hit a number of winning streaks with one particular dealer, whilst your losing streaks are spread amongst the other dealers. So the dealer is only seeing you win.
Another factor is that most blackjack players don't even know basic strategy. They are pure gamblers who make stupid, instinct plays not backed up by statistics. These players always lose, and they lose quickly (much more than the expected 0.5-1%). So dealers here have little experience with players who follow basic strategy, and thus last longer on the tables. If more players followed basic strategy, counters would stick out a lot less.
So when a dealer asks me if I count cards - it's not cause I'm getting heat, it's just a perplexed dealer who isn't used to seeing players win. Even if I wasn't counting, but just following basic strategy and hitting some winning streaks, they'd still think I was counting cards.
So I just lean back and deliver off one of my pre-formulated answers "Sure I'm counting. 1, 2, 3 upto 21. Anything over and I bust right?". This shuts them up pretty quickly.
Now, if a pit boss asks me if I'm counting - that's a different scenario.
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