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Thread: How to deal with dealers that count cards in Single deck Blackjack?

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    How to deal with dealers that count cards in Single deck Blackjack?

    I've been playing single deck blackjack game (don't want to mention the location). The dealer is giving me signal that he is counting cards. For example, every time the count goes up he shuffles. Another clue that gave away that he is a counter is he was suspicious when players betting proportional to the count. Before he shuffles he usually look at the next card to see if it is a big or small card.

    How do I deal with dealers like that?
    Last edited by seriousplayer; 01-07-2014 at 08:39 PM.

  2. #2
    Senior Member bigplayer's Avatar
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    Not good, many of these dealers could also be a dual rate pit boss. There is an art as to how to play a good single deck game and not get caught. You don't need a big spread to beat the heck out of a good game. A 3-1 spread will crush a deeply dealt single deck game. Using a variable betting strategy randomly rotating with your big bet winning hands 1-3, 3-5-1, 2-4-1, 4-6-2, 5-1-4-3, etc will have even a counting dealer confused in the short run. Generally though such dealers are best to be avoided or you should keep your spread to your minimum acceptable spread to avoid preferential shuffling or getting ratted out. Take your breaks when this dealer comes on.

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    Quote Originally Posted by bigplayer View Post
    Not good, many of these dealers could also be a dual rate pit boss. There is an art as to how to play a good single deck game and not get caught. You don't need a big spread to beat the heck out of a good game. A 3-1 spread will crush a deeply dealt single deck game. Using a variable betting strategy randomly rotating with your big bet winning hands 1-3, 3-5-1, 2-4-1, 4-6-2, 5-1-4-3, etc will have even a counting dealer confused in the short run. Generally though such dealers are best to be avoided or you should keep your spread to your minimum acceptable spread to avoid preferential shuffling or getting ratted out. Take your breaks when this dealer comes on.

    Always a pleasure to read you BP...
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    Quote Originally Posted by bigplayer View Post
    A 3-1 spread will crush a deeply dealt single deck game. Using a variable betting strategy randomly rotating with your big bet winning hands 1-3, 3-5-1, 2-4-1, 4-6-2, 5-1-4-3, etc will have even a counting dealer confused in the short run.
    Please be more specific on what you mean by 3-5-1. Do you mean betting 3 when count goes down?

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    When this happens to me I ask "what are you doing?" with a confused look on my face, play one or two more decks while mentioning I'm late for something, then get up.

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    You walk away from them thats what you do.

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    Quote Originally Posted by bigplayer View Post
    Not good, many of these dealers could also be a dual rate pit boss. There is an art as to how to play a good single deck game and not get caught. You don't need a big spread to beat the heck out of a good game. A 3-1 spread will crush a deeply dealt single deck game. Using a variable betting strategy randomly rotating with your big bet winning hands 1-3, 3-5-1, 2-4-1, 4-6-2, 5-1-4-3, etc will have even a counting dealer confused in the short run. Generally though such dealers are best to be avoided or you should keep your spread to your minimum acceptable spread to avoid preferential shuffling or getting ratted out. Take your breaks when this dealer comes on.
    Great post, as usual from bigplayer, although I am a little ashamed to admit that I am not thrilled to see it, for selfish reasons. Also highly effective with DD, although you need a little higher ratio between average small and average big wagers. It should be noted that this technique can play havoc with short term results, but then doesn't everything.

  8. #8
    Senior Member bigplayer's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by seriousplayer View Post
    Please be more specific on what you mean by 3-5-1. Do you mean betting 3 when count goes down?
    This means one time spread $100 to $300, next time if you win a $300 max bet you might bet $200 off the top and spread up to $400 and down to $100, if you spread down to $100 you might go back to a $100 to $300 spread....next time you win $300 you might bet $400 off the top and spread up to $500 or down to $100. If you win the $500 bet you might bet $300 next time and parlay that up to $600 or down to $200. Mixing up your off the top bet in a reasonable manner but spreading as far up as you need to to create a good spread or down as far as you need to. Single deck (particularly h17 double any two where you can make your last bet in the second half of the deck) does not have to be played in a mechanical manner like a shoe game. You should begin by underbetting your normal risk level somewhat and then float your unit size and off the top wager up or down based on your wins and losses or as needed to keep your bets looking fairly random. If you do it properly the first clue the casino has that you are counting will be that you have a pretty big cumulative win, the next clue is that you always seem to guess correctly on insurance. You won't be invisible, but if you play many short sessions and limit your longer ones to times where there is lots of other action in the casino you can last a very very long time at a single deck game and still have a very strong advantage. This is much harder (or impossible)to pull off with h17 d10 single deck games (unless pen is very deep) and with single deck games that have a cut card or the full tables are five spotters. A KJ says this is much harder to pull off for the DD games typical of today....but would have worked well at one of the old 75% dealt s17 ds strip double deck games.
    Last edited by bigplayer; 01-08-2014 at 01:15 AM.

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    If he's looking at the card before deciding to deal my advice would be to try and get that recorded somehow, then sue. You have about a -5% edge in this game and what he is doing is out and out cheating and probably a felony. At least, it would be if you did it, since he works for the casino nothing will be done.

  10. #10
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    Talk to the dealer constantly and ask questions. If they aren't really good at counting that will throw them off. If that doesn't affect them then leave that table and avoid that dealer. If you can't pull that off, just leave.

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