Go away - speed dealer...

[jbuck]

Took the wife to a store about an hour away to give her some playing time as she's shown an interest in the game. I've been working with her on basic strategy (have a table top, shuffler, chips etc) to see if she likes the play.

Get to the store, check into the hotel and hit the floor. We started playing with a super cool dealer who is treating my wife special as she knows she's a newbie. I'm not even trying to count, just playing BS and start winning really good. The winning is coming, not even trying, just playing perfect BS and helping the wife when she asks. Next thing you know, this speed dealer shows up who is not friendly at all. The wife gets nervous and tells me that she doesn't want to play any more. I try and reassure her that we control the speed of the game, not the dealer but she's completely intimidated.

We take a break for a bit and have some dinner. When we return, the speed dealer just happens to follow us from table to table - I hate it when that happens. :-/

[Norm]

Don't go to Puerto Rico. I love speed dealers. I am far more likely to lose the count with a slow table. My mind tends to wander and I start seeing numbers everywhere. When the table moves at super-speed, you don't have time to wander off.

And that's ignoring the hands/hour you need to obtain a decent win rate.

[jbuck]

Hiya Norm - yes, they don't bother me so much either. The bummer was that the wife got spoiled by the first dealer being so super nice and then we got the "intimidator" which scared her into not wanting to play. The next morning, I was playing some DD with the first dealer while the wife played some slots. The dealer was asking where my wife was and that she thought she was really nice and had a lot of fun last night.

[BigJer]

Don't go to Puerto Rico. I love speed dealers. I am far more likely to lose the count with a slow table. My mind tends to wander and I start seeing numbers everywhere. When the table moves at super-speed, you don't have time to wander off.

That's like me. My mind starts to wander - ADHD of course - and I can lose the count. I know that when I turn up the speed on CVBJ I'm never off. Semyon Dukach also said that he might lose the count with a slow dealer. That's one reason why when posting my training tips that I mentioned to learn to play slower.

[Three]

I am with Norm. Bring on the speed dealers. It is like getting a raise and making more money per hour.

[Norm]

In addition, speed dealers put pressure on slow players. They will often speed up themselves, and/or eventually leave.

[ohbehave]

I'm sure this has happened to more than just me but the pit once sent a speed dealer to my table. I already knew she was fast I had seen her dealing at another table, then I saw the pit whisper to her and shortly after she relieved my current dealer. This woman sped up her dealing so fast it was laughable. She was borderline violent. The players were baffled, everybody just shrugged their shoulders at what was happening. I was using HiOpt 2 at the time but it didn't faze me but after that shoe I left to not draw more heat.

[mofungoo]

I love fast dealers. I was playing heads up in a 2D game several years ago and winning like crazy when the PB whispered something to the dealer. The dealer sped up to the point where he was pitching the cards off the table, so I started catching them in the air. I had a stack of chips in my left hand to bet with and was catching the cards with my right. When I won I just raked the chips in a pile in front of me. Now the PB couldn't get a count on my chips as the fast play continued. I estimate 250 hands/hour or more were being dealt and this pace continued for about 20 minutes till another player joined the game. Of course this was a situation where the state law did not allow barring of a player except for causing a disturbance, which I was careful not to do.

[Buddy_Cat]

I was playing a few months back when a very attractive, fast dealer came to the table. I was grateful on a number of levels. The guy next to me, however, became very flustered. He actually asked why she had to deal so fast. He might as well have said, "slow down--I'm losing the count..."

[VeryGood]

A can of red bull helps.

[Norm]

A can of red bull helps.

Possibly a joke. But, caffeine is rarely the answer IMHO. If you get to the point that you need an upper to continue, go to sleep instead, wake up refreshed and start again. Perhaps a 2:1 BJ promotion or an extremely sloppy dealer are exceptions. There are always exceptions.

[KJ]

For card counters the obvious benefit from a fast dealer is more hands per hour which equates to more money. But for a player concerned with heat and longevity, such as myself, there is a second major benefit of a fast dealer and that is exposure time reduction. In a shoe game, I show my spread only once. I exit at the first shuffle following placement of my first max bet. Most max bet opportunities occur in the second half of the shoe, so from the time I place my first max bet until exit is anywhere from a few minutes if only a couple rounds are left to as much as 10 minutes. 10 minutes is the high end exposure time. A fast dealer cuts that in half, even more if playing heads up.

Nothing I hate more than playing with a slow dealer when I have reached max bet time. I throw my big bet out there and it sits there for 8, 10, 12 seconds during my most vulnerable time. Those seconds seem like an eternity.

[Norm]

I throw my big bet out there and it sits there for 8, 10, 12 seconds during my most vulnerable time. Those seconds seem like an eternity.

Really great line. Like a faux pas, you just want it to end and move on, erasing the evidence.