If they cannot beat you will they attempt to cheat you?

**Blitzkrieg** · 03-10-2014, 01:39 PM

When I wrapped up my last BJ game days ago a weird thing had happened before I quit. I was finally able to get the table to myself for a short period of time and the house brought out some new cards to their DD game. They shuffled all 4 decks and went through the procedure of counting all the cards to ensure that they were all there, probably their standard procedure when bringing in new decks.

Anyways after the shuffles were done I noticed that the PB came over and started looking through the burn cards as the game was now in motion after about 2 full rounds, with just me and the dealer. I seen him looking through the burn cards and he had about 5 or 6 cards in his hand one of which was the Ace of spades that I seen for sure. I cannot recall for sure if he put the cards back into the deck but I looked at him, he looked at me and I continued on with the game until the cut card came out. I was thinking the whole time, "did this PB just thin one of the decks on me?" Or was he looking to see if I was marking the cards? Which I was not. It wasn't long after that where I threw in the towel on that session because I wasn't sure if that fat ******* had just shorted one of the decks.

If the house does short a deck on a player, which cards are they most likely to take out to give the house a greater edge?

**jbuck** · 03-10-2014, 01:54 PM

That sucks that you'd suspect that, it is not a reputable store? If a PB did short it, I would imagine that it would be high value cards as you'd be less likely to hit BJ and low value cards favor the house.

**Joker21** · 03-10-2014, 02:13 PM

Originally Posted by Blitzkrieg

If the house does short a deck on a player, which cards are they most likely to take out to give the house a greater edge?

Obviously aces are the most valuable, followed by faces.

If they were going to cheat you they wouldn't make it that obvious. My guess is that he was either checking to see if a card was marked or counting down the deck. Most likely the first one if he was looking at a single card in particular.

**Norm** · 03-10-2014, 02:44 PM

He's just doing his job.

RS · 03-11-2014, 05:12 AM

Half the **** they do makes no sense.

**Three** · 03-11-2014, 06:42 AM

It sounds like he was counting down the cards if you had changed your bet. If he pulled out a particular card to examine he may have thought it was defective or marked. It was a new deck and maybe he saw something odd about a card. If he was focusing on the backs this is probably the case. A third possibility is he suspected you were an AP and wanted to see how you reacted. You acted like a typical AP and left shortly thereafter. If this was the case he may have a strongly suspect you now because you left. He was doing his job and everything he does is for a reason. The clues to what he was doing is was his focus on the backs of the cards, the playing side of the cards or on you. Properly reading this should tell you why he was doing what he was doing. If his focus was on you it is time to stay a while and do the opposite of what he expects a counter to do.

Recognizing heat is all about understanding the responsibilities of everyone in the pit.

**Blitzkrieg** · 03-11-2014, 11:05 AM

Originally Posted by jbuck

That sucks that you'd suspect that, it is not a reputable store? If a PB did short it, I would imagine that it would be high value cards as you'd be less likely to hit BJ and low value cards favor the house.

If anyone other than the dealer starts digging through the deck mid-game that is certainly going to raise a red flag in my book. It is a reputable casino.

**Blitzkrieg** · 03-11-2014, 11:23 AM

Originally Posted by Tthree

It sounds like he was counting down the cards if you had changed your bet. If he pulled out a particular card to examine he may have thought it was defective or marked. It was a new deck and maybe he saw something odd about a card. If he was focusing on the backs this is probably the case. A third possibility is he suspected you were an AP and wanted to see how you reacted. You acted like a typical AP and left shortly thereafter. If this was the case he may have a strongly suspect you now because you left. He was doing his job and everything he does is for a reason. The clues to what he was doing is was his focus on the backs of the cards, the playing side of the cards or on you. Properly reading this should tell you why he was doing what he was doing. If his focus was on you it is time to stay a while and do the opposite of what he expects a counter to do.

Recognizing heat is all about understanding the responsibilities of everyone in the pit.

The reason he was looking/digging through the deck could not have been because there was a defective card or that he saw something odd about a card. If that was the case the dealer would have found a flaw when they brought the new decks into the game which was about 10 or so minutes before the PB did his thing. Now that I think about it, a few minutes after the PB ran his fingers through the cards looking for whatever I noticed that there was a junior pit boss who doubles as a dealer at times, must have been told to overshadow the dealer and put her focus on the game I was on. She just stood about 4 feet away from the table and tried to make it seem as if she wasn't to interested in the game, but she was there just standing and watching. After seeing all of that and after 2 complete decks were spent I realized it was time to make an exit.

**Three** · 03-11-2014, 03:51 PM

Originally Posted by Blitzkrieg

The reason he was looking/digging through the deck could not have been because there was a defective card or that he saw something odd about a card.

You are the only one that saw enough to make a heat determination so you are probably right. Most places won't cheat you and if a dealer pulls cards out of the shoe wrong or rough a bent or marred card can result at any time. When the dealer looks through the cards they look at both back edges and the faces. Believe it or not sometimes cards have one rank on one end and another on the other end. Very rare but it happens. My point is when you can see an entire card it is different than fanning them. Again you are the only one that was there and are the one that can assess this. If I suspected I might be being cheated I wouldn't stay either. With the possibility of cheating and the chance of having witnessed heat i would leave after enough time to not look like the heat was making you leave.

**jbuck** · 03-11-2014, 06:07 PM

Originally Posted by Blitzkrieg

She just stood about 4 feet away from the table and tried to make it seem as if she wasn't to interested in the game, but she was there just standing and watching.

I've had this happen recently, they pretend like they're not watching but when you look quickly, they divert their eyes. I try not to be paranoid but the PB's actions mean something at the end of the day - too bad they just want ploppies to play and castigate the skilled players. :-/