Do you practice not following each card with your eyes

[ohbehave]

If there are other players at the table I usually wait until all the cards are dealt then count the table, or each hand individually as its played, but I admit to sometimes lapsing into following each card out of the shoe and my eyes dart back and forth, possibly being a give away to counting.

The other day I notice the floor hawking the table and I don't know if he was hawking me or not, I never made eye contact, so I used the occasion to just watch my cards and the dealers cards and take the count by catching the cards out of the corner of my eye.

[ZeeBabar]

First, if they see you doing something like that, they know you are not a serious AP player, just someone who discovered card counting will help him become rich (without knowing what ROR, BR requirements, spread requirements and indices) and will soon lose all the money. Its the ones who are winning, who never appear to be counting, who seem to make the right decisions without card counting that has them worried. They know that with the abundance of books, software and such people will try. If you are at the new stage, stop thinking about heat (when new I was paranoid, comes from guilt that I am doing something I should not) unless you are playing for bigger money or varying your bet by a significant amount.

Its like watching someone shoot a basketball from 30 feet out and make baskets and assuming they can ball. No coach would be impressed. There is much more to basketball than getting a ball into the net without anyone guarding you.

[kronixxx]

Im a red chip hi-lo user. I always have to deal with a number of other people at my stores. I chat to folks and the dealer/ watch the sports on tv as the first card to all is delt. As the dealer make their 2nd pass i just glance down and count everything. Then count one at a time whilst people are hitting etc.

[Aslan]

I deliberately look all over the place during the deal, if I'm not talking with someone-- at the dealer, or at the TV set hanging from the ceiling, or at the shapely girl walking by, and at the table of course, because I use a very simple count, and since many cards cancel out at a glance. But I do follow the play by play (hits), and I do so just as much after the cut card appears and my hand is settled when the count is no longer important to me.

[NotEnoughHeat]

I think this is a bit of an underrated thread, so I hope no one minds me trying to revive it.

I have personally put a bit of thought into this subject lately. The word of the day (for my posts today) is paranoia. I am worried than my eye movements might give me away. My standard procedure is tracking the cards as they come out and then individual plays as they happen (I will wait for the whole hand to resolve before I include the number).

Does anyone see anything wrong in this or have suggestions?

[Three]

Lots of ploppies track all the cards with their eyes but it is important to seem to only do that from time to time. Appear to be more interested in other things (a hot babe across the put, a game on the TV, your chips it really doesn't matter what) and watch cards with your peripheral vision Stare at a fixed point that allows you to view the table and read the cards in your peripheral vision. Many will look directly at what they are processing but it is not necessary. You can count an entire table at a glance and store an image to be processed while you look elsewhere. JUst make sure you don't lose some accuracy with whatever you do. That is mistakes in common vernacular. Kj warns about mistakes. Anything designed to make you better or less detectable can cause mistakes. More complex counts, counting multiple tables at once, cover play,shuffle tracking and trying not to look like you are staring at the cards all have benefits but also may have costs from adding to mistakes. It is your job to make sure whatever you do the benefits outweighs the mistakes by a significant margin. Ideally you make no mistakes but we are all human.

I always find it funny when someone argues against one technique because it may cause errors and the recommend another technique when their description of the use of such technique has errors built into it but since they use that technique the errors don't matter. Of course they are talking about a gain versus cost analysis but they never say that. Just try to make sure whatever you do doesn't cause added errors.

[Bigdaddy]

It's like golf - you need to keep your head still! You don't need to worry too much about the dealer or floor person watching your eyes. You need to be careful about the overhead view from surveillance. As noted by the great Cellini (in the Card Counter's Guide to Casino Surveillance), you don't want your head moving around like you're watching a tennis match.

[Three]

Don't assume the only camera angle they have is from above. You know they have many possible camera angles from above but if they thought it useful to have others for any reason you can bet they have them.

[ohbehave]

At a wedding over the weekend I noticed a friends girlfriend (whom I had not met previously) has shifty eyes. It was apparent from across the room, and creepy. If its not a giveaway its at the least not normal, and looks suspicious. Some slight head movement without the eyes darting around seems less suspicious.

[Bobcat]

If you are sitting on the left side of the table in a face-up game, you can look toward the left as the initial cards are being dealt and just count your initial two cards and the initial cards to your left. Then look to the dealer and count the dealer's upcard. Then count the hands to your right as they are being played out. It's not unusual to focus on hands as they are being played out, and you have what you need when it's your turn to play.

[ZeeBabar]

At a wedding over the weekend I noticed a friends girlfriend (whom I had not met previously) has shifty eyes. It was apparent from across the room, and creepy. If its not a giveaway its at the least not normal, and looks suspicious. Some slight head movement without the eyes darting around seems less suspicious.

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girls eyes get shifty when they are playing with their boyfriends toy under the table, lol.