General playing advice, Dealers/PB’s using code words, and other random questions?

[TCteachercounter]

New to here and in search of advice. I recently decided on trying to build up a small bankroll to eventually make this a side career, although I’ve been practicing since my college days 14 years ago. I’ve been trying to limit sessions to 45-60 minutes or until my max comes out, whichever comes first. I have been using a 1-4 wonging strategy, enter on +2 at $25, use optimal betting sizes (rounded to nearest $25) on CVCX and spread to $100, drop to $10 at +1 and wongout at 0. I stop observing and move on at -1. CVCX calculates $20.65/hr with my bankroll and playing conditions, with a ROR of 3.8% after a recent run of nice variance I had.

The other day I go to a casino. I’m back counting for 45 minutes. Two really nice shoes within 45 minutes but the variance just didn’t work out. I ended up several hundred dollars down. On the last shoe, PB walks over and starts talking with dealer, using some nonsensical and some gibberish words and talking in code, some words they said that stuck out to me were “up and down”. I thought it was kind of hilarious, but didn’t ask what they were doing or anything, just kept playing. Two ploppies next to me bust out and leave. I’m left playing alone at a nice count with 3/4 max. About 5 minutes later a bunch of suits start gathering in the middle. TC drops to +1, so I decide to get up and cash out.

If dealers and PB’s start talking in “code” does this mean they might be onto you? Should I have played for longer anyway and seen if the count goes up again? Is my strategy too aggressive? What should I do to preserve longevity in my local area? My plans are maybe get my bankroll worked up as fast as possible then switch to play from shuffle and Wong out -1. Would this possibly be better to avoid scrutiny even though there would be less EV/hr?

Another thing that was kind of interesting: I had one dealer at one point intentionally call out incorrect hand totals. I still didn’t make a playing error, but it definitely struck me that maybe they were on to me and trying to do psychological warfare. A,6 vs 7, hit and received A, 6, 7, dealer calls out “17!” Didn’t react to it and still hit, but couldn’t help but think “wtf is she thinking?” After that I couldn’t help but think that’s definitely why people say get your play to a perfect level. That stuff is ridiculous.

Side note: I wasn’t nervous at all or anything. Just thought if their first countermeasures are to start speaking silly words to talk about a counter at the tabled, or to call out incorrect totals in the interest of throwing you off and intentionally make an error, that that’s hilarious and if they’re willing to do that they must really desperate to prevent us from doing this lol.

[name banned]

I would hardly call a 1:4 spread aggressive, although wonging out and not playing the beginning of a shoe might be quite obvious. I can't speak for anyone else, but in my experiences if I felt I was experiencing heat, it was because I was experiencing heat. Once they have identified you as a counter, changing your counting strategy is futile. My advice, keep counting and risk losing that store for awhile or play somewhere else for awhile.