I do enjoy a drink or two when I am playing, and after over maybe 50 hours at my favorite casino, I have never been backed off. I have walked away with a profit after 10 of 11 sessions, so I am ok with the potential impact that social drinking has on my play.
So, is actual drinking a good cover? Or have I just been lucky for the past 50 hours?
It's possible the casino personnel did not see your bet sizes or your profits as concerning, irrespective of whether or not you drank.
Please don't quote me, but doesn't respected blackjack author and Blackjack Hall of Famer Ian Anderson recommend something akin to ordering an alcoholic drink but then dumping it out in the restroom and replacing it with something non-alcoholic?
Finally, the obvious: it's possible even 2 social drinks can lead to bet sizing mistakes, basic strategy errors, 5 tequila shots, being more distracted by the attractive 25 year-old server than you may be while sober, etc.
It seems that these days surveillance can figure out if the drink is alcoholic or not based on color, floating straw etc. Depending on the casino and how sharp surveillance is you might still get made. Also I'd feel that beyond a point the bet spread probably gives away a card counter anyway , drinking or not.
First of all you have definitely been lucky winning 10 out of 11 sessions. Straight counting we’re only slightly over 50% to have a profitable session any given day. Looking back in my records after my first 100 hrs I had 12 winning sessions and 13 loosing, and I still was around 3 times my ev. Now with actually drinking, there have been several casino surveillance guys on the gambling with an edge podcast that said when they have a suspected card counter one of the things they do look for is if they’re drinking. I personally never drink while playing.
My primary source of income has been poker for a long time
When I'm not driving after I drink often at the table
A lot of times people join me and there have been many games where the entire table is pretty smashed
This makes for a fun Great and profitable game
I can hold my alcohol pretty well and with blackjack especially in Vegas I'd always have at least one beer while playing but I've gone with hard liquor as well
In Vegas particularly when I used to just go to play blackjack from poker dressed like a poker player I would get a lot of heat as a white guy in his 30s
When I started going in dressed nicely often with a bracelet I'd get from one of the club guys on the street and carrying a beer as I walked in I got way less heat
With all of that said your sample size of 11 sessions is meaningless
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