Craig: Tells

[Craig]

Forte's book, Read the Dealer, is excellent, but may not be very usefull. Are there any casinos that still check under tens? Is that information published anywhere?

[illsur5]

> Forte's book, Read the Dealer, is excellent,
> but may not be very usefull. Are there any
> casinos that still check under tens? Is that
> information published anywhere?

This book was a great one before the casinos caught on to the ideas he presented. Let me reverse, I've never read the book so I should not really have said the former, but I do know a thing or two about tells and the casinos have done everything they can to prevent them.

illsur5

[bjdavid]

> Forte's book, Read the Dealer, is excellent,
> but may not be very usefull. Are there any
> casinos that still check under tens? Is that
> information published anywhere?

I have Forte's book, but I did not need it for this situation. Several years ago I was playing at an Indian casino that had just opened. Lots of green dealers and lots of mistakes for and against the player. You know which ones I "noticed".

Anyway, this casino checked under 10's and still does. I had my max bet out and pulled a 14 to the dealer's ace. The true count was about double the insurance index. Before I can do anything, the dealer checks under the ace and says "nobody home". I said "really?". He said "yeah, and the lights aren't even on." I had reason to trust him so I declined insurance and stood on the 14. The dealer had a 4 or 5 in the hole and busted.

I waited a few hands and then gave him, what was for me, a nice tip. I hoped he would check under the ace again, but after that he did it correctly, waiting until after offering insurance. Damn! bjdavid

[Igor]

[rwp]

> Anyway, this casino checked under 10's and
> still does. I had my max bet out and pulled
> a 14 to the dealer's ace. The true count was
> about double the insurance index. Before I
> can do anything, the dealer checks under the
> ace and says "nobody home". I said
> "really?". He said "yeah, and
> the lights aren't even on." I had
> reason to trust him so I declined insurance
> and stood on the 14. The dealer had a 4 or 5
> in the hole and busted.

Years ago, when playing fulltime in Las Vegas, we frequently came across dealers whose actions were very similar to the dealer that you mention. There was little verbal exchange, only eye contact, a hesitation when coming to your position, or maybe playing through you and on to the next position. Obviously, you had to feel comfortable with the dealer and have some previous (possibly very recent) experience with him/her. After awhile, we developed a fairly accurate stereotype of this type of dealer.

I know this smacks of collusion but, damn, it worked for us. By the way, this was back in the 70s and I wouldn't expect to find much of this today.

rwp