I have been counting in local casinos for a little while now. While heat is nonexistant here (mediocre rules, virtually no black chip play), I have had a very hard time convincing myself to hit my 12 against dealer 5 or 6 when appropriate. I don't feel bad about varying my play on 16v10, 11vA, etc, but hitting a stiff against a 5 or 6 really stands out in my mind.

Normal advice for green-chippers of course would be to move on after 45-60 minutes max in a casino -- but with only 3 playable games in the area, I'll be returning to the same places on a regular basis. In fact, at two of the three playable games I had the same dealer on each of my first two trips. Heat is nonexistant -- but I'd like to make sure it stays that way. One dealer who had seen me play for about 2 hours made a comment when I made use of another playing index for the first time (on a hand that many ploppies misplay anyway).

So, before I go out and incur the wrath of the table for taking the dealer's bust card, I'd like to hear some advice from people with more experience than me. These plays are in the I18, but amongst the very weakest of those 18 plays. Should I just forget those indices and take a tiny hit on my EV? Or am I overreacting? (And also hitting 13v2 and 13v3 -- two more non-BS indices that call for hitting a stiff against a dealer bust card?)