Clean-shaven, I have an image as a friendly "dumb" player throwing his money away. With a beard, I find I am suspected before I sit down solely on appearance, even though I dress well and try to look rich.
I get the least heat playing the $100-minimum tables where, remarkably, there are some of the worst players. Playing a black check ($100) at a low-limit table brings immediate attention. The dealer calls out "black in action" and the floorman rushes over to stare at me. At a high-limit table, purple-check ($500) action does not raise an eyebrow; the attitude toward big action there is blase. Winning $1000 at a low-limit table will create an anxious atmosphere, but winning $3000 at a high-limit table passes unnoticed.
Peter Giles says:
I have been playing $25 to $100.I am afraid if I up my bets I will have to play more conservatively. This is common, and I usually opt for a smaller bet and a greater advantage.
Marvin French says:
I wear a "player number" button from one casino when I visit another. They think I am a junket customer.
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A reader asks:
Do you usually go to the cashier to cash in chips after winning a substantial sum or do you go back later?
I always go to the cashier and cash in my chips right after I finish playing. My logic is that most gamblers who have lucky wins would rather brag than sneak out as if ashamed. I want to appear to be a lucky gambler.
Another reader says:
I have been trying hard to camouflage my counting and
betting variations at the casinos, but I have by no means perfected it. I think several things give me away or attract attention. I am young, white, and bearded; my eyes follow the turned over cards; I am quiet; I concentrate intensely. My question does not center around the corrections to these problems as much as what many dealers do when they suspect me of
counting.
The dealers in various casinos repeatedly have me cut the cards, whether I am winning or losing, no matter how many others are at the table. Is this some kind of "inside" signal to the floorman or the "eye in the sky" that I am suspected of counting and should be watched more closely?
Having you cut the cards is not a signal to have you watched.
This is what Arnold Snyder says in an article that originally appeared in
Card Player.
Card counters live in fear of discovery. That is what makes it fun. The cops-and-robbers aspect of professional blackjack lends an air of play-acting, with a secret hint of danger, to the mundane recreation of
gambling. You just cannot get the James Bond rush at a crap table or a bank of slot machines. Adults in our society, other than real cops and robbers, do not often get a chance to pretend they are not what they appear to be.
Unfortunately, most camouflage comes with a price tag. When you make "dumb" plays for the purpose of confusing the bloodhounds on your trail, it costs you. Holding down your betting spread, insuring your naturals, not taking advantage of
surrender or soft doubling opportunities, and so on, are all excellent methods of hiding your counting abilities because, in fact, you are relinquishing varying amounts of your potential gain from counting. If you make too many of these types of camouflage plays, you no longer will have an advantage over the house. What is the value of eliminating the possibility of discovery if there is nothing worth discovering? If you do not utilize the information you gather, then gathering the information in the first place was a waste of time.
•Some camouflage, however, is cost-free; and ironically, this cost-free camouflage is often the easiest type of camouflage to pull off. Misplays, as a form of disguise, require a knowledge of, and attention to, how much these plays cost, so that you do not kill your edge. Cost-free camouflage, on the other hand, is not based on misplaying hands, so it is a no-brainer exercise.
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