dealer error??

kewljason

Well-Known Member
#1
First of all let me state that I graciously accept dealer errors without it weighing on my conscience. The casino will capitalize on errors in their favor if you are not paying attention. That being said, a situation arose last night that I wasn't prepared for. I was playing at an AC boardwalk house. The count was slightly positive and I was betting 2 units ($50) when there was a dealer change. There were 4 people at the table. First hand, one player breaks, leaving three active hands. Dealer has 19. One player has 20 while the other two, myself included have 18. Dealer pays all three hands!

Next hand similar situation, dealer paying all remaining hands whether they are winner or losers. It didn't seem like this was intentional. Seemed more like he was in an auto pilot type funk. My first thought was to push out a much larger bet, but I was afraid "checks play" call would either wake the dealer up or alert someone in the pit to the situation. The thought that this could look like collusion, when someone discovers this this situation, which surely would happen before long, also crossed my mind. I bumped my bet slightly to $75, remaining under the "check play" threshold. Two more hands played out the same way before a pit guy noticed and put an end to it. Two hands later they releived the dealer. Out of the four hands I was paid on three that were pushes or losers, One was actually a winner.

I try to be prepared for all events prior to them happening, so I know in advance what my response will be, but I must say, this one threw me a bit. Wondering how some of you guys would have handled this situation and if you have ever seen similar. thanx
 
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#2
Sounds like he might have been a little high. Take it when you can get it. And whatever you do, don't tip, especially in a store where the dealer keeps tips.

Never had anything that extreme, but I did have a color blind dealer pay me 3 greens for 3 reds. I stayed at his table for a long time.
 

kewljason

Well-Known Member
#3
Automatic Monkey said:
Sounds like he might have been a little high. Take it when you can get it. And whatever you do, don't tip, especially in a store where the dealer keeps tips.

Never had anything that extreme, but I did have a color blind dealer pay me 3 greens for 3 reds. I stayed at his table for a long time.
Would you have dramatically increased your bet in this situation, Monkey?
 
#4
kewljason said:
Would you have dramatically increased your bet in this situation, Monkey?
Don't know. Probably not. I think gradually ramping it up like you did was the right move.

Obviously, you don't want to get a black or a checks call to the pit. Also, you have to play a no-bust strategy to take advantage of this, so if he wakes up or chooses not to mispay you or a pit boss walks over, you will be playing at a big disadvantage.
 

moo321

Well-Known Member
#5
Automatic Monkey said:
Never had anything that extreme, but I did have a color blind dealer pay me 3 greens for 3 reds. I stayed at his table for a long time.
Seems like you'd want to make some bets with a green on top and reds on the bottom. Green and red are usually the hardest to tell apart.
 

FLASH1296

Well-Known Member
#6
My best dealer error

My best dealer error happened in Mississippi.
I had bet $75.
I split.
The dealer busted.
I won both bets.
The stack that I put up to double the original bet did not
have 3 greens. It had 2 greens and a purple on the bottom.
When the dealer "sized in" with the 6 greens, I pointed to the purple.
The dealer should have joked about "DOUBLING for MORE" being not permitted.
Confused and seemingly embarrassed, she just paid me !

So I won $625 on an original $75 bet.

The floorperson / pit / E I T S would certainly have not paid but she didn't want to draw attention to her failure to see the purple.
IF anyone, the dealer included, would have questioned it I would have readily admitted that it was simply my mistake as I couldn't
put more than the original amount out anyway. Remember, I never SAID a word when I simply "pointed" it out to the dealer.
 

kewljason

Well-Known Member
#7
Sounds like you realized the purple was there at some point during the hand. So what would you have done if you lost the doubledown? And how would the casino have handled it, if you had pointed it out on a loss?
 

moo321

Well-Known Member
#9
FLASH1296 said:
My best dealer error happened in Mississippi.
I had bet $75.
I split.
The dealer busted.
I won both bets.
The stack that I put up to double the original bet did not
have 3 greens. It had 2 greens and a purple on the bottom.
When the dealer "sized in" with the 6 greens, I pointed to the purple.
The dealer should have joked about "DOUBLING for MORE" being not permitted.
Confused and seemingly embarrassed, she just paid me !

So I won $625 on an original $75 bet.

The floorperson / pit / E I T S would certainly have not paid but she didn't want to draw attention to her failure to see the purple.
IF anyone, the dealer included, would have questioned it I would have readily admitted that it was simply my mistake as I couldn't
put more than the original amount out anyway. Remember, I never SAID a word when I simply "pointed" it out to the dealer.
I'd guess she got a write-up for this. Maybe fired.

It's funny, though, that dealers often won't call out an error in order to avoid being noticed. I had a dealer notice I was reading her hole card. She just closed up the leak and didn't say a word.
 

tripsix

Well-Known Member
#10
What should one do with dealer errors?

I usually ignore it (when it's in my favor.)
Is a dealer going to get in more trouble, possibly fired, if you point out all their errors. Or is it more likely it will be missed by the eye in the sky and the dealer will keep their job longer?
waddya think?
 

moo321

Well-Known Member
#11
tripsix said:
I usually ignore it (when it's in my favor.)
Is a dealer going to get in more trouble, possibly fired, if you point out all their errors. Or is it more likely it will be missed by the eye in the sky and the dealer will keep their job longer?
waddya think?
Hard to say. However, dealer error can be a major +EV move for us, so we don't ignore it.
 

tfg

Well-Known Member
#12
tripsix said:
I usually ignore it (when it's in my favor.)
Is a dealer going to get in more trouble, possibly fired, if you point out all their errors. Or is it more likely it will be missed by the eye in the sky and the dealer will keep their job longer?
waddya think?
Yeah, you never point out a dealer error when it's in your favor. The casino's know that the dealer is going to make some errors and normally it's not a big deal I would assume. The eyes in the sky probably watch this thing and if it looks like it's becoming a trend, that's when they'll do something with the dealer. They don't expect patrons to say something when the dealer pays on a push or something like that.
 

Thunder

Well-Known Member
#14
One thing I've noticed

The worst BJ games tend to have the worst dealers. I wonder if it would be better to play a H17 8 deck game knowing this in the off chance that you can take advantage of dealer errors.
 

moo321

Well-Known Member
#15
Thunder said:
The worst BJ games tend to have the worst dealers. I wonder if it would be better to play a H17 8 deck game knowing this in the off chance that you can take advantage of dealer errors.
It usually is worth it. If you're grinding two units an hour out of a good game, or you're grinding 1 out of a bad game with an error in your favor every few hours, you'll get ahead on the bade game with the errors. Remember, errors often occur on multi-unit hands.
 
#16
Dealer Errors

Sometimes when I'm playing and I see that the dealer has overpaid me by a nickel or quarter accidentally I will address it to the dealer who will then thank me for being so honest. That is good to do occasionally for small amounts, and it also makes the sheep dealer believe you're an honest player and that you will point out all overpaid mistakes. This has happened many times to me and what in fact happens is that the dealer starts overpaying me intentionally! :p
 

Blue Efficacy

Well-Known Member
#17
clouds said:
Sometimes when I'm playing and I see that the dealer has overpaid me by a nickel or quarter accidentally I will address it to the dealer who will then thank me for being so honest. That is good to do occasionally for small amounts, and it also makes the sheep dealer believe you're an honest player and that you will point out all overpaid mistakes. This has happened many times to me and what in fact happens is that the dealer starts overpaying me intentionally! :p
If you point out the dealer error, I would figure what would happen more often is they become more careful having realized they are making mistakes.

A nickel? Yeah, I might point it out if I think it will make a PC less suspicious of me. But a quarter, I will always keep.
 

kewljason

Well-Known Member
#19
clouds said:
Sometimes when I'm playing and I see that the dealer has overpaid me by a nickel or quarter accidentally I will address it to the dealer who will then thank me for being so honest. That is good to do occasionally for small amounts, and it also makes the sheep dealer believe you're an honest player and that you will point out all overpaid mistakes. This has happened many times to me and what in fact happens is that the dealer starts overpaying me intentionally! :p
Many places, If the dealer makes a mistake, they cannot just correct it by themselves. They are required to call the pit poss over and explain, which then gets them in trouble. So they may "thank you", but your being a nice and honest guy over $5, could land them in trouble.

Why would the dealer start overpaying you intentionally?? They don't like their job and are anxious to hit the unemployment line? If this were to go on any length of time it would look like colusion between you and the dealer.

Just some things to think about.
 

Thunder

Well-Known Member
#20
Interesting to think about

If you play perfect BS and the dealer makes just one mistake in 250 hands, you're playing about even with the house
 
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