Meyer
Member
Deviations from Basic are what the pit now looks for now more than anything else in confirming counters at the table. We have it from an inside source that dealers and critters are instructed not only in Basic, but also the Illustrious 18, and told to call out certain deviations. But they don't call them all out. Too many people vary their play with certain hands like 12 vs 3, 13 vs 2, even 16 vs 10, so those deviations are not usually called out. Splitting T's will always get called out. (Hint: if you split T's and it's not called out, immediately leave after the play because you will be backed off or barred very soon.) If they've noticed a player who appears to know basic strategy (again, these players are VERY easy to spot in a short amount of time), and that player is making deviations consistent with the Ill. 18, but then there's another deviation with which they dealer isn't familiar, they call that out almost always. Like doubling S20 vs 5 or 6. "Doubling soft twenty!!" (a play which also seems to drive the other players at the table nuts), or "Doubling seven!!" (a play like this will cause the dealer to lean back towards the pit critters when he yells it, because he want's to be dang sure the pit knows he's got a live one at the table).
Some people think that making a lot of deviations in basic strategy is "cover", that since their plays are all over the place they must look like an idiot. Far from it. Deviations in basic strategy are a magnet. Proper cover should be making as few deviations from basic as possible.
Sometimes the sky will see deviations and want to watch more closely. They will switch out the dealer with another whom they've told NOT to call out any plays so as not to scare off the counter. And they watch. You should be very wary when deviations are not being called out by one dealer that were being called out from a different dealer.
Here's a true story: My team was on a cruise which had some juicy games. It was a 3-day cruise, so we decided to just hit 'em hard for those 3 days. The first day, I was solo-playing a deeply dealt double-deck game dealt face up (the other team members were hitting some shuffles). They used the same rules at the double-deck game as they did at the shoe games on the ship, so it was like a candy store. DAS, S17, Resplit Aces, LS, dealt down to less than 1/2 deck -- yummy, yummy, yummy. So the first day, the dealers made some of the usual calls ("black action", "Insuring a Seven", etc). I was eating that game up and couldn't stop and didn't care what was being called out. Second day, after about 3 hours I noticed that the dealers weren't calling anything out except cashing in and coloring up. "Oh well, different shift, must've been trained differently" I thought. It should've raised some warning bells, but I didn't know at the time.
After I had been playing about 5 hours that second day, I suddenly noticed 4 men in suits directly behind me. One was shorter than the others and right behind my ear he said "Please step away from the table". Instead of getting up, I just turned around and said "Can I help you?" He said, "I must ask you to leave the table." I said "Why? Is something wrong?" He smiled, looking almost embarrassed, and said "No, not at all. Your game is just too strong for us. We're going to have to ask you not to play blackjack here anymore. You can play any other game in the casino area, just not blackjack. Might I suggest craps?" It wasn't the first time I'd been backed off, or barred for that matter. But there was something different about the way this guy mentioned craps, almost as if he wanted me to play craps specifically.
Otherwise, it was typical "backing off" stuff. I walked around casually for a bit, signaling the other players that I was busted. Well, the ship wasn't docking until the next morning, so I took a couple of hundred of my own money (not the team's) and camped out at a craps game, covertly watching the other players to make sure they weren't busted either. They staggered their leaving about 30 minutes apart so as to be not too noticeable, but none of them were approached by suits before they left. Since I was the only one playing at a pitch game, maybe I was the only one caught.
After about 30 minutes (for some reason I kept winning at craps -- I was up about $300 -- karma I guess) the short suited guy came up to me. "Having fun?" he said. I said, "You have this way of sneaking up on people, it's not a very sociable habit. Are you going to back me off craps too?" I realized now why he wanted me to play craps. "No, you can play craps all you want. And please do." I laughed and rolled the dice. After a fairly awkward minute of silence he said, "I'm curious. We analyzed your tape, but it didn't seem to correlate to the Hi-Lo. What system were you using." So that was it. He wanted information.
I thought for a minute. It was probably a rare thing for him to have an opportunity to talk to a real counter, and I found the opportunity to talk to him just as intriguing. I also realized that I couldn't come back anyway (without a very good disguise, at least), so I might as well try to get some info in exchange. The way this was set up, I'm sure that's what he had planned. It seemed like a golden opportunity. I said, "Tell you what. I'll tell you the counting system I was using if you tell me how you caught me." He smiled a thousand-watt smile and said "Deal!" as he held out his hand to shake mine. Obviously he was delighted, and I must admit I was a little excited too. "I was using the RPC, with about 50 index numbers. No fancy stuff, you just had a nice double-deck game". He said "Ahhhh, Revere Point Count." That surprised me a little. I didn't know they were trained different counting systems. I thought all these guys knew was the Hi-Lo. I said "Actually what I do is half the tags. Kind of an RPC-Halves. You know the Halves count?" He shook his head, "I don't know the count, but I know of it." I said, "Basically, I count two's and seven's as a half-point each. The other tag values are +1 and -1 instead of +2 and -2. This way, the running count is smaller, and the index numbers are smaller too."
Then I said "Ok, your turn. What gave me away." He said, "You doubled 9 vs 8." I said "Really, I know there's more to it than that." He said, "Yes, actualy, it was a two-step process. The last shift you played on saw you won big, more than a usual swing for a double-deck game, so the manager on duty was suspicious. He called me in this morning to review the tapes. I noticed your betting patterns looked like a progression scheme, but they tended to be higher when the count was high, and low when the count was low. But it wasn't a straight correlation so we couldn't be sure. Then I started watching your plays." I asked "Exactly when did you know for sure." He said "Like I said, when you doubled 9 vs 8. That's not part of the Illustrious 18 so I had to look up the index and recount the shoe up to that point to be sure. That was a strong play." "Evidently too strong" I said. "One more question" I said. "I noticed that this morning the dealers weren't calling out any plays that they normally do." "Yeah, I told them not to" he said. "Didn't want to scare you off before we had you." "Sneaky" I said, and he grinned again. I picked up my chips to leave, and he held out his hand again. "Thanks, and good luck to you. Just not on our boat."
In retrospect, I believe I got a lot more information from him than he got from me. At most, he learned that people actually do use more than just the Hi-Lo. But I learned a valuable lesson about deviations from Basic.
Since then, we made it a point to recruit a former dealer to the team, and he is still in contact with the SM at his old casino (which we've promised not to hit). I didn't tell him the above story until after he told us that they were trained in Basic and the Ill. 18 and specifically to watch for deviations. I would say that's fairly good corroboration.
Take my advice. Betting will tip them off. Deviations will get you caught.
Some people think that making a lot of deviations in basic strategy is "cover", that since their plays are all over the place they must look like an idiot. Far from it. Deviations in basic strategy are a magnet. Proper cover should be making as few deviations from basic as possible.
Sometimes the sky will see deviations and want to watch more closely. They will switch out the dealer with another whom they've told NOT to call out any plays so as not to scare off the counter. And they watch. You should be very wary when deviations are not being called out by one dealer that were being called out from a different dealer.
Here's a true story: My team was on a cruise which had some juicy games. It was a 3-day cruise, so we decided to just hit 'em hard for those 3 days. The first day, I was solo-playing a deeply dealt double-deck game dealt face up (the other team members were hitting some shuffles). They used the same rules at the double-deck game as they did at the shoe games on the ship, so it was like a candy store. DAS, S17, Resplit Aces, LS, dealt down to less than 1/2 deck -- yummy, yummy, yummy. So the first day, the dealers made some of the usual calls ("black action", "Insuring a Seven", etc). I was eating that game up and couldn't stop and didn't care what was being called out. Second day, after about 3 hours I noticed that the dealers weren't calling anything out except cashing in and coloring up. "Oh well, different shift, must've been trained differently" I thought. It should've raised some warning bells, but I didn't know at the time.
After I had been playing about 5 hours that second day, I suddenly noticed 4 men in suits directly behind me. One was shorter than the others and right behind my ear he said "Please step away from the table". Instead of getting up, I just turned around and said "Can I help you?" He said, "I must ask you to leave the table." I said "Why? Is something wrong?" He smiled, looking almost embarrassed, and said "No, not at all. Your game is just too strong for us. We're going to have to ask you not to play blackjack here anymore. You can play any other game in the casino area, just not blackjack. Might I suggest craps?" It wasn't the first time I'd been backed off, or barred for that matter. But there was something different about the way this guy mentioned craps, almost as if he wanted me to play craps specifically.
Otherwise, it was typical "backing off" stuff. I walked around casually for a bit, signaling the other players that I was busted. Well, the ship wasn't docking until the next morning, so I took a couple of hundred of my own money (not the team's) and camped out at a craps game, covertly watching the other players to make sure they weren't busted either. They staggered their leaving about 30 minutes apart so as to be not too noticeable, but none of them were approached by suits before they left. Since I was the only one playing at a pitch game, maybe I was the only one caught.
After about 30 minutes (for some reason I kept winning at craps -- I was up about $300 -- karma I guess) the short suited guy came up to me. "Having fun?" he said. I said, "You have this way of sneaking up on people, it's not a very sociable habit. Are you going to back me off craps too?" I realized now why he wanted me to play craps. "No, you can play craps all you want. And please do." I laughed and rolled the dice. After a fairly awkward minute of silence he said, "I'm curious. We analyzed your tape, but it didn't seem to correlate to the Hi-Lo. What system were you using." So that was it. He wanted information.
I thought for a minute. It was probably a rare thing for him to have an opportunity to talk to a real counter, and I found the opportunity to talk to him just as intriguing. I also realized that I couldn't come back anyway (without a very good disguise, at least), so I might as well try to get some info in exchange. The way this was set up, I'm sure that's what he had planned. It seemed like a golden opportunity. I said, "Tell you what. I'll tell you the counting system I was using if you tell me how you caught me." He smiled a thousand-watt smile and said "Deal!" as he held out his hand to shake mine. Obviously he was delighted, and I must admit I was a little excited too. "I was using the RPC, with about 50 index numbers. No fancy stuff, you just had a nice double-deck game". He said "Ahhhh, Revere Point Count." That surprised me a little. I didn't know they were trained different counting systems. I thought all these guys knew was the Hi-Lo. I said "Actually what I do is half the tags. Kind of an RPC-Halves. You know the Halves count?" He shook his head, "I don't know the count, but I know of it." I said, "Basically, I count two's and seven's as a half-point each. The other tag values are +1 and -1 instead of +2 and -2. This way, the running count is smaller, and the index numbers are smaller too."
Then I said "Ok, your turn. What gave me away." He said, "You doubled 9 vs 8." I said "Really, I know there's more to it than that." He said, "Yes, actualy, it was a two-step process. The last shift you played on saw you won big, more than a usual swing for a double-deck game, so the manager on duty was suspicious. He called me in this morning to review the tapes. I noticed your betting patterns looked like a progression scheme, but they tended to be higher when the count was high, and low when the count was low. But it wasn't a straight correlation so we couldn't be sure. Then I started watching your plays." I asked "Exactly when did you know for sure." He said "Like I said, when you doubled 9 vs 8. That's not part of the Illustrious 18 so I had to look up the index and recount the shoe up to that point to be sure. That was a strong play." "Evidently too strong" I said. "One more question" I said. "I noticed that this morning the dealers weren't calling out any plays that they normally do." "Yeah, I told them not to" he said. "Didn't want to scare you off before we had you." "Sneaky" I said, and he grinned again. I picked up my chips to leave, and he held out his hand again. "Thanks, and good luck to you. Just not on our boat."
In retrospect, I believe I got a lot more information from him than he got from me. At most, he learned that people actually do use more than just the Hi-Lo. But I learned a valuable lesson about deviations from Basic.
Since then, we made it a point to recruit a former dealer to the team, and he is still in contact with the SM at his old casino (which we've promised not to hit). I didn't tell him the above story until after he told us that they were trained in Basic and the Ill. 18 and specifically to watch for deviations. I would say that's fairly good corroboration.
Take my advice. Betting will tip them off. Deviations will get you caught.
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