cheques play in shoe games

blackjackomaha

Well-Known Member
#2
ohbehave said:
Is cheques play typically called at $100 for 6-deck?
Many factors determine whether or not a $100 bet requires "checks play".

Usually, if you're at a $5, $10, or $15 table, the dealer will call it for a $100 bet or higher.

At $25 or higher, the bet required for "checks play" might be higher.

It's not necessary the figure $100 that gets called, it's the fact that you've increased your bet beyond a comfortable level in a short time. If you are betting $5-$25, and suddenly bet $100 or higher, yes, you will get called on.

It is also sometimes dealer-dependent. Some just don't care. I've spread $25-$250 (when I can, 2x$125) and had some dealers that shrug off the higher bet, especially if, at that current point in the session, I'm down a few units. However, those same dealers will eventually start calling "checks play" if my chips start piling - but there are preventative measures for that as well :grin:
 

FLASH1296

Well-Known Member
#3

It is not so much dealer-dependent as it is Pit-Boss dependent.

I once accidentally bet a "chocolate chip" [$5,000] at Caesars Palace,
before they became a "sweat shop".

Not only wasn't there a "checks play" called out, but the FloorMan did
not so much as move away from the almost empty table that he was
standing at, two tables distant.
 

Southpaw

Well-Known Member
#4
I have never gotten the cheques play called, and I spread $5-100. I have even jumped directly from $5 to 100 before. I play at a small Native American casino, and these are the ones that typically are intolerant of large action.

I am usually really chatty with the dealer and the rest of the table, and usually make a related comment when doing something odd with my bet. However, it may be the case that these things don't help to avoid the cheques play at all, as I think many dealers are told that they always have to call it under certain circumstances, no matter what.

Spaw
 

apex

Well-Known Member
#5
FLASH1296 said:
I once accidentally bet a "chocolate chip" [$5,000]
Jeepers! Did you win? I guess if you even had a chocolate chip, accidentally betting it couldn't have been too terrible for your BR.
 

ohbehave

Well-Known Member
#6
apex said:
Jeepers! Did you win? I guess if you even had a chocolate chip, accidentally betting it couldn't have been too terrible for your BR.
Closest I've come to doing that was having an orange at the bottom of my stack when playing green and accidently stuck the orange out. Luckily the dealer questioned the bet before she dealt. I lost the hand.
 

moo321

Well-Known Member
#7
apex said:
Jeepers! Did you win? I guess if you even had a chocolate chip, accidentally betting it couldn't have been too terrible for your BR.
You'd have to have a HUGE bankroll, and a massive count to justify betting $5k. Like hundreds of thousands of dollars in bankroll.
 

FLASH1296

Well-Known Member
#8

My bankroll back then was impressive, and the brown chips looked almost black.
I had an advantage and I wanted to bet $400. Instead I dropped 4 chips,
and yes, the bottom one was brown and the others were black. The dealer began to deal the cards and after he had given every one their 1st cards he saw my bet of $5,300. The Table Max was $5,000. He had dealt me a lovely Red Queen. The Floor-Man said that I could take the bet down to the Table Max or bet anything less than that. While my Bankroll was 6 figures, Kelly Betting would not have me betting $5,000 on that hand with about a 1% advantage. I would have needed ½ million dollars behind me in order to bet that much. However, I already new that my first card was a FACE, giving me about a 10% average advantage. I could justify betting $5,000 knowing that I had an advantage 10 X what it was before I was dealt that Queen. I had to decide what to do and I became concerned that I would get myself 86'd for all-but taking advantage of the dealer's error. I was very tense having attracted too much attention. I opted to reduce my bet to my (intended) initial wager of $400. Almost needless to say — the hand unfolded with the dealer flipping up his 8 and pasting a 9 on top of my Queen. He had a TEN underneath ! My 19 beat the dealer's 18. To this day - more than a decade, I will never forget this story.
 
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Midwestern

Well-Known Member
#10
that is a great story flash. im glad it paid!

"checks play" used to scare me, but not really anymore now that i've moved up a bit in BR.

reminds me of a time recently when i accidentally doubled down on 12 vs 6 with my max bet out.... fuzzy math, i dont know....

dealer calls out "doubling on 12" scared the shins out of me, but it all felt better when the 9 dropped. :grin:
 

Shoofly

Well-Known Member
#11
Southpaw said:
I have never gotten the cheques play called, and I spread $5-100. I have even jumped directly from $5 to 100 before. I play at a small Native American casino, and these are the ones that typically are intolerant of large action.
Each place is different in how they react. At one place I play, 4 greens will get a call of "cheques play", but nobody pays any attention. If, however, you bet one black, a call of "black in action" will turn heads.
 

aslan

Well-Known Member
#12
Midwestern said:
that is a great story flash. im glad it paid!

"checks play" used to scare me, but not really anymore now that i've moved up a bit in BR.

reminds me of a time recently when i accidentally doubled down on 12 vs 6 with my max bet out.... fuzzy math, i dont know....

dealer calls out "doubling on 12" scared the shins out of me, but it all felt better when the 9 dropped. :grin:
Same thing happened to me less than a year ago. Dealer had a 5 I think, and I had a hard 12. I thought to myself, I will stand, but when my turn came I inexplicably pushed out a matching bet and doubled down. To this day I don't know what made me do that, but as with you, a 9 fell. I didn't even realize what I had done at first. The dealer made a twenty and beat the board, all except me. The other players were not happy. It was a hand from the Twilight Zone. :laugh:
 

Thunder

Well-Known Member
#13
FLASH1296 said:

My bankroll back then was impressive, and the brown chips looked almost black.
I had an advantage and I wanted to bet $400. Instead I dropped 4 chips,
and yes, the bottom one was brown and the others were black. The dealer began to deal the cards and after he had given every one their 1st cards he saw my bet of $5,300. The Table Max was $5,000. He had dealt me a lovely Red Queen. The Floor-Man said that I could take the bet down to the Table Max or bet anything less than that. While my Bankroll was 6 figures, Kelly Betting would not have me betting $5,000 on that hand with about a 1% advantage. I would have needed ½ million dollars behind me in order to bet that much. However, I already new that my first card was a FACE, giving me about a 10% average advantage. I could justify betting $5,000 knowing that I had an advantage 10 X what it was before I was dealt that Queen. I had to decide what to do and I became concerned that I would get myself 86'd for all-but taking advantage of the dealer's error. I was very tense having attracted too much attention. I opted to reduce my bet to my (intended) initial wager of $400. Almost needless to say — the hand unfolded with the dealer flipping up his 8 and pasting a 9 on top of my Queen. He had a TEN underneath ! My 19 beat the dealer's 18. To this day - more than a decade, I will never forget this story.
I probably would have kept the $5000 up and said, "Oops I made a mistake but since I have a queen, I'm going to keep the bet there." The pitboss would understand your rationale and I doubt you would get much heat if you immediately lowered your bet on the next hand down to $400 and kept it there until the heat subsided. The EV was too great imo to throw away an opportunity like that.
 
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aslan

Well-Known Member
#14
Thunder said:
I probably would have kept the $5000 up and said, "Oops I made a mistake but since I have a queen, I'm going to keep the bet there." The pitboss would understand your rationale and I doubt you would get much heat if you immediately lowered your bet on the next hand down to $400 and kept it there until the heat subsided. The EV was too great imo to throw away an opportunity like that.
A one time bet with a 10% advantage. The RoR must be tremendous. When you get a plus 20 count, are you willing to push out $5,000? Is that analogous? I'm just asking.
 

Dyepaintball12

Well-Known Member
#15
10% edge! Oh man that would have been a tough spot to be in... well, hindsight is 20/20.

I saw on a Vegas Documentary yesterday a dealer talking about "checks play". She said, quote: "If a player is betting $5 every hand and all of a sudden bets $100, I call checks play. It is very unusual and it's my job to report this unusual activity."
 

Southpaw

Well-Known Member
#16
Dyepaintball12 said:
10% edge! Oh man that would have been a tough spot to be in... well, hindsight is 20/20.

I saw on a Vegas Documentary yesterday a dealer talking about "checks play". She said, quote: "If a player is betting $5 every hand and all of a sudden bets $100, I call checks play. It is very unusual and it's my job to report this unusual activity."
Travel channel? I was watching that special too. From what I saw (I didn't see the whole thing), they were only discussing players that were capping their bets, playing multiple hands and switching cards, and other true forms of cheating.

Spaw
 
#17
>>>The Floor-Man said that I could take the bet down to the Table Max or bet anything less than that.

maybe the floor man only allowed you the choice to reduce further than table max because you had a TEN. If you had a 6, the floor man could have insisted that you reduce the bet to exactly the table maximum.

It's like you got a BJ, and the pit boss says "hey, you can bet $5000 on that BJ, or you can just bet $400. Your choice, our first class casino is so classy that we don't care, we let our customer decide if they want $5000 BJ or $400 BJ".

... and you choose $400 BJ.... haha :)
(not saying it is a wrong choice for an AP, but definitely wrong if you are a ploppy)
 

Dyepaintball12

Well-Known Member
#18
who345 said:
>>>The Floor-Man said that I could take the bet down to the Table Max or bet anything less than that.

maybe the floor man only allowed you the choice to reduce further than table max because you had a TEN. If you had a 6, the floor man could have insisted that you reduce the bet to exactly the table maximum.

It's like you got a BJ, and the pit boss says "hey, you can bet $5000 on that BJ, or you can just bet $400. Your choice, our first class casino is so classy that we don't care, we let our customer decide if they want $5000 BJ or $400 BJ".

... and you choose $400 BJ.... haha :)
(not saying it is a wrong choice for an AP, but definitely wrong if you are a ploppy)
It just depends on the place and how nice the floor person is feeling. You may be right, but I've had it go both ways.

Southpaw - I watched like three of the shows in a row so I'm not sure exactly which one it was but I'm pretty sure it was the cheating one. They were strictly talking about actual cheaters, but the dealer just said "I have to call checks play when someone radically changes their bet."
 

Southpaw

Well-Known Member
#19
Dyepaintball12 said:
Southpaw - I watched like three of the shows in a row so I'm not sure exactly which one it was but I'm pretty sure it was the cheating one. They were strictly talking about actual cheaters, but the dealer just said "I have to call checks play when someone radically changes their bet."
Yes, I do remember the female dealer saying, in the slowest, explanatory voice "when a player suddenly changes his bet from $5 to $100, I have to call cheques play because it means something isn't right."

Spaw
 

Gamblor

Well-Known Member
#20
Tipping might help, you should get less cheques play calls.

I hardly get cheques played call on me, even though I spread from 10-200.
 
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