Know the Enemy

#1
Consider the following scenario:
you walk into a casino, sit down at a table, buy-in, and play a round of cards.

Let us look at it from the Pit Boss perspective (that guy standing at a podium about 10 feet away behind the tables.)

First, how are you dressed?
Are you wearing any jewerly? What type?
What kind of shoes do you have on? Shirt? Belt?

How did you walk up to the table--
Mouth hanging open, eyes looking around at all the flashing lights and ringing bells?
Did you stop a couple feet short of the table and watch a hand or two first?
Did you shove someone aside and start grabbing drink holders when sitting down?

When you bought in, did you try to hand the dealer your money?
Did you throw it into the dealer's area, while the dealer was changing another customer, with a "Me First" attitude?
Did you sit quietly with cash in front of you, until the dealer asked for your buy in?

How much did you buy in for?
Did you present a players card? Hold it up to the dealer and ask if you should give it to him?
Did you toss it seperately from your cash, to the corner of the table where the dealer normally puts it?
Did you just slide it with your cash, or did you even present a player's card?

When you got your chips did you--
reach over the table and grab them from the dealer?
neatly stack them into 15 piles of 3 chips each, and build a cute little pyramid with them along the rail?
try to place them in the slot machine coin bucket you have placed on the table?
take the one tall stack the dealer has pushed over to you, and without counting, expertly cut them into piles of 20 chips each?
place them all in a jumbled pile, stuffing half the chips into your pockets?

When the cards were dealt --
Did you try to pick them up in a face up game?
Peter Griffin in 'Theory of Blackjack' mentions that a novice player looks at his own cards first, and then as an after-thought checks the dealer's upcard. A more experienced player watches the dealer's upcard first. After all, it's not what you have but what the dealer has that counts, right? So where were you looking when the cards where dealt?

Notice -- The Pit Boss has already formed some pretty accurate conclusions about:
Your Income Level,
Your Social Status,
Your Personality,
Your Risk-taking aversion,
Your familarity of casinos,
Your knowledge level of the game,
Your Blackjack skills.

And all you thought you did was play a single hand of blackjack, and the Pit Boss never moved from his podium.
 
#5
Re: Could contribute some ...

Please, absolutely! I can see how these are relevant questions but I don't know what the 'right' answers are, in some cases.

Building up a few 'example profiles' would be especially keen. Some of the attributes you mention are all associated into particular stereotypes, but which matches with which?
 

phantom007

Well-Known Member
#6
Abraham, YOU PISS ME OFF!

Mr. Abraham, or should it be Ms., you recently responded to a post wherein you basically accused me of "moving my lips" while counting. Please note that I was not moving my lips, I was still using my fingers!

But with all due respect, this post IS THE BEST THAT I HAVE SEEN AFTER REVIEWING LITERALLY HUNDREDS ON THIS SITE AND OTHERS!

You have nailed me almost to a "tee".

I thought I was being a "ploppy"...I now realize that I was showing the Casino that I was a "Pro".

Thank you Sir/Maam!
 
#8
Re: Know the Enemy II

Although the Post points out a number of "TELLS", there really isn't any 'right' or 'wrong' behavior (other than the rightness or wrongness of violating procedures or social norms). Many are probably unconscious, and most of them will be seen everywhere, at any casino, at any time, with teams of counters or not even one counter present.

Any Pit Boss with any experience under his belt has seen everything under the sun at least once (and 99% of it he sees over and over again). What some chump thinks is a clever move, or smart remark, the Pit Boss probably thinks "Gee, just another Saturday night". Think about an 'experienced' player, who plays for several hours at a time, several times a week. After a year of this steady playing, his hourly total at the tables probably matches a whole month's worth of an employee's casino time.

DO NOT use the above post's scenarios, thinking you can use them to walk into a casino and fool people into concluding that you have never been in a casino before and know nothing or very little about the game. You are not good enough to pull it off. You will appear to be a person, who has been in a casino before, PRETENDING to have never been in a casino before. This approach will backfire, and bring even more heat upon you.

Someone pretending to be something they are not, is SUSPECIOUS! Something is wrong. Maybe you are a thief, or a cheat. Maybe you are working in conjunction with the dealer (that New Dealer has only been here for a month or two, you know), pretending to be something else, and tonight is the night the big play goes down. At the very least, you are just another one of those pesky counters, playing the stupid "Gee whiz, how do you play this game?" scam.

Only a very good full time pro could pull off a total "something you are not" act. What you can do very easily, is "bend" your actions or mannerisms. Observe others around you, and then look inward, and examine yourself. You might find some things you can avoid or not do as much, and some things you can "play up" or start doing.

Start trying to 'categorize' the other players. Observe how they react to situations and their mannerisms. Figure out what category you want other's to categorize you as, and start emulating those mannerisms. What do they do when they win a hand? Lose a hand? In-between hands? During a shuffle? How do they talk to the dealer during these situations? How do they talk to the Pit Boss? The cocktail waitress?

Here are a few categories to get you started:

Total Tourist -- Has never been in a casino before and knows nothing about how to play. Brought $25 to lose, and after having lost that, will probably never come to a casino again. Not a desirable customer because they hold up play and irritates other players because of lack of knowledge of rules. Will spend more time standing around and gawking than playing. If they do get engaged in a game, good likelyhood they will lose way too much money, get drunk and obnoxious, whine and cry about being cheated, or otherwise become a nuisance.

Neurotic Loser -- Whines when he initially gets bad cards. Whines when he gets good cards, thinking the dealer might have a better hand, or because he can't double down. Whines when he puts more money on the table for a double down. Whines when he gets beat. Whines when he wins a hand, because he didn't bet more. Whines at a push, or a good double, or winning a bunch of splits, or having to split. You get the idea. One would wonder how much longer he would play as much as he seems to hate it, but he actually enjoys the abuse. If he ever gets lucky and actually has a winning session, he will immediately play for larger stakes or bet on some crazy gamble and lose it all. That way he can get back sooner to his crying about his bad luck. Ultimately, trying to make his daily allotment of 'money to be lost' last as long as possible for maximum whining potential.

Regular Joe -- Plays pretty good basic strategy game. Has a monthly allotment of funds set aside to lose. Probably subscribes some form of quit when ahead, up as you win, when you're hot, your hot, when you're not, you're not philosophy. Maybe superstitious or a 'hunch' bettor. Fairly steady in bet amount and total action. Might be playing the comp hustle game. Maybe just killing time doing something, after all, he is only here because the wife insists on him coming while she plays the slots.

You also have the Drunken Girlfriend, I'm Only Here With My Friends, Welfare Check Came This Week, High Roller Needing An Ego Stroke, Retard With Money, Crazy Idiot But He Gives Us Good Action, and about a thousand other categories. Some the casino would rather get rid of, or avoid, and some they fall all over themselves to welcome.
 
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