Probably every month, some rookie counter posts online about some horrendous loss, and then says, “I wonder if I was cheated.” Hmm, you’re playing a game that with perfect execution is a super-marginal grind, and in any other scenario is negative or just pure variance, so what did you really expect to happen? What does Occam’s Razor say? The debate often turns to whether or not a casino would risk losing its gaming license (ha!), or whether or not you can hear seconds being dealt (Knish certainly can).
If you read some of the scriptures on casino cheating, works by Marks, Forte, and others, and even moreso if you watch their amazing videos, you will start to see mechanics behind every tree. Suddenly Sue at Serkus Serkus Reeno inverts the deck and you say to your BP, “Did you see her invert the deck?!—She was trying to bubble-peek!” The fact that she’s been crushed for a decade by every hole-card crew in existence seems irrelevant at that point, especially in light of your new mantra: “Just to believe it’s possible is your best protection” [Forte].
If you ever saw Dustin Marks demonstrate at The Blackjack Ball, or if you watched the incredible moves on Steve Forte’s Gambler’s Protection Series of videos, you were surely awed. I do consider those videos to be a “must-see,” but not because I really expect most modern APs to encounter any of it. If you’re reading this, Steve, don’t get upset. I’m still recommending your educational products to modern APs, but the thing is, your videos exhibit moves that require skill, creativity, and hard work—ain’t nobody got time for that!
The casino world has changed dramatically in the last twenty years. Sure, when I used to scout the Riverside in Laughlin, in the back of my mind I would ponder whether anyone in there would roll the deck on me. And sweeping through Tonapah (home of the Tonapah Muckers high school team!) I used to wonder if any of those crusty, backwater Nevada dealers would pull a move on a kid who obviously “ain’t from around here.” And I would keep an eye on dealers like Benny from Casino Royal_e (previously from downtown Hor_shoo), and Berto from the Exc_al, and that old, lefty, redhead from Texas who dealt at Serkus Reno (she is the only dealer in my career that I’m SURE was trying to cheat us, but to no avail, because she’s an idiot).
Those old sharps spent a lifetime with a deck of cards in their hands, and blackjack was the only game in town. They had the time, focus, and interest to develop moves, learn their craft, and bust out some fish. Nowadays, the casino industry has undergone such rampant expansion that the talent pool is thinned to transparency. There’s no pride in the craft, no appreciation of the art. Table games have died off as slot machines have proliferated to make up the bulk of the revenue. The table games that exist are not even dealt by hand in most places. Some states have regulations that prohibit hand-dealing (such as Missouri). Dealers today don’t even know how to pitch. Casinos are trying to replace dealers with video substitutes (complete with toke hustling tendencies!). The ancient skills are nearly extinct. Tom Cruise can reprise his role as The Last Mechanic.
The casino industry is at this point so giant that the skilled, nimble moves of the past can’t accommodate the scale of the enterprise. A mechanic could spend a lifetime learning a craft that can bust out one or two people a day. But Vegas needs to fleece 3.5 million visitors per month! Vegas doesn’t need samurai or ninjas, Vegas needs weapons of mass destruction.
Fortunately for the casinos, a terrible truth has been discovered: degenerates WANT to give the casinos their money. Casino “customers” are not discriminating. While they may take value if you give it to them, they don’t go out of their way looking for it. Why would they?—they are addicts! And they’ll even set up the legislation to create local casino monopolies that are entrenched for years!
These degenerates want to die, and Dr. Kervorkian consults for the casinos. Give the degenerates double-zero roulette! Give them 8-deck blackjack, then one card to split Aces, then NoRSA, then H17. Hell, just pay ’em 6:5 on naturals. Then, give them slot machines and crappy video poker. Heck, give them fake video poker where it doesn’t even matter what cards they hold (some tribes). Finally, give them Ultimate Death by Hold’em, where they will gladly play with a -15% edge. I recently saw a lady who held Q5 with a rainbow board AKJT3. The dealer took her money (including her Trips bet), and no one said a word. If you’re a casino’s dealer, you don’t need to learn slick moves like swapping hole cards to get the money from degenerates; all you have to do is hold out your hand.
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I don’t think that the argument that the casinos would never cheat because they win so much money in legitimate fashion anyway holds any water whatsoever. As for the “they could lose their licenses” contention–well, I have one response: HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!
No casino has EVER lost its license on account of cheating, though dozens of not hundreds of them have been caught red-handed multiple times. So why WOULDN’T they cheat if by doing so, they could increase their revenue with no risk? It’s not as if they have moral scruples or anything like that.
like the graphics but cannot read the words in the blue right margin, too faint of font color to background. would be nice to read the article with what limited comprehension I may have………
Very true! It’s gotten so bad here in Illinois that there is now ‘video gaming’ in Mexican restaurants and even in a local Hoote’rs. I guess it’s legal if you have a liquor license. They advertise ‘open at 5am for video poker’ at one place. I guess the addicts can get their fix before they go work!
Last year I played a 2-deck game in Sacramento (infamous Thunder Valley Casino) and counted 9 5’s during game play (replacing higher cards with lower cards obviously gives house a higher edge). This was after they swapped decks without showing me the contents of the cards (I was less experienced then to know that I should have left right then and there). I suppose it’s possible I miscounted, but not likely; this casino has bad rep on some forums for cheating over the years. The gaming commission didn’t seem to care when I reported.
This is Indian reservation, of course; this would never happen in a place like Vegas.
-Brent
So when the dealer inverts their hand is when the “bubble peek” can be done. I was enlightened by Snyder’s reference to the move in his book, “The Big Book of Blackjack.” The way you describe it is the only way that I know how to peek the top card when dealing a game of blackjack to an unsuspecting player in a non-casino environment. It’s pretty sad that I’ve just learned about this move in the last week or so but now I will always be consciously aware and watching for such moves when I go to the casino. Now I’m trying to practice the move and trying to work on it every time I put a deck of cards in my hand and I really don’t know why.
I’ve played at ~40 casinos against a few hundred dealers and seen 3 of them cheat. It’s not common but it can still make a significant dent in the bottom line if you don’t use a stop loss per casino like thorp suggests in beat the dealer.
Also I’ve noticed that the cheating almost always happens during heads up games because it’s easier to get away with when there aren’t 6 people watching from every angle. If you always play with a team then you’ll probably encounter fewer cheating dealers.