Hole-Carding 2

A knowledgeable advantage player has a big edge after glimpsing the dealer’s hole card—and being sure of what he saw. Hole-carding, however, isn’t as simple as it sounds; a number of issues arise when you know what the dealer’s holding.

First and foremost, like typing and competitive shooting, speed and accuracy are vital. Even a sloppy dealer’s hand motions happen very quickly, giving a fraction of a second to “read” the pips on the hole card. You might have to base your playing decision on a split-second impression of a bunch of blurred pips on the cards, rather than a few distinct pips surrounded by a lot of white space. Even to do that takes an enormous amount of scouting (to find a loading dealer), practice (to glimpse the pips), and planning (to know what to do with the additional information). And misreading the hole card can be very expensive.

Many dealers come very close to being front loaders, but aren’t actually readable. Plenty of blackjack teams have lost money when they were convinced they could read a certain dealer, but couldn’t. At least 90% accuracy in the reads is required before playing a front loader.

Secondly, basic strategy essentially flies out the window when you know a dealer’s hole card. Your play is no longer based on the dealer’s upcard, but on his two-card total. So, do you hit a hard 17 or higher when you know the dealer has 20? Do you hit your stiff against a 6 when you know the dealer has a five under for 11? These kinds of decisions have to be thought about long and hard beforehand.

This is especially true, because third, many floormen and pit bosses know all about front-loading. It’s one of the easiest dealer-cheating moves of them all. And if you’re not careful, a boss might think someone, in the jargon of crossroaders, is “doing business.”

And fourth, the best readers are short; the lower you are to the table, the better your angle of view. Taller players often try to improve their view by sitting away from the table and leaning back or hunching over the table. This works to some degree, but players can take this too far and it’s an easy tell for a boss.

Nothing in the casino is as easy as it might seem at first glance, and this is especially true of blackjack.