{"id":121791,"date":"2021-10-20T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-20T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/?p=121791"},"modified":"2021-10-21T03:48:33","modified_gmt":"2021-10-21T10:48:33","slug":"se-nojniloc-s2-e4-the-nit-at-the-card-table","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/se-nojniloc-s2-e4-the-nit-at-the-card-table\/","title":{"rendered":"SE Nojniloc (S2 E5): The Nit at the Card Table"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In pop culture, card counters have a reputation for being MIT geniuses or Rain-Man-esque savants. Card counters roll with that, even though the reputation is entirely undeserved. Within the casino industry, they have another reputation. For being stiffs. That reputation is entirely deserved. And card counters roll with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout The 21st<\/sup>-Century Card Counter<\/em>, Colin Jones warns against tipping: \u201cSure, tipping feels good in the moment, but just like cover bets, it begs the question, does this really provide enough cover to be worth that feeling? For many amateur card counters, the pressure to tip can be too much to bear and they end up tipping away their edge.\u201d Counters who cave to that pressure make rationalizations about tipping for penetration or longevity, but the growing data sample from BJA is showing that tipping doesn\u2019t boost longevity at all, and even if it did, it\u2019s a very costly, inefficient way to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CJ’s book gives two action items: (1) \u201cI recommend tracking your tips\u201d; and (2) \u201cplay 500 hours of cover-free blackjack before deciding if it\u2019s worth employing any form of cover plays.\u201d That second recommendation could be extended to tipping as well. CJ is a missionary on a crusade, and I think he’s producing quite a few converts who believe that tipping is a waste of money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, there’s another side of the coin. The no-penny-left-behind mentality has created a swarm of BJA nits, and mama always said, \u201cNobody likes a nit.\u201d CJ says (p. 163): \u201cI don\u2019t give them an extra penny of my money.\u201d I hear you, brother, you’re doing the Lord’s work preaching against over-tipping, but there\u2019s a difference between cutting costs and being a nit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In classic terms, the nit is the guy at the poker table who enters the pot only with super-premium hands, who proudly announces that he never chops (because he’s a wannabe, and his vision of a real poker pro is a guy who is better than everyone at the table, including strangers, and for whom chopping would thus be giving up EV). The nit might even berate the fish when they suck out against his pocket AA. For sure the nit laments that no one gives him action the next time he gets AA. In the California card rooms, the nit sees all the big action on double-hand poker, bets minimum or nothing while he waits, and then wonders why the action dries up when it\u2019s his turn to bank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The flaw in the nit’s game is that he is using what mathematicians call a “Greedy Algorithm.” The nit maximizes EV right now, with no consideration of how his decisions might cost him in the future. Across a variety of optimization problems, Greedy Algorithms deliver good, but not necessarily optimal, solutions. For card players, there is an aspect of social engineering, more-so when playing against humans, or at the backyard joint. Good HC players don’t surrender 19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 21st<\/sup>-century card counter lays no cover, tips very little, and dares the casino to back him off. This approach is based on the observation that the flaccid approach of online nerds (who make thousands of posts but never actually whack casino games) leaves too much on the table; that the counter’s margins are too thin to afford much cover, tipping, or missed hours; and that there are casinos everywhere these days. I don’t disagree. But BJA’s guiding principle is “Don’t leave money on the table,” which zealots are taking as an endorsement of an obnoxious, in-your-face Greedy Algorithm, where the counters almost make a show of not giving up a penny in the here and now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don’t split Tens\u2014says who? Polite spread\u2014we’re not here to be polite! There are other counters on the table already\u2014who cares?! Everyone raising and lowering bets in unison\u2014so what?!? Everyone buying insurance on stiffs\u2014what, me worry?!! Repeat the BJA mantra: “Don’t back yourself off!” So the 21st<\/sup>-century card counter plays anyway. Then the backoff comes on day shift. But swing shift starts at 8 p.m., hahahaha bwahaha! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Call me old-school, but I’m not a fan of that circus. The classical principle for avoiding other APs was simple: It’s not advisable to expose yourself to their heat, and rude to expose them to yours. For rookie counters who have no prior database heat, there’s still a reason to avoid the situation. When one player is counting, the boss might not notice, or might be too lazy or busy to do much about it, but when two or three counters are at the table, now it becomes a situation<\/em>, which can trigger panic. Now the bosses say (and I’ve literally heard this): “Those guys are blahblah. Something’s going on. We’ve got to do something<\/em>!” They can no longer look the other way. When eavesdropping in a casino, you never want to hear the phrase “Those guys”! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So while I understand that a modern counter wants to grind out the hours, could all BJA members within earshot of my voice stop jumping on tables with other counters and trying to turn it into a “We-dare-you-to-back-us-off” party? Why not get in the hours on a table without other counters?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And when a backoff comes, would you BJA folks consider giving that joint a rest? It would probably be hard to get in many more hours, and the situation can escalate to a barring, backrooming, flyer, false arrest, and maybe worse: the immediate death of the target game. If we\u2019re talking about CC, maybe go to a different casino? CC games are much more fungible than BC games. This modern bravado (\u201cTry and stop me! [sic]\u201d) isn\u2019t good for the game, and isn\u2019t even in a player\u2019s own self-interest. \u201cMaverick, it\u2019s not your counting. It\u2019s your attitude.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the lack of tipping, the veterans are okay with that\u2014tight is right (but please tip your server at Waffle House). I’ll even help with some actionable suggestions (and you thought you were getting only a rant!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without tipping the dealer, how can a player be likable? Part of this would be simple social skills, but since many card counters have none of that, we\u2019ll have to go in another direction. Praise, flattery, and flirtation can sometimes work, but I\u2019m not going to author a pick-up manual here. Rather, I suggest that you become a low-maintenance player<\/em> (LMP). Being easy to deal to goes a long way. From the dealers\u2019 point of view, the LMP doesn\u2019t give them much revenue, but the LMP doesn\u2019t cost them much either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My BP Rocky once won $95k in a single sitting, and tipped a grand total of \u2026 [wait for it] \u2026 zero. At the team meet-up afterwards, he said that since I was calling the play, he wasn\u2019t going to do anything unless I gave him an explicit signal to do so (he was an obedient, Japanese “company man”), and I never gave him a signal to tip. I had to explain to him that I expected him to use his own judgment on that, since we don\u2019t have<\/em> a signal to tip (!). The entire blackjack session was normal and pleasant, and after Rocky left the game, the dealer didn\u2019t say one word about him. Rocky simply didn\u2019t tip, but he was an extremely low-maintenance player. He just sat there, quietly playing his cards with no fanfare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are 21 Keys to Being a Low-Maintenance Player<\/em>, which I\u2019m going to turn into a clickbait slideshow if I can broker a deal with Taboola:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Don\u2019t smoke.<\/li>
  2. Don\u2019t be a shot-taker. Don\u2019t put out double-down money on 55, and then claim you wanted to split when a 6 comes. I think dealers hate shot-takers more than they hate non-tippers (though it might be close). There are people online who think these moves are slick, but they\u2019re skanky moves that will cost you at a place you play regularly.<\/li>
  3. Don’t bend the cards.<\/li>
  4. Don\u2019t do anything that might make the dealer nervous procedurally. For instance, don\u2019t touch your bet after the hand has begun. In a handheld game, don\u2019t touch your cards again after you\u2019ve tucked them. In a face-up game, don’t touch the cards at all. Don\u2019t pass your hand over your original bet when you place double-down money (I never pass my hand over my bet).<\/li>
  5. Don\u2019t do anything that puts the dealer in a position to have to enforce procedure. A normal dealer doesn\u2019t want to have to police stuff like players using cell phones, players snacking on food under the table, players betting on each other’s hands, players holding their cards beyond the table rail, blackjack players wearing headphones, players throwing water bottles, players urinating on the roulette wheel ([shout-out to Ashwin]), etc. (And if a dealer does<\/em> like to enforce that stuff, then that dealer is a hall monitor who should not be played, and certainly not tipped.)<\/li>
  6. Don\u2019t hold up the game. Have your bet ready to go, bet your light if you\u2019re going to bet your light, don\u2019t squeeze out your cards while everyone has to wait on you, and don\u2019t be on your phone. And don’t color down a single green chip every hand when you’re betting red on carnival games.<\/li>
  7. Don\u2019t make rainbow bets.<\/li>
  8. Don\u2019t bet an amount that results in $2.50 payoffs or chips (from blackjacks or surrenders), and definitely don\u2019t save those up until you have enough to make a bet entirely using the pink\/riffraff chips.<\/li>
  9. Don\u2019t tell the dealer what the payoff is, unless the dealer specifically solicits help.<\/li>
  10. Don\u2019t throw your cards in when you bust. (I lay them out neatly.)<\/li>
  11. Make your hand signals clear and standard (don\u2019t try to be slick or creative).<\/li>
  12. Act only when it\u2019s your turn. Giving your signal while it\u2019s still the previous player\u2019s turn will look rude (but some of my BPs do this, because they respond to my signals immediately, instead of waiting for their turn to act on my signal).<\/li>
  13. If the dealer asks for a hand signal when you already gave one, just repeat your hand signal without comment. Don\u2019t say, \u201cI already waved it off\u201d before repeating your stand signal.<\/li>
  14. Don\u2019t whine about losing, and certainly don\u2019t blame it on the dealer.<\/li>
  15. Don\u2019t let the dealer see you toke the waitress more than $1.<\/li>
  16. If you\u2019re not going to tip the dealer, then don\u2019t, but do not embellish that frugality with standard lines that may be true, but are simply not believable. In particular, don\u2019t say, after winning a big hand, \u201cI\u2019ll get you at the end.\u201d Unless you know that dealer and already have a trusting relationship with that dealer, that line will cause an immediate resentment and likely response, \u201cYeah, right, like I haven\u2019t heard that line a thousand times.\u201d If you come here often, you don’t want to annoy the dealers.<\/li>
  17. Go south with chips if you\u2019re sure the dealer won\u2019t notice, so that your growing pile of winnings doesn’t generate envy.<\/li>
  18. Don\u2019t talk too much if the dealer doesn\u2019t want to talk. You have to be like a good cabbie (what an oxymoron!), or barber, and sense when the customer wants to be chatty and when the customer prefers the silence. Sometimes the dealers find it relaxing to be relieved of the forced, fake pleasantries. One time I had to rebuy on a game, and as the dealer just pushed me the chips with no comment, I teasingly asked, \u201cAren\u2019t you going to wish me \u2018Better luck this time\u2019?\u201d She replied, \u201cYou don\u2019t care about that.\u201d I could play her heads-up for an hour, and we were both comfortable without saying a word to each other.<\/li>
  19. Don\u2019t flirt with the person that the dealer has a crush on.<\/li>
  20. If you have a lot of chips, color up when you leave the table (try to make intermittent color-ups during the game when the rack runs low, to facilitate payoffs, and also avoid a huge color-up at the end). <\/li>
  21. Clean up after yourself. Don\u2019t leave empty cups, used napkins, ashes, or a chewing-tobacco spit cup. Throw out the trash yourself before you leave.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    And if doing all of these things doesn\u2019t add any value to your game, then tipping probably won\u2019t either. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    [If there are any dealers reading this, please comment below!]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"youtube\"<\/a>\"instagram\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    In pop culture, card counters have a reputation for being MIT geniuses or Rain-Man-esque savants. Card counters roll with that, even though the reputation is entirely undeserved. Within the casino industry, they have another reputation. For being stiffs. That reputation is entirely deserved. And card counters roll with it. Throughout The 21st-Century Card Counter, Colin […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[1979,2075,2076,2049,331],"yoast_head":"\nSE Nojniloc (S2 E5): The Nit at the Card Table - Gambling With An Edge<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/se-nojniloc-s2-e4-the-nit-at-the-card-table\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SE Nojniloc (S2 E5): The Nit at the Card Table - Gambling With An Edge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In pop culture, card counters have a reputation for being MIT geniuses or Rain-Man-esque savants. 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