Blackjack Tournament

Dealer Mistakes

Dealers, like all human beings, make mistakes. Since you are in a game where your money is at stake, you should take advantage of the mistakes.

Dealer makes incorrect payouts.

Dealers make mistakes. We know that. As much as possible do not take the dealer's payout for granted. He or she may have been working a long shift and now is at the end of it. You have had a $75 bet out and gotten a blackjack, and now are paid off. It is a tricky payout at 3-2, amounting to $112.50. Make sure you get the full amount for your hand. You'll usually be paid off with four $25 chips, two $5 chips, two $1 chips and 50cents. Get everything no matter how small the value is.

If the dealer pays you too much than what you have expected the decision is yours as to whether you will call his attention to the incorrect payout. The only one that loses is the house, not the dealer personally. It's not like being in a small store where the cashier gives you change for $20 when you gave her a $10 bill. At the end of the day, the poor woman may have to make up the difference out of her own pocket. Here, the game goes on.

The dealer thinks he can spot a counter and decides on his own to take countermeasures.

Usually, when I am at a table where the dealer shuffles up every time I make a bigger bet, I say nothing and simply walk away. Why bother with these dealers? But sometimes I decide to have a bit of fun, and try to outsmart the ignoramus who really doesn't know what the count is, but is going simply by the player's bet.

Strategy: What I do is this, whenever the deck is neutral or positive, I have a neutral big bet out. When the deck gets negative, I increase the bet. I have seen counters fighting the dealer by raising the bet with the count and having the dealer shuffle up while they sat there and cursed.

At a Strip casino single-deck game, I did this act against not only a dealer but a floorman, both watching my action. It was a $25 table with good rules, standing at all 17s, doubling down after pair splitting, etc. I started with a $100 bet and kept that bet when the deck was neutral or favorable. Unfavorable, I raised it to $200 and got the cards shuffle up. Sometimes I got stuck, for the dealer wouldn't shuffle up after but one round. It took two rounds. For the most part, however, I killed the game.

The two jerks couldn't figure out what was happening. They didn't know how to count, they just blindly went along with my scam. That night I really won big. A real pleasure.