Managing the Dealer
The Role of the Dealer
Theoretically, the dealer is just a tool of the casino, a sort of robot who does the duties he or she is paid to do. In many instances, he's paid to do a job competently. Fine. In others, he's there to make sure no one wins, and if he suspects a card counter or skillful player, he signals a floorman. Even if a player is not skilled but winning, he signals a floorman.
Sometimes this attitude reflects the whole casino. Sometimes it reflects the shift the dealer is working on, run by a shift boss or pit boss. And sometimes, it's just the attitude of a dealer who's angry with the world.
I want a smiling friendly dealer, someone whom I can talk to while playing. Someone who responds. If I don't get this, then I will leave the table unless I'm winning steadily. Anything else and I'm gone and gone fast.
How to Judge a Dealer
What you basically want is a friendly dealer. An unfriendly, cold automaton who barely acknowledges your presence at the table when you sit down is going to cause you potential trouble. If you're about to sit down at a table against a dealer, and get bad vibes, it's no crime to get right up again. You don't have to give any excuses; you don't have to lie about your reason for living the table. Just leave.
What I've noticed in casinos is that even if the place is crowded, there'll be one or two tables that are completely empty. The dealer will be standing there, grimfaced, his or her arms folded across the chest. What you can be sure of is that the players who had been at that empty table were destroyed, and fled like rats from a sinking ship.
There have been times when my thought processes went like this "ok, players have been killed at this table, but maybe the cards will turn. So, now, after the bad cards are out, I'm coming in fresh to a new deal of good cards." Everytime I thought this way and acted on that thought, I found my bankroll dislodged in a short period of time. It has happened so many times that I can become paranoid and think that the cards are stacked so that I just can't win.
Playing Empty Tables
Avoid an empty table in an otherwise crowded casino if the dealer has a grim look and has his arms crossed across his chest. That kind of body language is going to be poor comfort for your bankroll. Sometimes, since I'm anxious to play head-to-head, rather than play at a crowded table, I'll be patient. When the dealer goes "on break," I sit down to a fresh face.
This doesn't mean that I always avoid empty tables. If the dealer isn't angry looking I might sit down, perhaps my feeling about empty tables and grim dealers is irrational, but I've been burned so many times, it's a rule of thumb with me to avoid that combination.
Some dealers prefer not to show emotion. That's ok. I figure they've been dealing to losers all day or night, and are constantly getting blamed for the cards they deal out by these angry players, so many try to have a neutral demeanor.
The first thing I do when sitting down and getting ready to play is to note the name of the dealer, and in some casinos where the information is given on a nametag, the place the dealer comes from originally.
So, I sit down and say "Ron, how's the table been?"
I've spoken and I expect a verbal answer. Any answer is all right. "Not bad" or "so-so." Or "I seem to be real lucky." But what I don't like is a shrug of the shoulders as if my presence isn't worth a reply. That to me is an angry overture.