Play safe said:
Thanks for all your feedback, I think my answer's been pretty much covered. The reason for the question was due to me getting really hight counts on a number of shoes at one particular club at the weekend but then, continuously seeing quite a lot of low cards coming out. It just got me thinking a bit about the possibility of the club cheating but based on the feedback it was probably some harsh variance!
The best advice anyone can give you regarding cheating is not to stress too much about it. Cheating is very very rare and on that rare occasion it's very unlikely that you'll even know it's happened. Unless you are a cheat yourself you are simply not quick enough to pick off the move.
To start avoiding dealers simply because they've got rings and plasters is no better than avoiding certain casinos because you've always had bad luck there. It's a superstition, detrimental to the mind set you should hold as an AP and ultimately could see you walk away from profitable situations due to a nonsense belief.
As to your high count situation - i'm afraid that's counting for you. Just because the count is high, it doesn't mean that the 10’s and A’s are there - they could be (and frequently are) behind the cut card. You've just got to suck your gut in, take the beating, keep playing until you reach the next high count and hope it goes better.
RJT.