Cover

[Preston]

I was just wondering what a lot of you guys do for cover...

Here is a list of things I will do for cover:

I use a lot of ploppy lines:

"Don't worry, she's got a bust card showing"
"Always assume they have a 10 in the hole"
"Doubling down on 11 against a face is scary"
"Man, I just took a beating at <name of another local casino>"

but I take it step further.

At my home casino they serve alcohol in white plastic and they serve non-alcoholic drinks in clear plastic cups. So I get to the casino I order a screwdriver. I keep the cup and have the bartender keep refilling it with orange juice. The longer I play the more my speech slurs.

If the dealer pulls a 5 card 21 and the count has risen enough to justify I slam a big bet into the circle to make myself look like I'm steaming.

If I just won a big hand with a big bet out and the count still justifies the big bet I'll pull 1 or 2 units off the bet to make it look like I'm a little scared.

I only play in 20-30 minute increments, and then I play 25c Jacks or Better, Double diamond slot machines, but I usually shoot craps. I lay odds and do bets on 6 and 8. I seem to win about half my craps session. On my way back to the same blackjack table I squirrel away the larger chips and then come back with a stack of white and reds and start bitching about how bad my run at dice was.

I play off the top and wong out. (bathroom breaks, pretending to receive a phone call...etc) I don't wong in (at my home casino it's really hard to find good wonging in conditions)

Occasionally I will double down on hard 12 against a deuce for an extra buck. I look like a complete idiot.

For a while I had a magic 8-ball keychain I'd pull out as to whether or not to hit my 16 against a face.

I tip only in positive counts when I have a big bet out (makes me look superstitious). My usual tip is 10% of the table minimum. So at a $25 minimum I'm betting pink for the dealer.

I can only remember getting heat twice in the past year. And one of them was at El Cortez.

 

[TENNBEAR]

I try to limit my sessions around 60 to 90 minutes, and try to color-up anytime I get up 30 units. I never split tens, and I will lead out with a medium size bet on the first hand about every third shuffle, ( I play DD ) and I always talk alot, get excited when I win. I am reading Burning the Tables in Vegas by Ian Anderson inwhich is all about cover, I am sure to pick-up some good ideas from this as well.

 

[Cardcounter]

My favorite cover

My favorite cover is changing the size of my bet when there is a shuffle! I especially like this play when the casino has good rules and it doesn't cost me much. I like to randomanly select starting bets of the top of the deck so I can bet between $10-$100 of the top when the casino has a really tiny edge. I prefer this to making basic stragedy or "index play" mistakes. The casino averages a win of 25 to 50 cents for every $100 I bet of the top, before comps and profitable insurance bets. I like to do this with good rules so my cost is 25 cents for every $100 bet. I probably get comped 80 cents for every $100 I bet at the blackjack table. The next hand after when i bet a $100 on the first hand and the count is positive I bet the $100 again if the count is negative I reduce my bet to $25. The next hand could hold a 3% advantage giving me a $3 profit when I bet a $100 or it could have a $3 disadvantage costing me 75 cents when I cut my bet down to $25. The 3% disadvantage is slightly more likely to happen but it doesn't out weigh the $3 I make when I get the 3% advantage.

 

[Cardcounter]

Point out losing sessions to the pit. If you play blackjack for an hour it has such high variance that even the best player in the world can lose and terrible players can win in the course of an hour. So if you happen to be on the wrong side of varaince for an hour before you leave talk to the pit person tell them how much you lost over the hour and ask that you get credit for your playing time. This play has the best of both worlds in that you might get comped more and they might not take you sersiously the next time you go in.

A play of cover that I saw mentenioned in burning the tables in las vegas was to bet $5 for yourself and $25 for the dealer. This is a very costly play and should be made minimully when a pit person is watching. But it can buy you a lot of cover Ian Anderson estimated it bought they player a $1,000's of dollars worth of cover. Once I was at a $5 table put a $1 in my circle and bet $5 for the dealer I did it when the pit person was changing decks. Ironically the pit person told me I had to bet $5 for me so I switched the bets and had a $1 bet for the dealer and $5 bet for me. Obviously if you want to have an advantage for yourself you can only a tip a little bit and can not over tip.

 

[Automatic Monkey]

Betting and play cover costs EV so I usually just use act cover. A lot of drunken behavior, stupid and obnoxious talk (sexual talk, religious blasphemy, bigotry), complaining. I've even accused dealers of cheating, just to make myself look like an a-hole who couldn't possibly be smart enough to be an AP.

That's only one act I use (Drunken Idiot). I have a few others: John Deere, Uncle Chuckles, Sad Sack, Dr. Dirty, Chartreuse Bruce (you don't even want to see that one!) , The Professor, and The Stud.

 

[Preston]

My cover just paid off...

At my home casino (which I am hitting 3-4 times a week) I just got a head up that I am receiving no heat whatsoever. The pit and the dealers have convinced themselves that I am a craps player who also plays blackjack instead of the other way around..


since I often times return to the BJ table with only red and whites...
I've squirreled everything else away when I leave the craps table.

and I also watch craps when my brain is too tired to do the math anymore.... so unless they're at that table they can't tell I'm not playing.

 

[Gordon Gekko]

Don't worry about cover. If your skill level is at the point where you need to play with cover, then you would already have enough contacts within your inner circle of AP to openly talk about this subject. NOT on an open public board.

My guess is that only a couple of players who routinely post here should even think about cover. Most call themselves AP's here on the board but actually dont have a clue on how to really get the dough. In fact, again, most probably arn't old enough to even go to a casino.

If you insist that your ready to use cover, then read the archives for some ideas. Otherwise just Go For It!


gg