Ever gotten a 'tell' from a dealer?

[Witling]

I heard Max Rubin on the World Series of Blackjack mention that one of the players was watching the dealer when she checked her hole card.

Have any of you ever gained anything from watching the dealer while they were checking?

Any other tells you've picked up?

I'll be in LAS next weekend (June 10-14). What would be your top 3 places to play $10-$50 blackjack?

 

[Felix Rue-de-Guerre]

Yes...

A couple of examples:

I was at a table where there were several rounds where everyone was getting stiff hands against dealer 10's. After a couple of these all the drunks at the table were feigning disappointment at the stiffs even though they were were just tipsy and having fun. When they did get good hands they would cheer and laugh and tip.

After awhile the dealer sort of fell victim to the reinforcement schedule. We got her on our side. When checking hole cards she would smile if she had a crap card and wince at a 10. Although I've never tried, I imagine the right people with the right dealer could force this situation.

Another dealer while checking her hole card would audibly just say "perfect" or "alright" under her breath with low cards in the hole. But situations this blatant are rare.

If you run across anything like this, take names for future visits!

-Felix

 

[Brillo]

Uhh....

Explain to me how this helps. Dealers can only see Aces and Tens. If they see an ace or a ten, they turn their snapper over. If they don't see an ace or a ten, they don't know what the hell they have. They know as much as you know, what their top card is.

 

[LV Bear]

There are still some casinos where the dealer actually looks at the hole card, not thru a peeker

 

[MrPill]

Even with a Peeker

I have played against a couple of dealers that when they had an Ace up, while offering insurance slid the cards under the peek mirror. So they actually knew the hole card before closing insurance.

And then depending on how fast or slow they closed insurance, gave a tell on the hole card. The dealer was having a good time at the table (fun, tipping players)and seem to be trying to "offer" this information.

I took insurance whenever they hesitated to close it (unjustified by the count)and was rewarded everytime during these sessions. So I guess situations do arise that may be intentional or unintentional even when a peeker is present.

Pill

 

[john]

what about this situation

I came across a dealer who was bending the crap out of his hole cards. When he would put them in the discard tray, they were so bent that the card would actually be raised up leaving a small gap. I couldn't believe it. He was doing this almost everytime, though so I'm not sure what the value would be.

 

[deZerTomB]

oh yeah most obvious ones in the red chip tables when the dealer sees almost no one win money. Dealer will say you sure you want a hit after you scratch yourcards and he has gotten a peak at the top card.

does that make sense?

The sequence:
player indicates hit.
dealer peaks
dealer asks "you sure?"
player says "uh maybe not"
dealer says "stay"
player says "ok" and tucks cards.

of course this would rarely happen you would think, but it has happened to me several times. also of course ther have been many variations, non-verbal, body language.

But don't vary too much from your counting strategy unless it's a blatant tell.

For instance, with a negative count, the dealer would have to show me the 10 before I would stay on 12 against anything the dealer has and a small bet out.

This is pitch game only. obviously dealer can't peak with shoe. as easily hehe.

Also, beware of the dealer just feeding you basic stratgy and not peeking.

 

[MrPill]

Warps

John,

This is actually a tell that has been discussed in a few books. I don't remember which one(s) though, I have quite a few in my library.

But the premise would be that not only is the whole card being bent, but also the top card. What this means is that the 10's and A's are being "bent" more often then the other cards because they are the ones causing the dealer to peek, being the up card.

This would be of value during an insurance call if you see a warped or bent card under the dealers ace.

Pill

 

[suicyco maniac]

"Winning without counting" by Wong

And also in "Blackjack secrets" by Wong along with a few other books I cannot recall at this time. SM

 

[gehrig]

best "tell" was yars ago @ silver city.

dealer had a jack, i had ten and six. i mumbled...hmmm, i wonder what i should do (count was neutral). the dealer asked: "what would you do against a pair of jacks" ?

 

[edwards]

binions

When binions dealers used to check (mid 1990s) they had the worst poker faces in town. My friend and I kept track of how often we could read the dealers expression and we were correct about 90% of the time. Ace up was not much of an advantage. However, when they had a ten up it was easy to read whether they were hanging tough. Especially when they did the double take when they saw the four under there (which looks like the ace at first).

The mirrors ruined this advantage. Ended up staying on a LOT of 14, 15, and 16s. Those were the good old days.

 

[Virgin Counter]

Tells

Yes! This finally happened to me. Dealer double checked the hole card real quickly -- I had read in one of my BJ books that when a dealer double checks their hole card they are most likely have a four buried which can look like the dreaded Ace buried. I took a chance and doubled my 9 against the dealer and hit a 9. Sure enough the dealer turned over a four and then hit a 3 for a 17.