How to avoid looking like a counter

[AnIrishmannot2brite]

The only time I suspected getting heat from the crew was when a chatty dealer kept asking me questions about her car's transmission problems. She wouldn't relent even after I lied back to her the statement "lady i really don't know all that much about cars" in order to get her off my back. Lastly I just ignored her and eventually she stopped.

I was up about four hundred dollars at the time but had spent quite a few hours at the table. So my longevity without going broke may have caught the staff's attention. Then again maybe she really did have car troubles. I'll never know. Either way I wasn't about to say anything more than a pre-prepared VERY short sentence.

Do non counting players look at the cards as they are being dealt too? Surely this is what a lot of counters will do as they cards get passed around the table. I only move my eyes, not my head. My guess is that eyeball movement won't show on the cameras and the dealer is so preoccupied that he/she wouldn't notice.

 

[EasyRhino]

Being able to conduct an animated conversation while counting is a great way to look like you're not counting.

 

[ChefJJ]

Being able to conduct an animated conversation while counting is a great way to look like you're not counting.

Amen to that ER.

As for Irish, try looking away, looking at the dealer, etc. from time to time. You shouldn't really have to follow each card as they are dealt. Try counting after the first two cards for each player have been dealt, and that will give you time to look away, converse, etc. without missing much.

good luck

 

[Bashful C. Stupid-Butt]

I'm sorry. The last thing you should do is going to the casino to chat with other players while gambling. Simply turning away from the table and taking your eyes off the cards would make anyone look like they are not paying attention.

 

[AnIrishmannot2brite]

I'm sorry. The last thing you should do is going to the casino to chat with other players while gambling. Simply turning away from the table and taking your eyes off the cards would make anyone look like they are not paying attention.

Agreed. Especially if you don't have the counting down really fast and smooth. By talking at all it will increase the chance that someone else will become overly chatty.

Perhaps this is where a good friend or confederate can help. If you have an attractive girlfriend bring her along to distract any attention from someone who decided your his best new buddy.

 

[Automatic Monkey]

Agreed. Especially if you don't have the counting down really fast and smooth. By talking at all it will increase the chance that someone else will become overly chatty.

That's OK to start, but as you develop command of your counting skills you should be able to do everything everyone else is doing at the table while counting. Think of it as like driving- when you first learn to drive you have both hands on the wheel and you are doing nothing else, but after you have been driving a few years you eat, drink, read the paper, self-abuse, etc., and you are still able to drive. And it's not like you are going to kill someone if you lose the count, you just lose a little EV.

Perhaps this is where a good friend or confederate can help. If you have an attractive girlfriend bring her along to distract any attention from someone who decided your his best new buddy.

Hurrah for you if you can find an attractive girlfriend willing to stay with you for an 8-hour, boring, gritty, grimy counting session! I can't even get an ugly girl to do that. Even men who have what it takes are a rarity.

By the end of a session, I'm looking, talking, and acting like a compulsive gambler and a desperate, depressing drunk. At least that's what I aspire to.

 

[TheProdigy]

Hurrah for you if you can find an attractive girlfriend willing to stay with you for an 8-hour, boring, gritty, grimy counting session!

You must have one hell of an act to be pulling off 8 hour counting sessions!

 

[shadroch]

Agreed. Especially if you don't have the counting down really fast and smooth. By talking at all it will increase the chance that someone else will become overly chatty.

Perhaps this is where a good friend or confederate can help. If you have an attractive girlfriend bring her along to distract any attention from someone who decided your his best new buddy.

There are plenty of times to chat at a table. If the count is negative towards the end of a shoe,just bet the minimum and chat away.
After a while,you'll be able to hold conversations,think about your next meal,track the pitboss and count without even realizing you are doing it.
Nothing calls attention like being a reclusive loner refusing to engage in social conventions while eyeing each persons cards.

 

[EasyRhino]

By the end of a session, I'm looking, talking, and acting like a compulsive gambler and a desperate, depressing drunk.

I've always wanted to ask you about how you maintain such an even keel throughout the day.

 

[Preston]

counting is second nature when it's 2 decks or less and I can hold a conversation with the dealer.

On top of that, I've got the reputation for being a dice player.

Also, on one occasion I played a CSM table for about 20 min for extra cover...

 

[ChefJJ]

I'm sorry. The last thing you should do is going to the casino to chat with other players while gambling. Simply turning away from the table and taking your eyes off the cards would make anyone look like they are not paying attention.

Why is being social a bad thing? It can sure help you not look like a counter, and just looking away from time to time could seem robotic.

To each his own, but I think that comment is a little extreme..."the last thing you should do". Being social is a big part of the allure of playing for me, but not for everyone for sure.

 

[Kaiser]

It can be easy to get in the habit of watching every card, but it's not that hard to make a few changes to your routine. A lot of the time I've got players to my right and left, so I'll be taking a sip of my drink and looking away, or trying to catch the game on the wall mounted TV, while the dealer is giving everyone their cards. Once in a while I'll even keep watching the TV while she's dealing to the 1 or 2 guys to my right, using peripheral vision to make sure the guys don't bust out. If the dealer makes a move towards their cards I'll look down quickly and count the cards. If they don't bust, sometimes I pretend I don't realize it's my turn and wait for the dealer to say "sir?". I play dumb, fumble around, make my play, and then scan the table and get the count after I've played my hand.

Of course it depends on where I'm sitting and how many others are at the table, but I can look pretty uninterested if I try. I've gotten pretty good at taking mental "snapshots" of the table with a quick glance, then count the cards in the image I have in my mind while I'm looking away. It's weird to explain, but I'll look for a split second, look away, and count 'em.

But one thing I've noticed is that it really depends on where you play. There is one small casino I go to where it's almost weird if you *don't* watch every card. I'll sit back and watch the players faces during deals, and every one of them is watching the cards intently, and watching every move the other players make. You'd swear they were counting cards, just going by the way they seem to track the cards, but they're just making sure "that guy down there doesn't screw the table up". At this place I don't bother with my little games, I just watch the cards along with the rest of the crowd.

 

[Bashful C. Stupid-Butt]

Please resist the urge to become overly wasted. I don't have this issue, pothead, not alcoholic. But if you're downing more than 3 drinks an hour, after a long night out, you may be impaired.

 

[Bashful C. Stupid-Butt]

Why is being social a bad thing? It can sure help you not look like a counter, and just looking away from time to time could seem robotic.

To each his own, but I think that comment is a little extreme..."the last thing you should do". Being social is a big part of the allure of playing for me, but not for everyone for sure.

Being social at a bar isn't a bad thing, the only money at risk is buying drinks. At a blackjack table, you are there for only one reason. To win money. I even find it distracting for a table to cheer the big winner and even more when it's me. I now have to thank everyone.

Maybe it's me. I'm not gambling for fun, and yet winning money is fun. However losing money is not fun, and if chatting with the people at my table detracts from my fun, I'll choose not to do it.

I am chatting, but I may have only 24-36 hours of table experience, as hard as that is to believe.

 

[ChefJJ]

Being social at a bar isn't a bad thing, the only money at risk is buying drinks. At a blackjack table, you are there for only one reason. To win money. I even find it distracting for a table to cheer the big winner and even more when it's me. I now have to thank everyone.

Maybe it's me. I'm not gambling for fun, and yet winning money is fun. However losing money is not fun, and if chatting with the people at my table detracts from my fun, I'll choose not to do it.

I am chatting, but I may have only 24-36 hours of table experience, as hard as that is to believe.

It's all about what works for you.

 

[shadroch]

I am chatting, but I may have only 24-36 hours of table experience, as hard as that is to believe.[/QUOTE]



Trust me,its not hard to believe. Maybe you should try to aquire a few weeks worth of experiance and go back and read some of your posts.i shiver when I read some of my early posts.

 

[AnIrishmannot2brite]

The problem with ordering drinks is that they won't have the brew you're looking for. This will necessitate additional discussion followed by long wait, payment, tip etc.

Unless the drinks are complimentary. There again this is the advantage of having a well trained confederate hanging out. She (it should be a female friend as this diverts attention AWAY from you) can handle all non gambling matters.

But she must be sharp. Nothing worse than having a perfect fool hanging around to screw up your table environment.

 

[Bashful C. Stupid-Butt]

I have the cards and the chips to practice, I just don't have ANY money at the moment, and even though I expect a windfall within a year, actually from what I've read about similar instances, 169 days on average, I'm not planning on gambling first, if at all. I should replace my car, and I would like to buy a cheap house. But that's part of a different story. I have at least 1500 hours of at home experience.

I guess if anything needs work, it would be my betting. Moving up or down one chip for every point in the count can get your bet very high, very quick, should there be an instance of clumping. I may have to spend time at home working with 1 chip for every negative point and 1 chip every +2 points during the running count. At least it allows me to very my bets consistantly instead of going 5-500.