Is Heat Overstated??

M

mich hucknall

Member
I keep reading and hearing all kinds of stories about 'taking heat'. But in my limited experience.. and the casinos I know about - you'd have to walk away with several g's a few times in succession for them to really bother about you.. card counting or not. i saw one guy who was obviously not counting cards making the most crazy bet spreads - $5 one minute - $200 the next... no one cared. Certainly no one cares unless you start winning big. And even then... if you did get caught counting... the most probable thing they're likely to do is ask you to do is stop playing BJ.

Comments??
 
sagefr0g

sagefr0g

Well-Known Member
mich hucknall said:
I keep reading and hearing all kinds of stories about 'taking heat'. But in my limited experience.. and the casinos I know about - you'd have to walk away with several g's a few times in succession for them to really bother about you.. card counting or not. i saw one guy who was obviously not counting cards making the most crazy bet spreads - $5 one minute - $200 the next... no one cared. Certainly no one cares unless you start winning big. And even then... if you did get caught counting... the most probable thing they're likely to do is ask you to do is stop playing BJ.

Comments??
Click to expand...
probably i think they do care about the winning over time, perhaps long stretchs of time that isn't so obvious but painful for their bottom line.
 
E

eandre

Well-Known Member
How good are you? In my humble opinion one only needs 1-2 backoffs to get good enough to fly under the radar. It's like driving a car-you can run a stop sign or a red light once in a while without a ticket and hopefully no wreck but sooner or later you get caught.
 
ihate17

ihate17

Well-Known Member
Heat can be real or imaginary

When you pick up a few blackjack books and check out a site or two, you will always hear stories about heat, backoffs and barrings because they do happen. So the brand new counter goes to his local casino betting small amounts and is paranoid that every casino paid eye in the place is watching his game.
The thing is that every casino is somewhat different. Some have a tolerance level. Not that they like counters, just that they do not spend their assets on evaluating players who play under a certain level or win under a certain level. This can change if you embarrass someone or if your lifetime win gets too large or if there is a change in management.

It is up to you to try and understand as much about the casino as you can. Does the pit evaluate you or does the pit ignore you and the eye evaluate you? Is the place a low roller place or do they handle big bets well? Does the pit just sweat anyone who is winning, which just might mean the pit does not know what they are doing? Do they backoff lucky ploppies?

A good example might be heat in the typical MGM shop. The pit might try and befriend you with some idle chat. You need to talk to him, the dealer and the cocktail waitress like a good time vacationer and still never lose the count while only glancing at the table for a split second. If later he still suspects you he will watch and then turn his back to you while calling upstairs for the eye to evaluate you. They use a computer program which would require at least 3 shoes (often more) to determine your skill. The pit critter will now most likely be at the other end of the pit doing something else.
So, now you have choices. Play basic strategy for a shoe or two, hit them hard for a shoe or two, look like a ploppy for a shoe or two and in all cases leave. If you hit them hard you might find yourself backed off upon return if you played rated.

ihate17
 
Sonny

Sonny

Well-Known Member
moo321 said:
If you know what you're doing, you should very rarely be getting caught.
Click to expand...
Corollary:

And if you don't know what you're doing, you probably don't know what heat looks like anyway.

-Sonny-
 
C

callipygian

Well-Known Member
ihate17 said:
The thing is that every casino is somewhat different.
Click to expand...
I'll expand on this.

Some casinos would rather bar 10 lucky ploppies than let 1 card counter get through. Others would rather let 10 counters play than bar 1 lucky ploppy. If you're in the first type of joint (paranoid casinos), there's really nothing you can do to convince them to let you play long-term, because they'll bar you for winning whether you're good or not. Additionally, the first heat that you get will likely be severe (dealer change, shoulder tap, restriction to flat betting, etc.). If you're in the second type of joint (tolerant casinos), an act in which you create just enough ambiguity between lucky and good will let you play forever. Furthermore, the first heat you get will be really gentle - a friendly introduction from the pit boss, penetration cut, etc. My philosophy is to take the hint and don't push your luck.

A few years ago, I got what might be the gentlest backoff ever - the pit boss came over with an unsolicited comp ticket for the buffet, and said something to the effect of, "You've been playing for a while, why don't you get something to eat on us? Just sign up for a players card and we can hook you up right away." I took the hint and I cashed out immediately.

I am in agreement that heat is overrated, because bad players who end up aggressively hitting the paranoid casinos end up with an inflated opinion of their play, and make a lot of noise about getting barred here and barred there, when, honestly, most aren't AP's to begin with. However, I also think that good players tend to underestimate the gentle hints that the tolerant casinos give off, not considering it "heat" per se.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top