Sitting out hands etc..

[LC Larry]

Backed off for betting $15? Was this in the middle of nowhere? If they are sweating $15 hands, they might as well close up shop.

Back in my counting days, I was flat bet at a one of the larger MGM properties spreading $10-$80 on an 8 deck H17 game.

The moral of the story is, if they suspect counting, they'll use countermeasures no matter the location.

 

[JJP]

Not sure how they can assume counting with a $15 bet. It could very well have been the table minimum wager. Or a 3-2 spread for a $10 minimum table.

John Crover should give it 6 months, go back on a different day of the week/time of day and see if the same idiot is in the pit.

 

[JohnCrover]

It's the quickest back off I have ever had, and maybe a world record but other shops have been more tolerable. I short though, if they know you're counting cards it doesn't matter what you're betting. They will back you off.

 

[ZenKinG]

In my experience you're wrong. I have been backed off from 3 betting red. I even had a pit boss tell me that they "Sweat all the action and that people think thye don't sweat small action but that's just wrong. We sweat all action." Now, maybe that's just that one casino.

My first back off, the boss told me that "[sitting out hands] is a dead give away."

You know what else is a dead giveaway. COUNTING in general. My strategy is not to fool anyone, i dont care if the casinos know what im doing, go ahead and back me off. There's thousands of places to play and ill just recycle this joint for 3 months or so and come back on a different shift later when another casino backs me off, rinse and repeat.

This is where most newbies go wrong. They use cover plays, get paranoid about what the casino is thinking, don't wong out, don't backcount, and end up playing a costly game or even a negative ev game for no reason. You're gonna eventually get backed off anyway. Get the money down, play short sessions, or simply start traveling. If you like to play local and cant travel so you try to outwit the casinos with your magical cover plays and not wonging, you're just wasting money that could've been used to drive further or fly somewhere to play, it all evens out anyway. Actually you're probably giving up more by resorting to trying to fool the casino.

 

[Dummy]

I always say if you want to drop to minimum bet or sit out, then you should probably get up from the table. If you want to play the same table again you can have lammers placed on your spots. If not you can change tables or casinos. Often a BO is as much from betting small too often, which sitting out is, as the BO was from your big bets. It is actually the contrast between the two but the more often you bet small the quicker a more tolerant casino will back you off. Sweatshops will act fast no matter what but the contrast in small bet frequency to the frequency of raised bets makes them act a little faster. In a tolerant casino shifting the frequency of betting small after showing larger bets will impact your longevity. Of course it also helps with your EV.

 

[xengrifter]

does this, in effect get me nearer to a 1-16 spread that is more desirable

Yes.