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That's interesting. I dealt roulette occasionally in my younger years ('90s) and we had 3 different sized balls to work with if we sensed someone getting a lit
by Steeeve 10y ago
That's interesting. I dealt roulette occasionally in my younger years ('90s) and we had 3 different sized balls to work with if we sensed someone getting a little too lucky.
I don't know the inner workings of casinos in the modern day, but back then we had a lot of ways to deal with cheating. I'm sure there were pros that we never noticed, but the people who read how to count cards and decided to try it out were easy to spot and deal with. I remember one time the pit boss telling me over my shoulder "that's enough, bring it in" and I said "I'm trying!" because I actually was. I had dumped most of my tray of chips (not all that much on a $25 table) and it was very obvious we had 2 people at the table working on the rookie dealer.
He pushed me out for my twenty minute break twenty minutes early and when I came back the tray was full and the players were surly. I commented "what happened to all your chips?" and the guy on third base stood up, pointed to the dealer that replaced me, and said "that bitch took it all". Cue security and the table cleared out just about instantly.
A few of the things we could do to change things up on a blackjack table:
- burn extra cards
- change the shuffle
- new deck of cards
- prematurely end a hand
- encourage non-standard play from the other players
- encourage a player to walk away
When I ran into the players I mentioned above, I only knew about burning extra cards. You pick up other ways from other dealers who've been around longer and want you to pull your weight by bringing in better tips.
For roulette, there were just the two ways (changing the ball, stop and start the wheel), but it was pretty rare for me to deal that game, so who knows.
- forgettableuser 10y agoThis is from a British show called The Real Hustle. They show a modern way to cheat at roulette using a tiny computer and an earpiece to predict where the ball is going to land. The scammers then quickly place bets on all the immediate slots around the predicted slot (because it is imperfect). They admit, this is still pretty tricky to pull off. Starts at 3 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YH2FAZqScxM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YH2FAZqScxM
- caf 10y agoCounting cards is not actually cheating.
- Steeeve 10y agoNo. It's perfectly legal. And the counters you can notice are generally pretty bad at it anyways. Still, it's discouraged. The casinos would much rather a weekend tourist walk away with a day of winnings than a pro. Tourists tell their friends and inspire them to visit.
- caf 10y agoThe bad counters are probably losing money anyway, it doesn't take many mistakes per hour to lose the tiny edge counting can give you.
- dsmithatx 10y agoA very skilled counter I know in real life made over 6 figures a year. She played 7-8 months out of the year 8 hours a day 5 days a week. Bets sized from $25-$100 generally. It's not illegal but, once you are identified you are banned from all casinos in Vegas at least. They use facial recognition and catch you walking in the door. There is one guy that works for all casinos and recognizes faces manually along with the FR equipment. My friend mostly only played in Mississippi and other states in the East.