Betting Disguise
How much effort, if any, do you employ to disguise the fact that you are a card counter?
How much effort, if any, do you employ to disguise the fact that you are a card counter?
I just try to blend in with the masses and be as forgettable as possible. I keep sessions short for the most part and that's pretty much my only cover.
redfork, I believe "Burning the Tables in Las Vegas" has some good info. (albeit perhaps a bit outdated today) on disguises.
I should have been clearer in my original posting. Not interested in wearing disguises rather more interested in the size of the betting spreads and making sudden changes in the bet sizes. Increasing the bet after wins is pretty normal player behavior but maybe gets a little more dicey when dropping down and staying down after winning because of bad counts and then suddenly reversing course with the bets. Whatever thoughts you have on handling of the betting spread will be more than appreciated. Thanks.
I don't use hardly any betting cover. I will sometimes bet 2 units in neutral counts and will usually refrain from jumping from my min bet all the way to my max bet unless that's going to be the last shoe of the session and I have enough chips in front of me to pull it off. Usually if you jump from 1x1U to 2x4U when the count rises you can make the final jump to your max bet at anytime in one shot.
If you're top bet is less than 2x$150 or 1x$200 you are likely wasting your time using any cover at all. Look at the gamblers typical today. There are two types, those that spread very little and those that make massive random bet jumps. You will want to look like the first type when the count is bad and like the second type when the count gets good. Both of those types can look perfectly natural as long as you don't hang around long enough for the casino to analyze your play. If your top bet is 2x$150 or less you shouldn't be using any cover at all.
Put the money on the table when you have the best of it and take the money off the table when you don't. It's a fairly simple game. The most important thing is to network and try to figure out the tolerance level of any given casino before you play there. If the casino is a known sweatshop that gets little action you should probably play elsewhere.
The casinos have long since figured out most disguises (with the exception of a few masters of disguise, of course). In most cases, a well-trained surveillance operator can spot a phony in a matter of minutes.
Regards,
drumz1
Agree. Put enough big bets on negative counts and low bets on positive counts and you don't need cover because do not have an advantage or only small advantage.
One exception, at a small Indian casino I believe I bought myself many extra hours of play. After my first session at the casino where I had a decent win, I returned, and was betting table max ($500) randomly off the first hand from the dd game. this was s17 das no rsa- so I figure it was costing me about $500 X $0.19/100 or about a buck each time. Then I reverted to about $25-300 after the first hand. Pretty sure big boss watched and decided this as a wild gambler not card counter- at least for a while. Eventually, betting 25-2 x 200 at dd with S17 and 75% pen, I got booted, but I really think I bought myself another 5-10 several hour sessions with this cover.
Employ a guise rather than a disguise. Burning the tables in Las Vegas:Excellent book!
