Recently I happened across a nice 1 deck game so naturally I decided to test my luck. I was having an enjoyable session until the cooler was sent in. This old hag looked like she'd been smoking and dealing blackjack for the last 40 years. My profits quickly began to dissipate and then it happened... a quick flip of the wrist to apparently check her $20 watch. I began having flashbacks of being cheated years ago in a downtown Vegas joint. I thought to myself, "no way this casino is going to cheat it's players, casinos don't need to cheat, I mean look at all the idiots here giving away their money and leaving the table because I hit soft 18 vs 9... I don't like her vibe but will give her the benefit of the doubt." About 2 minutes later it happened again. "You have got to be kidding me right?" Of course my hit card was a 9 and I busted. I sat in bewilderment for a second and gathered my chips. "what time is it?" I asked. Of course she had to look at her watch for the third time because she had no frigging idea what time it was. She told me the time and I asked when she got off work. She didn't get off work for another 6 1/2 hours, why would she be checking her watch???
Casinos run like clockwork, there's really no reason for a dealer ever to look at their watch unless it's close to their break time or they're about to get off work. She had just showed up to the table so it's not like she was really checking to see how long she had before her relief came in. Anyway I took a stroll and waited it out. After 10 minutes or so she was relieved and went to another table, her break wasn't up yet so again there's no reason for her to be concerned about the time.
I read somewhere that casino cheating doesn't really exist anymore because it's not worth the risk to lose their gaming license and of course because it's not necessary to cheat when you make the rules and the game is fixed. Well wherever I read that they were dead wrong. I guess they despise intelligent players so much that rather than 86 somebody they simply cheat them, it's obviously a game to them. Think about it, there's absolutely nothing you can do about it. Even if you caught it on film the dealer could still say she was really checking the time and it just happened that the top card was accidentally bent or maneuvered in a manner to expose it. I still find it hard to believe, especially since I wasn't even betting black action and my spread was quite small. If you play in hand held games and the dealer checks their watch I would advise leaving the table immediately, it's not worth the risk whether or not the dealer genuinely wants to know the time.
