Dealer checking for 10 or Ace

I recently had the opportunity to visit Reno for the first time. I noticed something that I never saw at other casinos. Their 10�s and A�s on the Blackjack tables have black lines on them that are apparently used by the electronic scanner that checks for a 10 or an Ace. (This is different than type of system in some Vegas casinos that has the scanner with the A and T buttons)

Why does Reno use this technology?

Is anyone else using this? (With the exception of a few Vegas casinos that use a push button system to check for the 10/A in Vegas I never seen anything but standard window with mirrors.

RedChipper, I'm sure you already know this but some others on this board may not. The reason for using a device for peeking is to eliminate two occurences. The first is to prevent the hole card being seen by a player at the table (hole card play) or by someone standing away from the table who will signal it's value to a confederate playing at the table (spooking). The second is to prevent a cheating dealer who is in colusion with a player from signaling the value of the hole card to her/his partner. Outfitting tables with the mirror readers should eliminate the first concern but an electrical reader is necessary to prevent the dealer from seeing what the hole card is. This is the reason why casinos are using them. Hit 'em hard, The Side

The dealer can't betray his pat vs. stiff status if he doesn't know it. Shame really. The end of an era. After Forte's book that end came very fast.

The dealer cannot tell what the card is (other than ace or 10 value) with most mirror type readers.

The dealer can only see the corner of the card, and if you look closely at the cards, you will see that the aces and 10 value cards have the corner markings slightly different than the rest of the cards.

Also note that they insert the cards into the reader differently, depending on whether an ace or 10 is the upcard.

About a year ago a certain downtown LV casino accidently received a shipment of the wrong type of cards for their readers, and had to go back to "peeking" for a couple of days until the right kind of cards could be procured. Hole card play and dealer tells were rampant.

It was great fun while it lasted. :-)

still a profitable BJ technique. I see new BJ dealers all the time.

LW

Thanks for all of the responses, but the only response to my question of "Why do Vegas and Reno use a different system"? Was that Reno is 10 years older, which dosen't seem like a logical answer.

drive chevy's and some Fords?

Both the mirrors & the lights accomplish the same thing. It's just a matter of who had the best sales pitch, pricing, availabilty, etc. at the time the casino was in the market for a device, same as goes with any other competing products. I would guess the mirror company probably argues cheap price & nuttin' to break down while the light company probably argues less human error, less fatigue, and flashier appearance to the customer at only a slightly higher price.

In response to Lone Wolf above, tells & body language advantage play are history since the dealer doesn't know the hole card anymore (unless the dealer is cheating, in which case you should leave the table, and except in the extremely rare cases as Parker posted about). However, you can find hole card play from time to time, primarily in pitch games. Usually it is in the form of a sloppy dealer that flashes the hole card as he deals it. I believe most people naturally tend to look at the player's hands during the deal, if even paying attention at all. I watch (but not stare) at the deck. Dealers sometimes drop a card in the tray or slightly fumble the card without actually dropping it, which you can then see if you are alert. Best is if the dealer has a sloppy, consistant motion that flashes the card.

My favorite hole card story happened as I was getting killed by repeatedly busting stiffs against a dealer 10 up card, only to then find out the dealer had crap in the hole everytime. A pit boss came over the next hand as I was faced with a 14 vs dealer ten up and peeked at the hole card, and then shocked me by telling me it was 3 in the hole in apparent pity of my bad run. I stood and watched the dealer draw a 7.