Dealer tells me to be consistent. What would you do?

I'm sure you've all been through this. But the other day, I had a dealer who kept lecturing me about the importance of playing consistently. You know, hitting or standing on a 16 vs. 10, hitting or standing on a 12 vs. 2, etc. "Pick one, and stick with it. Otherwise you mess up the flow of the cards." I'm getting sick of that flow of the cards crap. I don't know how anybody in their right mind could believe in the "flow of the cards" in a randomly shuffled shoe. Like I said, this was the dealer, not another payer. He didn't do this once, he did this a number of times. I highly doubt he suspected I was counting, although he noticed that I hit 16 when I have a small bet out, but stood when I had a big bet out. "You can't be chicken, you have to hit it."

So what would you do? Ask the dealer not to tell you how to play? Thank the dealer for the advice, then ignore it? Move to another table? I was hesitant to move to another table because he was providing 83% penetration whereas the other dealers were providing 65% to 75% penetration.

"Consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds"

Blackjack Scams

. . . it's bad enough when the House beats your big bets, and that you can't handle doing it for them.

And if he/she complains that you are insuring a stiff, tell him you figure you have a better chance winning with his blackjack, than your own crap hand, espically with the big bet you have out there.

There are all kinds of lines you can use. Prepare them ahead of time.

stay with the dealer if he's providing that kind of pen!!!
also-ask him if he'd like to join the flat earth society-a group in existence right now that believes the earth is flat-i'm sure it works for those who believe in "the flow of the cards!"

turned it around & asked "Are you criticizing my play?". That usually gets them to say, "No." to which I reply, "Well then, stop talking like that because it sounds like criticism!"

It usually works.

You can say you go with your gut. You can say that in the past it has improved the flow. If the table is loaded with big cards, you say you were sure a small one was coming. If the table has been losing, then you were trying to improve the flow. There are tons of things to say or you could just ignore him because he has no right telling you how to play.

One thing I would never do is try to convince the dealer or a player that the flow does not exist. This is like questioning someone's religion and if heard by the pit might make them think very hard about you.

There are all kinds of lines you can use. Prepare them ahead of time.

....You might just politely tell the dealer to shut the f**k up and deal the damned cards (when all other forms of diplomacy fail, that is). Hey, I've done it when the dealer won't keep quiet.

:-)

Regards,
drumz1

"wow... I can change the flow of the cards by doing certain things"....... then I woulkd start changing the flow of the cards when i detected bad flow juju

tell the dealer he's probably correct, then continue to play your hand the way you see fit.

I agree with Mike G. Superstitions provide a counter his best cover. The art is to use their superstitions to your benefit or to make your superstitions stronger than theirs when necessary.

Recently, I was in a shoe that went from TC 0+ to 0- just as a new face asked to join. I encouraged him to "join the fun" but the third baseman started whining about the "flow of cards." So I "considerately" offered to sit out the remainder of the hand so the newcomer could play. You got to love those superstitions - "Sure, please play out this negative shoe for me, I'll just join you again when the count is +2."

you come to gamble to get away the consistency required at your job.

and don't care if you lose. You will fit right in with the rest of the ploppies.

you are dyslexic. And that every time you visualize the basic strategy guidelines, they are different. :)