Observing Live Casino Play

I currently look for signs of support for my blackjack 'strategy' by visiting casinos and simply watching other (hopefully skilled) people play. This saves me money because I don't bet any money, and it's good because the cards are being shuffled and dealt by a professional dealer.

This is a great way to demonstrate (or not) support for my strategy, but the big down side is that I don't live too close to a casino, and I cannot write stuff down easily at the casino without going to the bathroom every 10 minutes.

So, does anyone know of any other way I could do this, like in a private setting. For example, I could hire a professional dealer to deal cards to me. Or, I could perhaps sign up at an U.S. friendly live dealer blackjack site that doesn't care if I observe in lieu of betting. Does anyone know of such sites? (One site I used to belong to required that I keep betting in order to be able to stay in the 'room' where the cards were being dealt to the players.). Or perhaps there is another site that somehow taps into live blackjack play, as in at a 'brick and mortar' casino?

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated! Thank you!

You don't need to write stuff down. Get a recording app on your phone and just be talking on the phone, out of earshot of the staff. You should be able to record with a phone in your shirt pocket if you can observe from a sufficient distance.

If you're not willing to invest the $100 or so in simulation software, you could invest $35 or so in a dealing shoe and 6 good decks of cards.

Learn a few house shuffle procedures.

Run all the simulations you want on your kitchen table. You might want to roll a die every other hand to see if a spot will join or leave the table.

This will take some serious time. You might be able to run through a shoe in 10 minutes, where a computer simulation could easily run millions of shoes in that time.

Are you familiar with Casino Verite. The basic package + CVShuffle will give you immense capabilities for simulating real casino conditions. There are all sorts of options to simulate the real world conditions, such as players coming and going, speed of play, how well the other players at the table play, etc.

www.qfit.com.

I also highly recommend the practice app for phones. It has all the count systems and numerous options for practice. For $15 it is a steal, considering the amount of money it can save you by eliminating mistakes.