I have never been much for cover, and after 20 years, it is starting to take a toll. I travel around a lot so I have been able to play at many different locations. When I started playing 20 years ago, I generally played $10/25-200 max, I was able to play without many back offs, or when they occurred, they seemed to quickly forget, and I would be able to return a year or so later and play using a friend's card or without giving a card.
But, as I started raising my max bet up to the $500/1000 range, the backoffs became more frequent, quicker, and they seemed to have my face if I returned.
I found one Indian casino (about 4 locations) that I would really like to stay in good standing.
Can any successful hi-low counters provide some input on the efficacy of these tools at improving longevity. My guess is that that this casino is not too sophisticated (probably no program to evaluate AP play quickly like they would have in Vegas) but it is a fairly low stakes casino. When I played for a few hours $25-300 (with some bet cover, I was by far the biggest better at the tables)
a) playing slots and or other non AP games for short intervals. (willing to do this for a limited time/limited dollars)
b) tipping dealers
c) play cover (standing on S18 vs 10), insuring all BJs. (I have always been dead against this idea. It requires the right person to be watching and know what the correct play is for the given count)
d) bet cover/first hand out of the shoe random bets. (I have tried this with limited success. By randomly betting $500/25 at one place I believe I was able to buy myself a good 10+ visits before being booted) but eventually someone started watching the other bets and seeing the correlation to the count.