What is the unwritten "protocol" when we spot other counters?

I'm primarily talking about unknown counters that we "discover" while scouting tables, let's say. I know that we should NOT play at their table, if possible; this is a common courtesy. What I do not know is...Do we pretend that they are just another gambler and go about our business? If we approach them once outside the casino's cameras and security, is this considered bad form? If it's not then how do we open up a conversation...Do we "come out" first? Perhaps someone can set me straight on this matter, and here's my thank you in advance. 49.

I'd rather you act as if you didn't notice anything unusual about my play, avoid my table, and forget you ever saw me. If we happen to run into each other on several subsequent occasions at different places then it is possible that we may exchange a few words if we run into each other some place off camera.

may think you are his associate...

Thus, if you seen with a counter, you risk being made as one also...interact minimally, just like any two tourists might.

Blackjack literature often says that only one in a hundred people playing blackjack in a casino can count... but I personally think that quite a few people playing blackjack know something about counting...but for a variety of reasons only a few are successful at it long-term. i expect everyone to know a little about counting, so I treat everyone like a tourist would. I suspect everyone else is doing the same--playing the game i call "keeping the big secret".

But let's say you have spotted one really good player that you are sure is a solid counter. Usually a nod, a wink or some other gesture is enough to communicate "i am a counter too and i will keep your secret if you keep mine." Indeed, counting is only part of your skills you need to play winning blackjack--the craft of playing undercover is the challenging part!

Generally, if you are at a table with a counter, it looks bad for you both...indeed, you move your bets in unison up and down with the count...that isn't good for either of you and makes it easy for the pit to make you both as counters. If it is a place you want to play frequently, give up your spot as soon as you can (that is when the count tanks or the start of the next shoe--in hand held games, after the 2nd time the count goes up high). If you go there seldom, say only once a year or twice a year, fire away.

But lets say you are backcounting, and want to wong-into a table that another counter is playing at. Many counters don't like Wongers-in coming in to eat up the high counts and your counter may say something if you mid-shoe enter his table more than once in his session...its a risk you would have to take. I would do it once, maybe twice, but no more (after all, i counted the table, and I have as much right to play as anyone).

The counter should play two spots on high counts if he thinks there are other likely to mid-shoe enter. And if a counter notices your wonging-in on him consistenly, he might even put you to use (or to express it colorfully, pimp on you)...he could ask you to bet some money for him in your circle (overseas he would back bet you), or he could wait for you to wong-in at another table, then come to that same table to wong-in as well (piggybacking on you as his spotter!)

As you can surmise, there are lots of sneakly little dramas that can play out on the casino floor...indeed, gambling, like anything else involving money, can reveal a person's character faster than anything else.

and being willing to ruthlessly pop your bets up and down, even when getting creamed, is what makes the difference between players who win and those who just shuffle money back and forth between themselves and the casino.

DD' gave you a good "counter's opinion" of how you should act when you approach a table and notice another counter already there.

But there is another issue about "contact". What if the casino has folks playing and counting at a table as a "shill"? And what if you "contact" him/her?

I think the mantra has to be "trust nobody until you are sure you can trust them" which is a real problem in fact. I have a friend (we were best friends back in college, but not a lot of contact since as we live a long way apart) that is head of the surv. dept at a casino (where I never play). He has told me in the past of strolling through the pits dressed casually, and occasionally encountering someone that would strike up a conversation and admit they were a card counter. :)

Granted a pro counter would not do this. Nor hopefully one that has become reasonably adept at this "trade". And I would not be surprised if some of the "claiming to be a counter" types really don't know anything. My son came home with a girl once and she saw me practicing with CVBJ for an upcoming BJ trip to the cost. She asked what I was doing and I told her. She said "my grandfather taught me to count cards, I play a lot at Pearl River". I asked "what system are you using?" She said "I just follow his instructions, I count the cards as they are played, and the higher the count the more I bet." I said "count how?" She said "you know, one, two, three, four, as the cards are dealt." I just shook my head and kept practicing. :)

I had a counter approach me once. A real flea-bitten red chipper that had been wonging my heads up shoe game. When I sat down to play a moderately populated single deck game, he leaned in and whispered to me that the game was no good with 5 players. This guy could be spotted from a mile away, and to the pit, it looked like we were sharing secrets. Thanks a lot buddy!

on my recent week in lv was that at virtually every table I sat at was another counter. Good bad or indifferent in terms of levels of skill, someone else was always increasing or decreasing their bet levels at the same time I was. I don't see how I could have avoided a counter and continued to play, at least at the conditions I favor.

I spent 9 days out there two weeks ago, I only saw three "counters" that appeared to be legit. Maybe two more that were frightened... they would bet big, lose, bet big, lose, count goes up, they would drop back to min bet anyway...

down south who joined the table that I was at, said to me "I wish you wouldn't do that" to which I replied "What?" & he said "Never mind" then later in the game he did the same AP move that I was using: That couldn't have been you. Wish that he abided by your philosophy.