[MicroBob]

I've counted cards at blackjack before.
I also dealt BJ for a few months...and was friends with some of our craps dealers. I didn't bother learning how to play or deal craps because I didn't intend to be a dealer for very long.

It is my opinon that dealer-errors happen more often than many people think (both FOR and AGAINST the player).

I can't begin to tell you the number of times when i had a multi-card 18 and the dealer had a 19 and they knocked my hand for a push because they were just tired or unfocused or whatever.

Hey, that's not my fault that they got it wrong, is it?
(I seriously don't believe that it is).

Obviously if it goes the other way around I point out to them the error because I want to get paid when I win gosh-darnit.

When I was a dealer this happened with me just about as much as with any other dealer. Accidentally taking a player's money when I shouldn't have and then having to call the floor over to correct it....or realizing when I was dealing the next hand that I paid somebody off when I should not have and then saying "well...nobody said anything so I guess we got away with one there!"
stuff like that.
errors happen.
they want you to deal as fast as possible...and an error or two every once in awhile are the price we pay for such speed.


I imagine that this type of stuff also happens at craps all the freaking time.
Even with everyone there (all the dealers and box-person) watching over the game it just looks to me like there's SO much stuff going on that it would be impossible for there not to be errors.


To imply that you should correct the dealer EVERY freaking time they accidentally give you TOO MUCH money is just silly.


Now...if you want to take it to 'angle-shoot' levels you could do what i did.

I'm a talkative sort by nature anyway (big surprise when one considers my wordy-posts). And I can multi-task. So it's not a big deal for me to talk with the dealer or the table about football or the tasty buffet or where they're from or whatever...ALL THE WHILE keeping an eye on my hand and making sure I am getting paid the correct amount (or more).


A distracted dealer is more likely to make mistakes obviously.
since I have the ability to talk so much to the point of distraction I know that this is +EV for me.


Yup...it's a bit of an angle-shoot. But I'm going to talk some of the time anyway...and my original point of being chatty was to deflect any ideas that the floor may have gotten about me counting the cards to begin with (since so many card-counters have to concentrate really hard in order to count and very few are like me and can do other things while keeping accurate count).

So...while trying to deflect the attention of the floor and convince them that i was talking WAY too much to possibly be counting cards I accidentally discovered this other +EV aspect of how it also induces more dealer-errors.



If I'm not intentionally TRYING to induce an error (such as trying to convince the dealer that I have 21 when I really had 22) then I don't think that alone is an angle-shoot in and of itself.

Whether or not accepting a 'win' when it actually should have been a 'push' or 'loss' is closer to the line of course.

But the idea that your regular, everyday dealer errors can change a 2% -EV game into a 1% -EV game has occured to me before.