If you’re looking for a modern approach to card counting detection, you’re in luck! That’s what we’re going to get into today. I’ve seen a lot of approaches over the years when it comes to training casino staff to detect and prevent card counters. Suffice it to say, most of them don’t work, or if they do work, they don’t last due to turnover and human nature of things sliding from the front of their minds.
The conventional school of thought is that in order to catch card counters, one must know how to count. I’ve seen numerous training programs that attempt to teach casino staff how to count cards.
Most of them are incorrect or at the very least incomplete. But even with the perfect training program, the fact of the matter is that training managers and supervisors on how to effectively count cards is far too labor intensive. Counting cards effectively requires lots of practice, and most staff will not be willing or able to put in the time to learn it.
Plus, our objective isn’t to train card counters. Our objective is to be able to protect our gaming tables from being taken advantage of.
So, we’re going to go over some ways to detect advantage players without putting in the months of practice it takes to learn to count cards. We’re going to give you some indicators that will make advantage players stick out of the crowd from the rest of the players.
These indicators are fairly simple and are easy to look out for once you know them.
Betting Pattern
The first indicator is betting patterns. It’s fairly common knowledge that advantage players will use a betting spread of something like 1-5 units on a double deck and 1-15 units (give or take a few) on a six- or eight-deck game.
The less common knowledge is when they bet 1 unit and when they bet 16 units.
You’ll rarely see a card counter get to their max bet less than halfway into a six- or eight-deck game. The count often doesn’t go high enough until the last half of the shoe. The deeper into the shoe, the higher the chance the counter will raise their bets.
Conversely, at the beginning of the shoe, you’ll likely see a 1-unit bet. There are count systems that call for a multi-unit bet on the first hand, so keep that in mind, as this particular indicator will not be a dead giveaway by itself.
It’s worth noting that betting patterns for card counters are slower to progress than most people think. For example, a player that goes from $25 on one hand to $1,000 on the next hand can likely be ruled out as a card counter.
You’re more likely to see a pattern that goes like this (presuming the count continues to increase):
- $25
- $50
- $100
- 2 hands of $100
- 2 hands of $200
Bet progressions come in different shapes and sizes but this is a good guideline to give you an idea of how slow the progression is. And the more decks there are, the longer it will take to get from the lowest bet to the highest, and the less likely it will be for them to skip any steps.
Basic Strategy Deviations
This is where the counters really separate from the regular players. A lot of us know that counters must know and execute perfect basic strategy to be successful. You might also know that card counters don’t always follow basic strategy. But the more convoluted concept is when exactly they deviate from basic strategy.
If a counter is playing a negative deck (which they try not to do, but sometimes there is no choice), you’ll see them make some strange plays with their minimum bet-out (or less than their normal minimum, if they can get away with it).
You might see them hit into bust cards. For example, hitting into 12 or 13 against a dealer’s bust card is fairly common. This is also when you might see them make frivolous doubling decisions or taking insurance to throw off anyone who might be watching. Keep a sharp eye on double downs and insurance for less as well when they’re betting low amounts.
Now, when the count is high, that’s when you’ll see some really wild plays and bigger bets. This is when you’ll see unusual double downs like soft 19 or 20 against a bust card or doubling down on 8 against a 4-6. The concept is the higher the count, the more money you want on the table.
On high counts you’ll also see a counter stay on 15 or 16 against a high card. This gets a bit complicated because of when they stay against which cards, but know that if their big bets are out, they’ll be staying on most 15s and 16s. If they hit these hands with their lower bets out, that will help solidify your evaluation.
Behavioral Indicators
I usually say not to pay attention to behaviors for the purpose of evaluations, but there are a few I’d recommend keeping in mind.
First, counters must look at the discard rack. They have to. They have to know how many cards have been used and how many cards remain to be played. How can we use this to our advantage? No other player cares about the discard rack. Only counters care about it. There is nothing over there that concerns a recreational gambler or even a serious player. Remember that!
The last one is quite specific and situational, but I’ll mention it because I’ve seen it used (perhaps by myself, perhaps not).
If the shoe is nearing the end, and the count is high enough that max bets are out, and there is a procedure where a card is burned when the dealer changes, a counter may ask a dealer for one more hand before their break. They won’t want to take the chance of that burn card being the last card of the shoe, then forcing a shuffle.
It’s common for players on a good run to ask for one more hand. Counters don’t care about wins and losses though, they only care about the number of hands played, so they’ll ask for one more hand even if they’re losing.
This indicator, like most of the others, isn’t a dead giveaway by itself, but if you use each one like a brush stroke and put them all on one canvas, you’ll have painted a card counter.
