All betting and playing camouflage comes with a price tag. When you make dumb plays for the purpose of confusing the bloodhounds on your trail, it costs you. Holding down your betting spread, insuring your blackjacks, not taking advantage of surrender or soft doubling opportunities, et cetera, are all excellent ways of hiding your counting abilities because, in fact, you are relinquishing some amount of potential gain from counting. But if you make too many of these types of camouflage plays, you will no longer have any advantage at all over the house. What's the value of eliminating the possibility of discovery if there is nothing worth discovering? If you don't utilize the information you gather, then gathering the information in the first place was a waste of time. Use it or lose it.
Some camouflage, however, is free; and ironically, this free-ride deception is often the easiest to pull off. Misplays, as a form of disguise, require a knowledge of, and attention to, how much these plays cost, so that you don't kill your edge. Cost-free camouflage, on the other hand, is not based on misplaying hands, so it's a no-brainer exercise.
What is cost-free camouflage? Rather than misplaying your hands, you allay suspicions by projecting an image, by the way you look, by exploiting prejudices and preconceived notions among pit bosses and casino security personnel. Let's dissect these biases.
1. Age: If a young man and an old man are playing at a blackjack table, all other factors being equal, the younger man will be suspected of card counting sooner than the older one.
2. Sex: If a man and a woman are playing at the same table, all other factors being equal, the man will be suspected first.
3. Race: A white player spreading his bets will be suspected before a black or Asian player using the same spread. This racial prejudice, as a matter of fact, even extends to casinos in other countries. Asian card counters often find the casinos of Korea, Macao, the Philippines, and other Asian countries to be profitable, heat-free venues for their action. Their betting spreads and strategy variations are virtually ignored. Caucasian players, on the other hand, and especially Americans, are immediately suspected if they play for big money, and they often find themselves persona non grata if they spread their bets even moderately, or win any substantial amount of money.
4. Nationality: This is tied into the previous factor. Most of the notable books on card counting have been published in America, and few are available outside the U.S. This fact does not escape the notice of casino management here and abroad. In fact, there have been some very sophisticated and well-bankrolled Asian and European counting teams that have attacked casinos all over the world, including those in the U.S. In some cases, these teams have gotten away with incredible betting spreads for lengthy periods of time before anyone in the pit took notice.
5. Demeanor: You put a quiet, thoughtful player at the same table with a gregarious, talkative guy, and the quiet one will be suspected of counting first.
6. Dress code: A player who is nicely but casually dressed will be suspected of card counting before any other fashion type. Card counters don't wear 3-piece suits, nor do they dress like outlaw bikers. They don't look like hippies or punks. They're not decked out in Western gear. And they're usually not shabby, not if they're playing for serious money. That's a mistake on the part of these card counters, for real gamblers include all these types.
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