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7. Body Type: You put a fat man and a thin man at the same table, and the lanky guy will draw the heat first.
Now I'm aware of the fact that there are many exceptions to all of these prejudices. I know that fat counters, and female counters, and non-white counters have all been discovered and barred at one time or another. And I'm sure there are some pit bosses and surveillance personnel who will state emphatically that they only watch for playing styles to determine which players pose a real threat to their tables. But all of these prejudices do exist. I've heard so many stories from so many players who have found that one or more of these factors have helped keep them at the tables (or gotten them booted) that I believe these biases to be real—and many, as a matter of fact, aren't unwarranted.
Looking at these biases, we can now draw a picture of the player most likely to be suspected of card counting, as well as the player least likely to be marked.
Most likely card counter: A young, white, American male, who is thin, stylishly dressed, and playing quietly by himself.
Least likely card counter: A heavy set, gray-haired, nonwhite woman, who speaks with a foreign accent, is loud and talkative, and dressed unusually, even badly.
The more a player looks like the "most likely card counter," the more he will have to use costly misplay camouflage. The more a player fits the image of the "least likely card counter," the more freedom he/she will have to play accurately, and with a wide betting spread according to the count. Just walk in looking like a seventy-year-old grandmother, wearing a sari or a babushka, ranting loudly in some strange language, and you can really take the casinos for a ride!
Obviously, there is only so much you can do to disguise yourself. There are stories of young pros who have colored their hair gray and shaved themselves receding hairlines in order to appear older. I know one very famous counter who attempted to pass himself off as female with a wig and a dress. (He didn't fool anyone.)
I know another counter who dyed his skin in order to pass for black. Whether you think you could get away with such radical disguises will depend on a combination of what you look like, how far you're willing to go, and your acting talents. It is always wise to keep these prejudices in mind, however, when you are getting ready to head out to play blackjack.
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Most of the decisions you'll make are going to be about hitting or standing, so misplays on these hands can be costly. One great device that multi-deck table-hoppers can use is to always stand on hard 16 vs. 10. Since you're table-hopping to avoid negative counts, you'll only misplay this hand when it's a borderline decision anyway. This is one of the hands that casinos watch to see if players vary their decisions, so, don't vary.
You could even announce that you always stand on this hand, which is improper basic strategy, and then follow through with your seemingly stupid decision. This hand also occurs frequently enough that they're bound to notice your consistently wrong play. This ploy works best, and costs least, in shoe games. In single-deck games, where you are playing through all hands with a small bet spread, it would cost much more.
Another decision that you might always screw up without much of a loss comes into play when you have a pair of sevens against a dealer ten in a single-deck game. This is the one weird total of 14 where the correct basic strategy is to stand rather than hit. Unfortunately, just about every blackjack book (other than this one!) since Thorp's Beat the Dealer has explained this in detail. It's a play that smart players make, and many pit personnel know it. It's actually a borderline basic strategy play. You won't lose much by hitting your 7-7 against 10. (But whatever you do, don't split them!)
A few other cheap hit/stand mistakes: hitting a total of 12 versus 4, 5, or 6, and hitting 13 against 2 or 3, all look pretty dumb, but don't cost much at neutral counts. In fact, your Hi-Lo Lite chart indicates that you stand on all of these hands at a count of 0 or above. So, all of these hands may be played like 16 against 10 in shoe games—just stand on all of them. You'll be playing all of them correctly whenever you have any large bet out.
Any time you're close to the index number for altering your play, the cost of misplaying any hand is small. For instance, it would look pretty stupid to stand on a 16 against 7, and this would be a very costly error for a non-counter. But your Hi-Lo Lite index is +4, and if your count indicates that you are +3 or more, the misplay may be stupid, but not that expensive.
Always remember the two camouflage rules we began with: The bigger your bet, the more it will cost you; and don't make a foolish play unless you think it is necessary.
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