If you strictly follow our strategy, the only factor that can undermine your success is a cheating dealer. This happens occasionally in the casinos of South-East Asia and Eastern Europe. Though, it's worth noting, that cheating on the part of the house is rare in the major casinos. Sure, there may be a few employees that feel like cheating players, but it is extremely unlikely that any casino in Nevada or Atlantic City does so on a casino-wide scale. Casinos make plenty of money legitimately with the built-in house advantages and don't really need to deceive players to survive; on the other hand, if cheating is detected, the Gaming Commission may revoke a casino's license. Yet, if you are a professional player you can never be assured against unscrupulous treatment by the dealer. The authors have witnessed such incidents in the casinos of Spain and some other countries. Evidently, however favorable the rules of a given house may be, the player's edge is brought to naught by the simplest cheating techniques.

What are the usual cheating methods?

The easiest and yet very efficient one is to replace a few 10s by the same number of 5s. The most sophisticated game strategy is sure to collapse in no time; therefore, if you really have an ambition to win, you should better come to the table at the moment when the dealer exposes the decks, and scrutinize all the cards.

Another common method is to deal seconds, which means dealing the second card from the top of the deck while leaving the top card intact. Thus, the dealer can prevent the player from getting the prize card. To be able to deprive the player of blackjack throughout the game the dealer only has to mark 10s and aces in the deck. Such marks can be detected by touch only, and they are made by pinning a tiny blind hole on the back of a card or by rubbing a rough spot on its smooth surface.

On some occasions the dealer can take a peek at the top card in the shoe and decide whether there is point in dealing the second or not. Sometimes the dealer can deal the third or even the fourth card. Moreover, there are hand-made shoes which hold the top card in place, so that the second card can be dealt.

If you want to discover such sleights-of-hand, you should watch the dealer's hands closely. A cheating dealer would keep not one but two fingers on the deck. He pushes the trap that holds the top card with one finger and pulls the card beneath it with the other.

The third method is when the dealer picks out some cards from the deck and puts them into his sleeve or under the shoe before the game. Then he can secretly pull them out if necessary in order to provide a good hand for himself or to make a player bust at high stakes. We have to admit that these tricks are not rare in many casinos.

Whether the dealer would cheat or not depends on the policy of the house. Anyway, in most cases you may be hindered from winning at particularly big stakes. Normally the dealer would play honestly up to the moment when he gets an order "from above".

Also, some times the dealer starts dealing quite slowly and then he picks up the pace of the deal. As he does this very gradually, an inexperienced player remains unaware of the change, lapses into haste and starts making mistakes. You should by all means avoid this situation. Never give in to such onslaught. Slow down the pace of the deal to the level that fits you. To achieve this, you may engage the dealer in a conversation on whatever subject or set him laughing with a good crack. Nor should you rush to give signs to the dealer until you have thoroughly considered the situation. The rules of the game provide for this. Don't get intimidated by the dealer. Remember - it's your own money that you may lose.

Are there any other ways to combat the dealer's cheating?

In some casinos a player can place a bet for the dealer and thus bribe him. The proper way is for you to put a chip above your chips on the upper part of the betting spot. Since tips make up a large share of his livelihood, the dealer will avoid cheating you at this deal if he does not want to lose his tips. Besides, he may give you a few minutes to quit the game before he starts beating you. So, we highly recommend you leave the table after a big win or a series of small ones. Don't try to win yet more, you are most likely to end up in a failure.

Is it difficult to spot the cheating techniques described above directly? In most cases it is almost impossible because professional dealers act as conjurers. You can never tell where they get a given card from.

A bad table can be recognized only by indirect tell-tale signs. They are the following: players have very few chips, the dealer wins continuously, he deals blackjacks to himself very often.

You can tell that the deck is "charged" if you are accurate in counting. Then after several shuffles you would invariably have positive balance. The best thing to do is to watch others playing for a while and count the cards. A positive count at the end of the shuffle would give you a signal that the deck is rich in small value cards which always give an edge to the house, and scarce in good ones, i.e. 10s and aces.

A good antidote to dealing seconds is mixing decks of different back color, for instance decks of cards with black and red backs. As the players see the color of the top card the dealer will think twice before dealing the second one because it may be of different color. This can be easily checked by simply turning over the "shady" card.

We had an experience of the kind in a casino in Spain. The player who was supposed to bust turned over the card and - bingo! - it was of the "wrong" color. There was a big row, the dealer was fired, and the managers presented their "sincere" apologies to the players.

Finally we'd like to mention another kind of unfair play aimed at helping the player rather than beating him. Since playing conditions are getting tough in some casinos, professional players have begun to resort to bribing the dealer with large tips. The dealer who is tipped can render a good turn to players in the following ways:

1. The dealer may give a hint to the player on whether he has a large or a small card face down if the upcard is a 10.
2. The dealer may cut off fewer decks in the shoe and deal out more cards before shuffling
3. The dealer may openly tell the player that he is very "hot", this way indicating that he is under pressure from the pitbosses.

Basically, there are special state regulatory bodies empowered to supervise casinos. They are the Gaming Commissions and Control Boards of the states. These bodies keep close watch on all cases of cheating. If there is enough proof of the cheating the casino's license may be revoked. The Gaming Control Board or Commission is the right place to turn to if you have been cheated. You can also report incidents of this kind to us by e-mail: authors@bjcoach.com. We will carefully verify all the complaints and, if it appears such incidents really took place, inform all the visitors of this web site.