There are clear differences between blackjack dealers in Las Vegas and other parts of the world when it comes to understanding about card counting. I have always said that the average dealer in Las Vegas is far more knowledgeable about card counting than your average casino manager in England.

But as an experienced card counter myself, I know full well how mentally fatiguing this process can be. But as a card counter then at least you are counting for your own personal gain and not the casinos. The dealers are trained to look for card counters in Las Vegas. This way the casino can supervise the games at the very first point of contact which is the dealer. In the giant casinos, it simply isn’t possible for the eye in the sky or the pit boss to supervise every single game themselves.

So much of this responsibility is passed to the dealers. Now although I have never played blackjack in Las Vegas, I have it on very good authority that many of the dealers take short cut methods when it comes to spotting card counters. They know and understand about bet spread and bet escalation so when they see a player escalate his bet from the $5 minimum to the $200 maximum or even $100 then they immediately shuffle up to eliminate the advantage.

I need to point out here that many of the games in Vegas are single deck games with no cutting card so the dealer is at liberty to shuffle whenever they like. But many dealers do not count all the time, they simply cannot be bothered. Instead they are happy to see players who flat bet or players who have little deviation to their game as these are actions that are not conducive to card counting.

So a good tactic to employ when the count goes negative is to increase your bet. This will make these types of dealer shuffle up when they otherwise wouldn’t have done. This tactic allows the player to get away without having to play in highly negative situations. Now unfortunately there is a clear and obvious downside to this. If you increase you bet in this way then obviously even though the dealer hasn’t been counting themselves, they will suspect that you are a card counter and be on the lookout for any variation in bet size.

I have heard of some players using this tactic but I am not overly sure if it is a good idea. I do not overly like the process of bringing unnecessary attention onto you when there is no need. I have seen far too many players who couldn’t play blackjack to save their life receive heat simply because they were winning. So even when casino staff are not counting or in this instance merely know the absolute minimum about card counting, they will still suspect that something is amiss even when it isn’t.

So in my opinion, it isn’t a good strategy to give the dealer any indication whatsoever that you are counting the cards or doing anything that would lead to you being able to gain an edge.