How Casino Dealers can affect your game
When it comes to gambling whether online or at a land based casino, an element of fairness is required in order to not only generate income for the casino but also to ensure that players have a chance of winning and making money themselves. Without this, gambling probably wouldn't exist.
While casinos offer visitors entertainment and the chance to win, they also include a house edge on every game, this is to cover their own risk and to ensure that they stay in business over the long term.
In spite of what one would think, online casinos generally carry a lower risk of losing money than their brick and mortar counterparts. Many people believe the opposite, reasoning that because online casino games are computerised, the casino can more easily cheat their players. This however is not the case due to the fact that all games run on Random Number Generators which randomly determine cards dealt, dice rolled, spins of the ball and combinations of slots symbols. In addition, online casinos are regularly audited to ensure fairness and have to adhere to strict guidelines set out by industry watchdogs.
Online casinos therefore rely solely on the house edge of each game as well as the volume of players playing in order to generate income.
Brick and mortar casinos offer a slight different experience to online ones made up of a number of aspects including environment, entertainment, good customer service, complimentary drinks and snacks, bars, restaurants and other amenities as well as popular casino games. When it comes to table games, land based casinos differ in that you are always interacting with or playing against a croupier or casino dealer who can either make your experience an awesome one, or completely frustrating depending on his or her experience and personality.
There are also a few rules and guidelines set out by the casinos that these dealers must adhere to including maintain a high level of customer service, dealing a game according to certain procedures for security purposes, dealing fast and efficiently as well as dealing to improve the house edge and keeping the tables busy at all times.
That's quite a tall order! Now we'll take a look at some dealer secrets that you may or may not know and how they work in the casino's favour.
Table Statistics
Table games at casinos rely on players to keep them in business and make them profitable and if they don't perform to a certain winning percentage either casino management or the gambling board of that country will have them removed from the casino's offering. The reason for a table not performing would suggest that the number of patrons frequenting the casino is too low and so the regulatory board would review the casino's licensing and potentially grant them only a smaller operating license. This of course would be to the detriment of the casino. Obviously casinos prefer to have as many tables available to players as possible, but with some regulations these are restricted by the number of customers playing as well as the number of people living in proximity to the casino.
These types of regulations put pressure on casinos to perform and that is why their dealers are a very important part of their business model because they can help to ensure that a table performs well on a continuous basis. For this reason dealers are closely monitored and trained to adapt the game to maximise casino profits at all times.
So when the house is losing money at the tables, the dealer will be substituted with a more experienced one who will then implement a fast game wherein he/she will clear the tables and make payouts faster.
The more experienced a dealer, the better for the casino as they are able to better deal with customers and don't make easy targets for players who may prey on less experienced croupiers and cause the casino huge losses. So it is always better for the casino to use experienced dealers who are confident and may even seem slightly intimidating.
Should a Roulette table suffer severe losses and not be able to make a recovery on a certain day due to the holding of the table percentage a dealer may be instructed by the casino to clear and close a table without customers realising the reason for this.
An experienced dealer will do this by employing what is known as the "Spin them out" method wherein short spins on the wheel are made not allowing players enough time to make their bets thus causing frustration and the urge to find a friendlier table. This method also rushes players who are block betting, causing them to miss crucial numbers in their block and to leave the table.
Many times seasoned roulette players will wait for the croupier to spin the wheel before placing their bets so the only way to beat these gamblers is to move so quickly that they can't keep up. Once the table is successfully cleared it can be closed until the next day and frustrated customers moving to another table may have their concentration broken or confidence a little deflated causing them to lose on the next table.
In online Roulette games, the casino does not control the speed of the game and a dealer does not affect game play or speed in any way (unless of course you are playing Live Dealer casino games) so this eliminates the above mentioned aspects, making online games even more fair and advantageous to the player.
Block Spinning
In addition to the "Spin them out" method, casino dealers may also employ the sly "Block Spinning" method of play. While this is not a 100% proven method, it can be effective when implemented correctly by a skilled dealer.
In high stakes Roulette games, players usually bet the same numbers until they lose. They also follow the dealer to pick up patterns in his/her rhythm so it is important that a dealer does not reveal any kind of pattern. In order to do this the dealer will consciously alter the speed with which he or she spins the wheel and alternate this randomly.
This means that if the dealer's last spin was fast, they will spin it fast again but slow it down so players waiting to place their bets once the wheel is in motion and who are also attempting to follow the dealers last spin will place the same bets as before but the slowing wheel will force the ball to drop on the opposite side of the wheel than before. This means that all players following the dealer's last spin will lose their wagers.
Fast Games
The key to successful dealing on any table game is speed. The faster the dealer the more difficult it is for a player to keep up.
Blackjack dealers will keep the pace rapid to force rash decisions and will also cut cards in shoes so that only half of the pack are in play so that a fast pace is maintained. Another trick to placing the cutting card deep into the deck is that generally is eliminates most of the picture cards and aces.
Again, with the exception of Live Dealer Blackjack, online blackjack is not dependant on dealers and you can actually alter the speed of the game from within your player console , so that you have the upper hand.
Obviously not all of these tactics work for dealers all of the time as casinos do experience many winners at their table games, but they are in play every time you play and they do keep casinos in business so it is important to be aware of these when playing. If you would prefer to play in a completely fair environment that is not affected by croupiers, the rather play at online casinos.
