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Psychic Dealers, or Dealer Peeking at Blackjack |
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FROM ET FAN: 
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Psychic DealersBy Arnold Snyder(From Casino Player , October 1996) © 1996 Arnold Snyder Question from a player: On occasion I encounter a dealer with the uncanny ability to call card values before the card is exposed. Typically, a player is hesitating to draw a card and will mumble, “I need a six,” and the dealer says, “I can give you a four,” and out comes the four. Or the dealer indirectly says, “Don’t draw,” because he has a bust card, and he does. These dealers usually show off this skill and will call cards very often during their stay at the table. This has happened to me most often in shoe games where the dealer does not look at the hole card. One session in St. Maarten, two years ago, really blew my mind. My wife and I were playing for a $500 each rebate for 14 hours of play during a seven day stay. Those participating in this promotion had to play in a designated pit in the casino. During the very first playing session, one of the dealers was calling cards before they were exposed. He was calling 3 and 4 cards in a row during the middle of a six-deck shoe. Needless to say, my wife and I suspected a dishonest game and vowed to quit this too-good-to-be-true promotion before we lost our shirts. As time progressed, we found ourselves ahead and continued to play even though this particular dealer would appear regularly when it was his turn to deal and he continued to call cards. After a while, it became entertaining to watch this master at card guessing. Well, we made our bonus, got $500 each, and still were ahead without the bonus. This turned out to be a very inexpensive one week stay in St. Maarten. The question is — how do these dealers do it? Are they guessing? Are they peeking? If so, how can they do this in the middle of a six-deck shoe game? Answer: There are a number of possibilities with regards to how this might be accomplished. Let’s consider that St. Maarten “prophet.” It is possible, as you suggest, that this dealer was simply guessing. Any dealer who spends his life “calling cards” will have continual runs of successes and failures, some of which would seem phenomenal. You don’t provide any estimate of how many total cards this dealer called correctly during your 14 hours of play. Nor do you mention whether or not he was 100% accurate on all calls or simply right an unusual amount of the time. You also give no indication of how many of your 14 hours were played against this dealer. So, I can’t really provide any detailed analysis of the odds against his psychic demonstration being anything other than luck. But, even a couple hours would be a long time to watch someone “guessing” cards correctly, so let’s eliminate pure luck as a probability, and consider the other possibilities. Actual psychic ability is what comes to mind next. Is it conceivable that this dealer truly had paranormal powers? Skeptic that I am, I’d dismiss this possibility with little serious consideration. If, in fact, there are people who have such psychic abilities, would such a person be working as a blackjack dealer, using this phenomenal power like a silly parlor trick to entertain tourists? Seems pretty inconceivable to me. Scratch psychic power. That leaves us with your one remaining question: “Was he peeking?” And, unless you have misrepresented both the extent and the accuracy of this dealer’s predictions in your letter, my answer is: “Yes, he was peeking.” As for how exactly he was accomplishing this seemingly impossible feat, I couldn’t say, based on the information you provide. Take a look at a good professional magicians’ supply catalog sometime, and you will see that marked cards and card marking equipment are quite available on the open market. Gaffed dealing shoes, which utilize mirrors or prisms can be had for a small fortune, but such devices are available, and they do allow a dealer to read the values of the card(s) about to be dealt, while they are still in the shoe! What I find most frightening about your report is that it does seem inconceivable to me that this dealer would be sneaking his own gaffed equipment onto the table without the knowledge of the casino. And, if this is the standard house equipment, then why would it be there if not to cheat the players? Does it make sense that a dealer would use such equipment to entertain and even help players? It’s possible, I suppose, if he’s working for tokes. Frankly, I’d be nervous about playing in a casino if I continually witnessed uncanny “psychic” demonstrations by a dealer. I’m glad that you and your wife came out ahead for your trip, and also that you got your rebates, but your report of what you witnessed is disturbing to me. I would not have stayed for the duration. Magic tricks belong in the casino showrooms, not on the casino gaming tables. But before we condemn any of the casinos of St. Maarten for allowing dishonest equipment onto their tables, or dishonest dealers onto their games, I would go back to our first consideration: pure luck. Was this dealer always correct in his guesses, or was he correct just a surprising amount of the time? How many actual predictions did you witness? A few? A few dozen? Or a few hundred? Because one thing that really makes no sense to me is why any casino that would be using less than honest equipment would allow a dealer (a fellow conspirator!) to “entertain” the suckers whom the equipment is designed to fleece! Which leads us around the loop again. . . maybe this guy really was psychic! If so, he’s playing on the wrong side of the tables. Why would he be dealing penny ante blackjack in St. Maarten, when he could be a high roller at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas at a $10,000 limit table? They don’t bar psychics in Las Vegas . . . only card counters. Which leads us to the disturbing question: can someone be both psychic and stupid? As Bishop of the First Church of Blackjack, I am uniquely qualified among writers in this field to answer such arcane mysteries. And my answer is this: There are a lot of people you can trust in this world; however, psychic blackjack dealers are not high on that list. If you continued to play against this mental wizard, surely a holy man of vast spiritual wisdom, for hours on end, then buddy, you ought to have your head examined. Now if you can’t afford psychiatric treatment, send me ten bucks to join the First Church of Blackjack. I’ll bless your chips, forgive your sins, and put in a good word for you with that Great Pit Boss in the Sky. Amen. ♠ For more information on dealer cheating at blackjack and poker, and how professional gamblers deal with cheating, see the Blackjack Forum Professional Gambling Library.
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