Blackjack Apprenticeship video about team play

I just watched a really good video from Colin  at Blackjack Apprenticeship on YouTube. It's about card counting teams and five lessons he learned when he first got started with a high-stakes team. Check out the video here.

In the video he makes some great points. Team play he is very high risk and high reward. We never paid much attention to it in the surveillance department, because nowadays most pits have a rule that easily defeats it. It's called "No mid shoe entry*, and it can also be used for single deck or double deck games also.

Basically the dealers are trained to not allow anyone to enter play in the middle of the shoe or deck. They'll politely push back the players money and explain to them that they can't place a bet until the next shoe or top of deck. They will especially do this if the player places a bet that is anywhere close to the table max. So just by using this one simple rule, and enforcing it properly, the house negates any advantage that team play might give.

About the only way you might get away with this is if it was in Vegas, on a busy Friday or Saturday night, the dealer was sloppy and lazy, and the Pit Boss occupied with a problem somewhere else in the pit. Even at that, you're only going to be able to get to do it a couple of times before you start attracting the attention of the eye in the sky. Of course, if the house doesn't have that rule about mid shoe entry, you certainly have every right to take advantage of them.

A much better team play tactic would be to have a 7 person team occupy every spot on the layout.  Everyone should be counting, tracking aces and playing perfect basic strategy. Have most of the players flat bet, and then have one "money man" who does very his bets when the count goes positive and the deck is Ace rich. Also, make sure that the player on third base is betting the table minimum and using his hit and stand decisions to try and make the dealer bust, whenever possible.

That's all for now, I would love to hear comments from any of you that have actually engaged in team play, and how successful you were at it. And  do yourself a favor and subscribe to the YouTube channel run by Blackjack Apprenticeship. They have some really good videos.