what does dealer cheating at Blackjack look like?

So last month I posted about some questions that I get from people when they find out what my job is. This is the follow-up to that post and it’s mostly going to be about what cheating from the inside, or cheating by the dealer, would look like if it was going on.

The easiest way for a dealer to cheat, on the player’s behalf, would be simply to dump the game. Dumping the game is when you pay the player for a losing hand or overpay the player on a winning hand. If you’re in surveillance and you happen to see this happen oh, the best thing you can do is keep quiet at least for a moment or two and see if it continues. It’s possible that the dealer just made a mistake and paid a losing Hand by mistake. If you continue to watch you’ll see if he’s doing it on a regular basis and if so if he’s doing it to a specific player. This would indicate collusion, or a conspiracy between the player and one or more players to do so. It’s always best to have plenty of information and evidence before moving in “for the kill”. By waiting, you may be able to determine if this type of activity is widespread among multiple dealers and or multiple players. Who knows, the Pit Boss may even be involved.

I would tend to think that actual dumping of the game is fairly rare in that if you do see it happen, it’s usually a dealer mistake. At least that’s my impression from having watched dealers for over 20 years in surveillance.

The other way that a dealer could cheat on behalf of the player would be by dealing seconds. This is something that it would take a very skilled dealer to do, in casino parlance that type of dealer is called a “mechanic”. They’re pretty rare these days, but I guarantee you there are dealers out there with the skills to do this.

First, a dealer would have to have done a false shuffle and/or a false cut, and get a card on the top of the deck that he knows the value of (without seeing it). The dealer would then deal the second card(s) from the deck to all of the players at the game as usual. If the player has a pat hand, there is no need for a hit. If he does, the dealer delivers the perfect card for him. Then there would also probably be some sort of communication between the dealer and the player, on the lines of the dealer saying, “I don’t think you should hit “, or “maybe you should take a hit card” or something like that.

What would that look like? Well the card that the dealer deals from the top of the deck would usually be a five or a 10 value card. Why those cards? Well they are the two most important cards to the player in the deck. Here’s why.

When a player doubles down it’s usually on a 10 or 11. So delivering a 10 value card for their one and only Double Down hit would be very important to the player. This delivers a winner to the player when he has the maximum amount of money on the hand.

A five on the other hand would be the best card for a player to receive if they were hitting on a16. (A hard 16 is the worst hand a player can have, and delivering a 5 in that situation turns a probable losing hand into a probable winner.)

In both those cases it does the highest advantage for the player, and it looks perfectly normal. And in case you’re wondering, the dealer and player would have a signaling method worked out beforehand so that they both know which card the dealer is going to deliver off the top of the deck.

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