systems. On the contrary, casinos are delighted with progression players. There are many reasons that casinos assign different limit ranges to different tables:

·         Chip trays have a fixed amount of space. It makes no sense to populate every tray with every size chip.

·         High-limit players often do not like to play with low-limit players and low-limit players often do not like to play with high-limit players. So, they are segregated to a degree.

·         The high-limit tables are watched more carefully.

·         High-limit tables are less likely to be manned by less experienced dealers.

·         Winning-hand payoffs are slower if players are betting many different chip sizes.

·         High-limit tables are kept less crowded to provide more comfort to higher-limit players and to speed the play of larger bettors. Speed is just as important to the casino as it is to the advantage player. Some high-limit tables are often kept in separate areas or even on a separate floor.

·         The limits also prevent ridiculously large bet changes, which could be of value to an advantage player.

On the right of the Blackjack table (the dealer’s left), we see the shoe. Blackjack is normally played with one to eight 52-card decks. Shoes are used to hold the cards in three- to eight-deck games. In most one- and two-deck games, the cards are held and pitched to the player. Hence, we call these games “pitch” games. The majority of shoes are transparent, although a few paranoid casinos cover the cards. Note: There are a few casinos that use six or eight decks, but the dealer grabs one or two of them and pitches them as if the game were a one- or two-deck game. In my opinion, this is a scam to fool players to thinking they are playing a pitch game. Pitch games used to be more advantageous to the player.

On the left of the table, we see the discard tray. Discard trays keep the used cards and come in a variety of styles. In most cases, they are transparent. I have seen tables with two discard trays, but this is very rare. If you see this, leave. The dealer can use two trays to alter the randomness of the cards to increase the house edge.

 © 2009 Norman Wattenberger