Table Games - Misdeals
We recently went to Casino Niagra in Canada I was playing blackjack with a full table of players. The play went around the table as normal, I stayed on 17. When it came to the dealer she had an 8 showing flip her unshown card was a ten equals 18. She then proceeded to take a hit on 18 (by mistake)and threw up a Jack which was a bust on 18. I felt this should have been a misdeal or a push for all but the dealer said no it was not valid since the house rules are dealer Stays on 17 and above and Hit on 16 and all below. I disagreed with the call and the pit boss came over and stated the dealer is correct and you lose. I sure would appreciate your thoughts as I totally disagreed with the call. Plus I had a large bet riding so maybe it is just my sore losing side coming out. I sure can’t wait to get an experts thought on this once and for all.
I side with the casino. The rules state the dealer stands on 18. The dealer has no free will and once she got 18 the 18 is firm. The extra card dealt does not alter the dealer’s 18 and it was correctly burned. In a one or two deck game some casinos will reshuffle in that situation.
Three questions of etiquette and ethics.
- Blackjack dealer makes a mistake in your favor. Do you point it out? Do you tip?
- The etiquette of challenging the dealer where you think he made a mistake in favor of the house against you.
- You wrongfully challenge the dealer, is anything more than an apology expected?
All three have happened to me within the last month. I am a small time bettor so the correction of a win or loss is not significant to me. I'd prefer not jeopardize the dealer's job.
This is a delicate question. Personally I just keep my mouth shut. Once in Atlantic City I saw another player correct the dealer for an overpayment and neither the dealer nor pit boss thanked the player for his honesty. If the casino doesn’t seem to care then why should I? I also view making the correct payment as part of a game. Also, no I do not tip. Sometimes crooked dealers will deliberately overpay players hoping to get tipped in return. This is highly illegal and at least in Nevada they treat cheating as a comparable crime to bank robbery. So I wouldn’t want anyone, including the dealer, to think I was colluding on a mistake-for-tip scheme. Another reason to not say anything is that the dealer will have to call the pit boss over and confess his mistake. Anyone can make a mistake once in a while but if the dealer is known to be mistake prone already then, yes, it could put his job in jeopardy.
Note: See my Jan. 9 column for a dealer's answer to this question.
Thank you for the wonderful site. I check it at least weekly. I also have patronized your sponsors. I am a dealer at an Indiana casino. If I make a mistake in the player’s favor, the last thing I want is a tip because of the mistake. It makes it look like the error was deliberate in an attempt to receive a tip. Advise people that tips should be given for service not for an error that gives them money. Thanks again.
Thanks for the kind words and patronizing the advertisers. I’m happy to post what you said. For the benefit of those new to this column this refers to a question in the December 27, 2004 column.
What is the probability that a particular dealer will commit an error while dealing casino games? Is there such a standard?
That is a good question. In general the nicer the casino the lower the probability of dealer errors. Dealer errors are also much more likely in new games as opposed to the old classics. Also, in my opinion dealer errors go in favor of the dealer about ¾ of the time. I have never heard of any standard. To make a rough approximation I would say dealers make an error on average once every 1 to 4 hours.
During my last two sessions at my local casino of choice, I’ve been on the positive end of dealer error for two different poker games: 4-card poker and 3-card poker. Both times, I remained silent and in the case of 4-card poker, certainly didn’t want to ruin it for the other players. Not to rationalize, but sometimes I also feel that bringing these mistakes to light can make the dealer look worse than letting it slide -- assuming of course, the eye in the sky doesn’t catch the error -- with a subsequent reprimand behind the scenes. I have a few questions related on this topic. Has there been any study or estimation relating to how dealer error affects the house edge? Certainly all but the most incoherent or novice player will catch errors that help the house, but it’s been my experience that most errors that help the player are not brought to light, by players, anyway. Looking back, dealer error has given back a significant amount of money to me over the past year. Thanks for any insights!
I do not know of any formal study. As you would expect dealer errors tend to decrease as the quality of the casino goes up. I have personally played thousands of hours behind the tables since I turned 21 years old 19 years ago (it seems like just yesterday). Based on all that play I strongly feel that most errors favor the house, probably about 80%. For example many dealers do not know that you still pay the ante bonus in Three Card Poker even if the player lost or the dealer didn’t qualify. (Bluejay got shortchanged this way because he wasn’t sure of the rule himself.) I’ve had a few dealers disagree with me on this rule, who were later correctly overruled by the pit boss. I wonder how many players, who don’t know the rules as well as I do, were shortchanged by these same dealers before I played. Of course the error is more likely to be corrected if the error favors the dealer. I tend to think the cost of errors to the casino is not very high because of the higher percentage in favor of the dealer. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if the casinos actually made money from errors overall. If anyone in casino management has another point of view then I’m all ears to hear it.
Recently I was at a casino playing blackjack. There were three other players and I was at the far end of the table. Player 1 stood on 18, player 2 stood on 19, player 3 had 15. When the dealer got to player 3 he clearly waved his hand over his cards and said "stand". The dealer proceeded to pull the next card out of the shoe with the intent on giving it to player 3. Myself, Player 2 and Player 3 all immediately spoke up and stopped the dealer from revealing the card. The dealer then burned this card instead of returning it back to the shoe. On my turn I stood on my 19. The dealer revealed 14 then drew the next card which was a 7 for 21 - beating everybody. Needless to say we were all upset at this. I asked to see the burned card and the dealer told me "no". I asked that all cards be left on the table and to get a ruling from the pit boss. The pit boss came over and revealed the burn card as a jack. We explained that had the dealer not made their mistake, they would have gotten a jack for 24 and not the 7 for 21 and all of us would have won. The response we got from the pit boss was "too bad" and they collected all of our bets. Our response was we all left the table. So my question is who would be right in this situation?
For procedure questions like this I like to turn to Brian S., a casino manager and former regulator. Here is what he said.
In my estimation, the dealer should have called the supervisor over before burning the card on his own. The dealer shouldn’t make decisions like that. If I was on the floor, I would have asked the player at 3rd base if he wanted the burn card or the next card in the shoe. If he selected the next card, I would not have shown him the burned card. He may still have been upset by the outcome, but I bet he would have stayed at my table.
In your recent Ask the Wizard column (169) someone asked a question regarding the dealer incorrectly burning a card in a blackjack game. At the casino I work at, when dealing blackjack if a card is incorrectly removed from the shoe and is NOT exposed it is still the next card in play (unless it is dealt to the dealers hand, in which case it is burnt). In Blackjack a card is only burnt a) When starting a new shoe, b) When a card is boxed (facing the wrong way in the shoe), or c) Incorrectly dealt to a dealers hand.
Thanks for your comments. That sounds more or less like the usual policy in Vegas as well.
I was playing one on one double-deck Black Jack in a casino in Louisiana. I had a large bet that I doubled down on a 4 and 7 against dealer’s 4. I opened my cards and place them infront of my chips and dobled down the bet. Dealer continued and opened his cards, 4 and two, then drew a ten and a three. We then noticed that the dealer had forgotten to deal me my double down card. The floor ruled that I lost the hand since I had eleven against nineteen. I asked the floor to give me the ten and draw a card on 4+2+3. Floor said that the cards cannot be backed up! and the best he can do is to return my bet. The next card in the deck was a ten, which would have been my 21 against dealer’s 19. I have decided to meet the casino manager for table games for compensation. I need advice on how to approach the manager on this matter. Is it common to get compensated for this type of casino errors?
Casinos don’t like to back up cards because it may cause some players who won because of the mistake to lose. The general policy is that if there is a mistake more than one card back then the hand is ruled dead. However often casinos will bend the rules a bit to keep the players happy. For example, last month I was playing blackjack at the Venetian by myself, when I doubled down. The dealer never saw me make the double down bet, thinking I stood, turned over his cards, and hit is own hand with a 4. I then brought the mistake to the dealer’s attention. The pit boss gave me the choice of accepting the 4 as my double down card or it could be burned for the next card in the deck. I chose to burn it and the next card was another 4, and I ended up losing. Although I was happy with how it was handled the pit boss told the dealer to push my bet anyway, which I thought was very nice and beyond the call of duty. To get back to the issue, as long as the floor gave you back your full bet then I think that was procedural.
I had a situation playing blackjack last weekend, where the dealer had a 6 on top but when he was tucking in the down card he accidentally showed that he had a 3 in the hole. The player on my right had a 15, I had an 11, and the player on my left had a 12. Knowing that the dealer had a total hand of 9, the player on my right hit his hand and busted with a 10. I wound up doubling down and got a 2. The player on the left hit his hand getting a 5, for a total of 17. The dealer opened his hand of 9 and hit a ten for a total of 19. The dealer told us even though you saw the 3 under that you should play your hand as if you did not know the down card. I wanted to ask you what you would have done in the situation for all three players. This is the first time that has ever happened since I have been playing blackjack. Please advise. Thanks!
My flashing blackjack dealer strategy shows what to do in any situation where the dealer accidentally exposes his hole card. However, most players don’t have that memorized, incluing me. In cases like this where the dealer’s two cards total nine or less you may use basic strategy, assuming the dealer’s up card is the sum of his two cards. Using that rule of thumb, all three players played correctly. Contrary to what the dealer said, the player has every right to use any information gleaned from dealer errors like this. Not only would I have ignored the dealer’s comment, I would have kept playing, hoping he would do it again.