All You Need to Know About Dealer Tells in Blackjack

Casino games are great if you are playing for fun. You bet a small amount which you have no problem losing and if you actually win it is a great opportunity to celebrate. But it becomes more serious if you are playing for the money. And especially when it comes to card games like Blackjack, you should have the ability to follow the cards, read people around and keep an eye on what is happening. You will need a lot of knowledge, practice and experience to actually keep consistently winning to actually make money.

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The Role of Involuntary Cues

Card games involve a lot of mind games. Buffing is a great example of how people use psychology to play with their opponents’ minds and ultimately win. It can be especially helpful if your gameplay involves playing with people’s minds too. This is where involuntary cues or tells as they are called can help. Though people might be saying one thing, involuntary aspects such as their body language or small idiosyncrasies like slight physical gestures, how and where they are looking, etc. might give them away.

When it comes to other casino games like poker where you are playing against a number of playing, following these tells can be a difficult task. But when it comes to Blackjack, it is a whole different story. Basically, there are two reasons why tells can be useful when playing Blackjack:

  1. You are playing against the dealer. So all you need to do is follow the dealer and correctly interpret the dealer tells.
  2. Additionally, the most important card in Blackjack is the one that is with the dealer, facing down. So, if you have an idea of what type of card it is, you will definitely have an advantage over the other players and even the dealer.

So, understanding dealer cues or tells can be advantageous in the game of Blackjack.

The Common Dealer Tells in Blackjack That You Should Know

In general, reading dealers isn’t as easy as reading your opponents. Basically, we read someone based on their reaction to how the game is progressing. This can be done because it makes a difference to players whether they win or lose; they are in this to win and hence will be negatively affected if they lose. But the same cannot be said about the dealer! Dealers aren’t here to win money; they are just doing their job. Hence, winning and losing generally don’t make a difference. Additionally, being professionals and people with an experience they generally conduct themselves in a practised and monotonous behaviour. Every move they make is automatic, and hence actually reading them can become difficult. That being said, there are some situations and specific timing in Blackjack where it can be beneficial to observe the dealer.

The Importance of Hole Card

The hole card in Blackjack is the dealer’s card which is dealt facedown and which you won’t know until all players make their bets. In general, even dealers don’t look at this card unless there is a need for it. So, in most cases, you cannot get much out of the dealer since he himself doesn’t know about it. In case the dealer does decide that needs a peek, this is when you need to observe closely.

Since he is reading the card at an angle, it is difficult to read some type of cards. So, depending on how quick he is with the peeking, you can decide what type of card he is holding. 10 is the only two-digit card and hence easy to read; thus, it takes less time. It is the same with face cards too since they are unique and all are of the same value – 10.

If the dealer does take some time to identify the hole card it can be that it is either a number card, most probably a 2, 3, 5 or 8 since they are hard to read upside down or an ace since it can look similar to a 4 when looking at it from an angle.

Thus, depending on the time taken and your analysis of what cards have been distributed, you can make a guess as to what hole card actually might be and thus devise your game plan accordingly.

Is the Concept of Dealer Tells Helpful?

Finally, it is important to note that there is a lot of information regarding dealer tells out there and everything might not be correct. The concept of psychology, body language, and assessing a person based on involuntary cues is complex, and it takes a lot of time to master it. But being alert and practising and perfecting the art of reading tells can help you become good at it and even win Blackjack in the long run!