Getting Info from the Dealer
A dealer, particularly at a casino where he or she must examine the hole card if the upcard is a 10 or ace, can give away a lot of information to the player by the way he or she peeks. Some give away nothing. There was a dealer who once worked in downtown Las Vegas who was at least six-feet, four-inches. Standing erect, he could pick up the corner of his hole card and somehow know its value in an instant. He was impossible to read.
Other dealers have tells, that is, giveaways of the value of the cards they're peeking at. If a dealer sees a 10 or paint (jack, queen or king) the moment the card in the hole is turned slightly, it's apparent what value that card is. If the card is a small card, most particularly the 4, the hole card must be lifted more to see its value. Sometimes the 4, which most resembles the ace, causes the dealer to turn up the card a couple of times, to verify whether or not they have a blackjack, when their upcard is a 10.
This is something to be observed. Most of the time you play you'll get no information from an experienced dealer. Sometimes you'll get a lot. A dealer may be experienced, but since you've treated him like a human being, he's trying to be helpful to you. After all, the major income of a dealer is from tokes or tips. If you're winning, you should usually tip more, especially if the dealer is helpful.
What I really mean is, if the dealer is friendly and helpful, tip the dealer. Put them on your side all the way. On the other side of the coin, there are dealers who go out of their way to be unfriendly and unhelpful. Here is an example:
Two players were playing at a $25 table. One was doing well, and the dealer was getting more and more annoyed. Maybe the dealer, a man, had a losing table all of his shift and was worried about heat from his bosses. Whatever the reasons, the dealer was there to harass and annoy the player, since they were really winning.
After several rounds of play, he dealt the player a 10-6 and showed a 10 as his upcard. The player waited for him to peek before making a decision. The deck was neutral, and the player had a neutral bet out, so the player was prepared to hit the 16. He peeked at his hole card, repeeked again, holding the card up by the corner an unnaturally long time. The player thought the dealer was telling him something. Maybe his demeanor had been just to impress his bosses.
So the player stood. The dealer smirked and turned over a king of spades, perhaps the most blatant of the 10-value cards to see, by all its paint. The player didn't say anything, just staring at the dealer, and he stared a nasty stare. The player sat there not making a bet, then once more stared at him, finally got up, and gathered up the chips.
"Want to change color?" he said, indicating the stacks of $25 chips which, he wanted to change to $100 chips.
"You must be kidding," The player said, and walked away, still boiling. This player didn't want to play while angry, so they cashed in, and left the casino.