Shills

Mentioned shills earlier. A shill is a casino employee who plays with house money. A shill will play the basic game, usually fol-lowing some house-prescribed strategy. Where a shill can hurt someone tracking cards is by diluting a favorable deck. If you are playing alone against the dealer and winning, really the best situa-tion for tracking cards and winning, the casino can send a shill to join you.

The shill won't hurt your play, but the shill will be tak-ing half of your cards in favorable situations. Of course, the shill will also be taking half of the unfavorable cards, too, but the shill is "losing" house money, you aren't.

A shill can also be used to cheat you. One of these uses is called an anchor man. The shill sits at third base so he takes the last cards before the dealer hits. If the dealer is peeking, the dealer can signal the anchor man whether to hit or stand.

If the next card is bad for the dealer, the anchor man hits no matter what. If the next card is good for the dealer, the anchor man stands. In this way the dealer can make his hands without risking dealing seconds, or when seconds can't be dealt, such as out of a shoe with only a prism for peeking.

If you are playing in a game and the person at third base is playing erratically, watch out. If the player is hitting 17 or more, or standing on impossibly low cards versus good dealer up cards, the player could be a drunk, a dolt, or an anchor man. When in doubt, find another game.

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