John Grochowski is a blackjack expert and a well-known and respected casino gambling columnist. His syndicated casino gambling column appears in the Chicago Sun Times, Denver Post, Casino City Times, and other newspapers and web sites. Grochowski has written six books on gambling including the "Answer Man" series of books (www.casinoanswerman.com). He offers one-minute gambling tips on radio station WSM-AM (890) and podcasts are available at http://www.wlsam.com/sectional.asp?id=38069. Send your question to Grochowski at casinoanswerman@casinoanswerman.com.

In today’s game, there’s usually nothing a dealer can do to affect game play. I’ve heard old-timers talk about a game I’ve never experienced in my nearly 30 years of playing blackjack, one where a well-placed toke could nudge the dealer toward dealing an extra hand in a really good count. Those were single-deck and double-deck games with good rules and no cut card, where the dealer used his judgment as to when it was time to shuffle.

Today, the dealer must shuffle when the cut card appears. Regardless of how good the count is, you’re not going to convince the dealer to squeeze out another hand.

Where there may be some advantage is at comp time. If after you leave, the pit boss asks the dealer how much you were betting, the dealer might remember a little higher figure if you’ve been tipping than if you weren’t.

However, really, in the modern game, you’re tipping the dealer for making your time at the table pleasant, efficient, and friendly. Dealers are low-paid service employees who make their living on tips. It’s their job to make you feel at home. A grumpy, unpleasant dealer isn’t going to get my tip money, no matter how the cards have been running.

As for your friend who tips the extra on every blackjack, that’s generous to a fault, and then some. By keeping only the payoff equal to his bet, he’s essentially turning the game into one where blackjacks pay only even money. The scourge of the 6-5 blackjack payoff is tough enough on players. But even money? Your friend is adding about 2.3 percent to the house edge. An advantage player, trying to scrape out an edge of a percent or so by counting cards, would give away the entire advantage, give it away again, and then some, by toking that much. Even a casual, basic strategy player, just there for fun, needs to dial that back.

Blackjack moves faster with fewer players. There are fewer hit/stand decisions made, the dealer deals fewer cards and takes less time to pay off winners or rack up the chips from losing hands. A full five-player table will play more hands per hour than a full seven-player table.

That favors whoever has the edge on the game. If you’re an advantage player, you want a faster game with more hands per hour. If you’re a basic strategy player, an average player or a newbie, then more hands per hour works in favor of the house.

Since most players don’t get an edge on the house, faster games work in favor of the casino. A number of years ago, I was invited to participate as a student at a weeklong Harrah’s crash course in casino operations. At the time, Harrah’s was experimenting with five-player tables at some locations. An exec told us that it was working on two levels. The house was getting more hands per hour by more than enough to pay extra dealers for more tables. Moreover, players were seeing it as a customer service touch, with fewer players crowding any given table.

That’s not to say a full five-seat table will move any faster than a seven-seat table with five players. The major determinant on how fast a game moves remains the number of players. However, in a casino that fills its seats, five-player tables bring a faster game than seven-player tables.

Oh, they’d have been upset all right. Adding something extra to a double down bet is cheating just as surely as past posting in roulette --- putting down a wager after the winning number is known --- or trying to add chips to your main blackjack bet after seeing your cards. Casino personnel from the dealer to the surveillance room are trained to look for scams like that.

Had the dealer been alert, she’d probably would have told him that was too much, and adjusted his bet. If security caught the move, maybe all they’d have done is demand he return the overage. However, he could have been barred from the casino, blacklisted, even arrested. It’s not a move I’d attempt to make.