The term “spooking” first originated in the United States in the 1970’s as I recall and involved the process of someone positioning themselves somewhere behind the dealer and then trying to see the dealers concealed down card and then relaying that information to their accomplice who was playing the game. It was a very effective tactic but one that certain casinos came down hard on.
In England the game is dealt without a down card but a variation of “spooking” still exists. With some dealers, they often have a very fast hand action when they deal. Many dealers as a result of doing this sometimes apply too much pressure to the card as they are about to pull it from the shoe. This can often mean that the first seat to the dealers left could be a prime spot for a player to maybe get a glimpse of the next card that was coming out of the shoe. If they knew that the first card out of the next shoe was a ten or an ace then this would afford them a huge advantage.
Not many dealers have this flaw but if you can find one or two per casino who do have it then it can be a real goldmine. If your act is good enough then you could easily get more money onto the table in these situations and in a hugely +EV situation. The legendary Arnold Snyder once calculated that knowing that your first card was a ten game you a 13% edge and a 52% edge if it was an ace.
