How to Use the Blackjack Peeker
What is the blackjack peeker? The peeker, this right here. When you go up to the table. This little device that’s on the table that the dealers put their cards in, this helps dealers see if they have a blackjack or not, without having to look at the cards.
Why Use a Blackjack Peeker
In the old days when you had to check your cards, you actually had to do it by hand. You would do it like so.
But the problem with doing it like this, is if the dealers raise the card too high, the player behind them can see what they have.
To strengthen game security and table protection, they created this device, this peeker, so dealers can check to see if they have a blackjack without anyone, the players even the dealer knowing what they have.
How do Blackjack Peekers Work
How do they do this? If you take a look at the peeker, right here you will notice a couple things. This part that sticks out, that protrudes above the table, this part is where you put your cards. So if you have a card, for example, you would take the card and put it in the peeker like so.
Now you can see that there’s only one place that the card can go. The card can’t go over here for example (note how Heather puts the card on the wrong side in the video). It only has one slot that it can go into. You can’t use it anyway except one way. And when you are looking you are looking into this divide, this little window. What you are looking at is a mirror. So that mirror is what you see.
If the dealer is checking for a blackjack and they are looking in the mirror and they see nothing. They just see white, and that’s it. That means they don’t have a blackjack. If they see any kind of markings at all that means that they know that they have a blackjack. So if they see markings, then the dealer know they have a blackjack and they will flip up the cards and do the take and pay procedure.
Checking for Blackjacks
Now the first thing that we are going to do is we are going to check a 10 up card. Let’s say you have a 10 upcard. If you have a 10 upcard, if you have a 10 or an ace up card, the dealer has to check to see if they have a blackjack. So we see here that we have a 10 up card. So we are going to check. Again there is only one way you can put the card into the device. We are going to put it in the device, we are going to take a look at the window. We see that we have white. Because it’s white we know we do not have a blackjack. Let’s double check that. That is correct. We have a 12. So as you can see we do not have a blackjack.
Next up is another 10 upcard. So let’s try it again. When you are taking the cards you are going to put it into the slot right here. You are taking a look at this window and as you can see, we do have markings. We can see that there’s an ace under there. So we know that because we see markings that we do in fact have a blackjack. So we are going to turn over those cards and show everyone at the table that the dealer has a blackjack and then we are going to complete the take and pay procedure.
Now we are going to do an ace up card, now if you notice before when we check the 10 upcard we don't have to do anything. We just took the card and placed it directly in the peeker. BUT, you only do that when you have a 10 upcard. So a 10, jack, queen or king you would always put it vertical, like so (portrait to the edge of the table). But when you have an ace that is different. So when you have an ace upcard you have to turn it sideways (landscape to the edge of the table). If you turn it sideways like this, then it is ready to be inserted into the peeker. Again there is only one way you can insert it. And as you can see from the window we see white. Therefore we do not have a blackjack. Let’s double check this. Nope! We do not have a blackjack. There is a two under there.
Last one. Another ace. Again you have an ace upcard, ask for insurance, turn it inside, ask for insurance. Once everybody is done with insurance, you take the card, and again, make sure it’s turned sideways. You want it horizontal. Again, make sure you turn it. You're going to stick it into the peeker and by looking at the window, you can see markings, so therefore we know that we do in fact have a blackjack. Let’s double check. Yep! We do have a blackjack.
Summary
Seeing how it works, you will hopefully have a much easier time using it. That’s really all you need to know, is what to do when you have a 10 or an ace. And the only thing you really need to remember is just turn the ace sideways. Everything else is pretty easy.
I know it’s a lot harder when you are not using it, when you are not looking at it. You don’t know what the dealers are seeing, so now I hope you have a chance to understand a little bit more about the peeker and how to use it.