The best time to play was 3 in the morning when they were training the new dealers. The best table for the over/under 13 side bet sat in an off-the-Strip resort popular with locals but close enough to I-15 to grab substantial California tourist traffic. You could lose a little or just break even on the 21 game, as long as you stuck to the process. The odds were so good that basically you focused almost entirely on winning the over/under 13 bet.
If you played correct basic strategy and counted the cards in a way specific to the side bet, then the actual blackjack game didn't matter. Emphasis on the 'kind of.' At some point, someone begins to notice. Kind of like when the SEC notices that too many call options were purchased in a single account just prior to a buy-out or merger.
