Counting Cards Information

How To Play Blackjack: Counting Cards

It is recommended you know the basic plays and odds of blackjack before reading this more advanced article. Information can be found in my previous article, How to Play Blackjack: The Basics.

As soon as you walk into a casino to play blackjack, the odds are against you, the player. The built-in advantage of blackjack is the fact that the dealer gets to play his hand last, so even if a player busts along with the dealer, the player had busted first thus still losing the hand and their bet. Depending on the amount of decks played with and rule variations, a player can see upwards of a one percent disadvantage before even sitting down at a table. In a normal six deck game, a blackjack player will sit down with about a 49.4% chance to win the hand. The only way to improve those odds and to increase money making opportunity is to count cards.

Counting Cards is not an illegal practice! I repeat: it is not illegal in any state or province so don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Counting Cards is obviously not a practice well-liked by casinos however and any player caught doing so can be banned for life. Luckily, it is easy to keep hidden as the player does everything in their head and unless the casino has a crack team of mind readers on staff, you are good to go!

In contrast to popular opinion, Counting Cards is not the impossible practice seen in "21" or "Rain Man" or even "The Hangover" more recently. Counting cards is a practice that while effective is not packed with complicated equations unless you really are on the MIT blackjack team. The system demonstrated in this article is called the hi-lo system and as the name suggests, the player keeps a count in their head of the amount of high valued cards versus low valued ones. The high cards are considered all ten valued cards and aces and the low cards are twos through sixes. Sevens, eights, and nines are essentially ignored as mid valued cards.

The more high valued cards in the deck, the higher advantage the player has in the game for numerous reasons including higher chances for a blackjack, more bust opportunities for the dealer, and higher initial hands. These are all good for the player because even though the dealer has the same odds for getting a blackjack or a higher initial hand, the player has the first opportunity to play out their hand. This means that because of the higher ten card concentration in the deck, the player may stand on a hand typically hit while the dealer is still forced to hit on anything sixteen and below leading to many more busts and many more player victories. Low cards logically have the opposite effect as the dealer has much greater odds to make a good hand out of nothing to beat the player.

The advantage of the hi-lo system is winning more hands by playing smartly but also betting more when the odds to when are good and betting less when odds are poor. So not only do you win hands with more frequency when counting cards but you also win more with each victory and lose less with each defeat. Lets delve into the betting system now.

- Use a unitary betting system when counting cards. For example, when it is a low card heavy or neutral deck, the minimum unit of betting should be made. If it is a five dollar minimum, only bet five dollars or one unit. - As the deck becomes more and more ten rich, bet more and more as the odds increase in your favor. Two units should be bet as the count becomes plus 2 or 3. Three units should be bet as the count becomes 4 or 5 and so on and so forth. The count is positive with a heavy ten influence and negative with heavy low card influence. - In the six deck game, there can be a lot more fluctuation than in a one, two, or even four deck game. This can work to the player's advantage or disadvantage but it also has the tendency to balloon the numbers a bit early in the game. For example, if low cards are dealt in the early hands, it is natural for the player to think betting much more is a good thing as counts of positive ten or even more are easy to reach. However, this count would be foolish to bet too much on as it has been warped by the amount of cards in the shoe. Thus, in order to get a true idea of what your advantage is, we will use what is called an actual count. An actual count is achieved by dividing your running count of positive cards by the estimated amount of half decks remaining. So if about eight half decks or four full decks are remaining and your positive running count is 16, the actual advantage is about 2 which is the number you would use to place your bet. Negative running counts are not necessary to divide as it is a minimum unitary bet either way. - Be sure to always keep your running count in mind and only divide by the amount of half decks remaining when you need to make a betting decision. Once that decision has been made, throw out the actual count number and continue on with your running count.

Card counting at the table is relatively easy but should be practiced a bit before hitting up your closest casino to put it in play. There are a few simple practice techniques that can be employed with a single deck of cards and about 20 minutes of time per day. Just lay out the cards two at a time and then three or even four at a time as you feel more comfortable and keep the running count in your head. Let's say a two, jack, and ten are flipped over first. The count would be a negative one then as the two ten value cards overpower the low card. Continuing on, a ten and two fours are flipped over, restoring the count to zero as the two lower cards cancel out both the ten and the previous negative one count. Don't forget, for the purposes of the hi-lo system, aces are also counted as tens. When you get to the end of the deck, it is easy to see if you counted accurately as the number will always be zero! With 20 low cards, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and with 20 ten cards, 10, jack, queen, king, ace, plus the twelve neutrals, the 52 card deck is complete and all positivity or negativity will be canceled.

This system is the easiest way to count cards but it is also extremely efficient. There is little effort involved and with practice, there is no way for the casino to catch you doing it. The key to not being caught counting is to be nice and relaxed, with no mental exertion showing. The more a player stares at cards as they are being picked up, the more suspicion raised. Also just because I have shown a basic unitary betting system, it is not necessary nor recommended to play it to a "T." This too raises suspicion and can quickly end your winning session as you are banned for betting all your money on a hand very rich in tens. The casinos know all the tricks so just don't get too greedy! Play a few practice rounds with friends and make sure to count every card dealt as they all effect the count. A common mistake is just counting one's own hand and the dealer's while ignoring everyone else's, which logically leads to a really crappy system and probably one you won't make money off of which is the eventual goal!

Do not expect to make money every single night off counting cards. There is no way to control the cards coming your way but as the count gets higher and you start winning more and losing less, the advantages will be profitable. Odds can take a long time to come out as shown when flipping a coin with 50/50 odds continually shows just heads, but over the long term, the odds are in your favor when playing blackjack with counting involved. Good luck and make sure to read my other articles on blackjack and moneymaking!