If you are interested in learning about card counting, this is a guide to help you understand how to do it.
Card counting is used to gain a legal advantage when used against the casino.
Its a simple process, however for some people it takes a lifetime to master. Millions of Dollars have been won by card counting players at casinos. Casino have banned players that use card counting and win a lot from the casinos.
Contrary to what some people think, card counting is not the memorization of cards, how may queens have been dealt or any number of cards out of the shoe, if this were so people with poor memories would not be able to use card counting to their advantage.
Card counting strategy in Blackjack is favorable for a player when the remaining cards in the shoe have more Aces and 10 Value Cards (the 10’s, Jacks, Queens, and Kings).
Basically card counting is simply just using a system that keeps track of the ratio of the low cards to high cards.
The counting of the cards could be broken into 4 Steps
Step 1. You need to assign a value to every card.
Step 2. you need to keep a “Running Count” that is based on the values of the card that are dealt.
Step 3. Make use of this information to calculate the count of the deck or the “true count”.
Step 4. Change your bets when the true count rises.
Here we will give a break down of each step:
Step 1: You Need to Assign A Value To Every Card
With Hi-Lo as the most common of the card counting systems, the card values are as follows:
2-6 = +1,
7-9 = 0,
10-Ace= -1
counting cards - the card values as each card is dealt, the player will either add 1, or subtract 1, or do nothing based on the value of each card dealt.
Step 2: The Running Count – Keeping the Running Count
If you Add Or Subtract every card seen in each shoe
Watch as each card is dealt then update your “running count” with this new information that is given.
Example #1: how to count cards in blackjack. The running count for this round is 0
EXAMPLE #2: blackjack card counting The running count for this round is +1
EXAMPLE #3: example of how to count cards in blackjack The running count for this round is +1
A person who counts cards does this for every card that comes out of the shoe, they watch the cards in every round recording in their mind, round after round until the dealer shuffles the cards again.
If the player sees the running count increasing, this means the advantage begins to shift to the player. If the player sees the running count going negative, then they know that the casino’s advantage increases.
When Casinos use multiple decks, then you must use the running count in order to calculate a ‘true count’ or count per deck. The Casino’s use multiple decks to try thwart the card counters.
If there is a +5 running count and there are 6 decks remaining this is a different scenario from a +5 running count with only a single deck remaining.
In the first instance, there’s less than 1 additional high card for every deck remaining which means that the player does not yet have an advantage. It isn't the number of the extra high cards that is important to the card counter; it is the concentration of the high cards when compared to the concentration of the low cards. Therefore, if the running count of 5 and only a single deck remaining, then we know there are 5 extra 10’s and Aces in the remainder of the 52 cards, which places the edge in the player’s hands! That is why the “True Count” is valuable. counting cards in blackjack - true count.
EXAMPLE #1: If the Running Count is 10 and there are 5 decks remaining, the True Count will be 10÷5 = 2.
EXAMPLE #2: If the Running Count is -7 and there is 2 decks remaining, the True Count is -7÷2 = -3.
Using the perfect basic strategy as well as card counting, the player is able to use the information for betting to their advantage. That’s how card counters make their money!
The true count will also inform the player when to change their playing strategy. It is called “playing deviations”.
To Beat The Casinos
Memorize a chart, then add and subtract by one, and a player hopes to empty out the casino vault?
Card counters spend many hours of training, they also learn proper money management, have to learn how to avoid being detected by the casino’s surveillance, learn which rules they must avoid, and also learn how to handle the emotional and financial swings of the game.
