Card Counting

Before you get all crazy, card counting is legal in most United States Jurisdictions. It IS NOT CHEATING. Some casinos don’t like card counting but unless you are a professional card counter which most casinos will ban from the table. Most beginners will try to card count but find it hard to concentrate on counting the cards as well as trying to play. Other players who are new to the game don’t understand what card counting is so we will explain.

A basic strategy will give the player optimal plays for any situation and that is based on millions of hands of Blackjack are played in the long run. But looking at the short term, when the cards are dealt from the deck, the deck is realistically incomplete. Now, by keeping track of the cards that have already been played. It is possible for a player to know when the cards that are left to be played are going to be an advantage to other players.

Card counting brings about two opportunities. The player can make larger bets because they think they know when the cards are going to be of help to them. For example, let’s say that the player increases the starting bet if he believes that there are aces and tens left in the deck which are key card in hitting a Blackjack. Or the player can take the information about the cards and use that information to improve the basic strategy rules for certain hands. Sounds too confusing, here is an example. It there are many 10’s believed to be in the deck, and then the player may double down in more situations since there is a better chance of making the players hand better.

If you are the kind of player who finds it hard to concentrate on the game much less anything else. Then there are other card counting methods that don’t involve card counting. The system is a point system that is given to the cards. The player is able to keep track of the cards through a simple point count, meaning as the cards are being dealt they are being counted.

Sometimes the rules of the game are different depending on which US casino you go to and what rules they choose to use. The basic strategy decreases the advantage of the casino by only less than one percent. If the dealer at the table is a double deck then the reduction of the house’s advantage is not that good.

You really need a good idea of how statistics work in order to be a successful card counter. If you are reading this then chances are you are a beginning and the rules are hard enough to understand with all the splits, double downs and the purpose of a double deck is all a lot to take in. Trying to learn to count the cards while you are sitting at the table can cost you money rather than make you money. If card counting is something you are interested in doing, do more research, if you are going to do it then you may as well do it right.