Counting Cards in Blackjack
The idea of having a winning streak in the casino game blackjack is something that can be very appealing to gaming connoisseurs. Having the reputation of always winning in blackjack can be very beneficial, especially to your earnings. Thus, people aspiring to do this have devised different ways to achieve it, a lot of who have failed. Some strategies have proven to bring some players more winnings, and thus others may opt to adapt them. One of these strategies is card counting.
Card counting is one strategy that may be reserved for the pros as it is definitely not easy to do. Moreover, a good number of casinos are not really comfortable with it. It is best for any player who wants to use this method to learn from the experts. If you’re the type who loves self-teaching, then there are a number of books available to teach you on how to effectively “card count.”
Basics of card counting
In card counting, a deck of cards that has a lot of aces and tens is on the side of the player, while a deck that has more of the small cards is in the favor of the dealer. If a deck is rich in tens and aces, the likelihood of the dealer “busting” more often is bigger.
In order to “measure” whether what kinds of cards a deck is rich in – whether high cards or low ones, a player must be able to sharpen his observations by keeping track of cards which have already been played, then assigning a point value to each played card. The counting is quite challenging, as of course, it has to be all done in the mind, and the points differ according to player. The logic though, is the same for all card counters – a point will be added if the deck favors the player and a minus if it becomes disadvantageous. Thus, high cards can be -1 and low cards +1, while the in-between cards are assigned 0. Then, the counter does the calculations by adding and subtracting points depending on the card plays. The counter keeps a running total, while he or she also needs to divide the running count by the proportion of what’s left of the deck’s size in order to have the “true count.” From there, he or she will know the relative richness of high cards vis-à-vis low cards in the remaining cards.
When to do card counting
The best scenario for the card counter is, of course, a high positive count. But whatever the count the counter might have, he or she could use it to see if the dealer has an upper hand, weigh options and ultimately bet accordingly.
In order to be successful in this strategy, you must have a very good memory and fast reflexes as you gather information while playing. On the average you should be looking at a 1% average profit. Thus, you need to invest on your skill by betting more, which may turn out bad though. The casino pit boss may notice you and order for cards to be shuffled more frequently. Thus, a card counter has to be very skillful when employing his or her skills.