Blackjack Strategy

A Beginner’s Guide to Card Counting

by Quinton on Nov.13, 2010, under Blackjack

What makes twenty-one much more fascinating than many other similar games is the truth that it offers a mix of chance with elements of skill and decision-making. Plus, the aura of "card counting" that lets a gambler turn the odds of a casino game in his favor, makes the casino game much more alluring.

What is card counting?: When a gambler says he is counting cards, does that mean he is basically maintaining track of every card played? And do you have to become numerically suave to become a successful card counter? The answer to both questions is "No".

Truly, you are not counting and memorizing specific cards. Rather, that you are preserving track of sure cards, or all cards as the case might be, as they leave the black jack deck (dealt) to formulate a single ratio number that signifies the composition of the outstanding deck. You are assigning a heuristic point score to each card in the deck and then tracking the total score, which is named the "count".

Card counting is based on the assumption that great cards are beneficial for the gambler although low cards are excellent for the dealer. There may be no one technique for card counting – diverse systems assign different point values to various cards.

The Hi-Lo Depend: This is one of the most common systems. According to the High-Low process, the cards numbered two through six are counted as plusone and all tens (which consist of 10s, J’s, queens and K’s) and aces are counted as minusone. The cards seven, 8, and nine are assigned a rely of zero.

The preceding outline of the High-Lo technique exemplifies a "level 1" counting system. You can find other counting systems, known as "level two" techniques, that assign plustwo and -2 counts to sure cards. Around the face of it, this program appears to offer further accuracy. On the other hand, experts agree that this further accuracy is offset by the greater issues of keeping rely and the increased likelihood of creating a mistake.

The "K-O" Method: The "K-O" Program follows an out of balance counting system. The points are the same as the Hi-Low technique, with the addition of 7’s also being counted as plusone. A regular unbalanced counting method is designed to eliminate the need to take into account the effect that multiple decks have on the stage count. This many deck issue, incidentally, demands a procedure of division – something that most players have difficulty with. The "K-O" rely was made popular by the book "Knock-Out Blackjack" by Ken Fuchs and Olaf Vancura.

Although it may well seem to be a humungous task to discover how you can track cards, the returns, in terms of time put in, are well worth the effort. It is really a known fact that efficient card counting gives an "unfair advantage," so to say, to the twenty-one player. There may be practically no acknowledged defense against card counting.

Warning: Except do remember, that though card counting isn’t unlawful in any state or country, betting houses have the right to prohibit card counters from their establishments. So don’t be an obvious counter of cards!


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