Blackjack card counting is not a strategy in a traditional sense. However, mastering this skill can help you in planning the bets more carefully. Through time, there were a lot of misconceptions about Blackjack card counting. Nowadays, no one can forbid you to count cards. What you do with your own wits is your business only. Therefore, join us for this short guide to see what Blackjack card counting actually is. Moreover, our bet safe Casino Yabby has a great selection of Blackjack, if you are into more online variations.
The Core of Blackjack Card Counting
Counting cards in Blackjack is a mathematically based way to keep track of cards that come out of the shoe. It predicts the odds and can tell you to what extent the next card being dealt favors the player (or the dealer).
The only way to do this is to keep an eye on both high-and-low-value cards. The whole point of Blackjack card counting is to know when to increase the bet.
The mathematician Edward Thorp created this system, being inspired by a desire to balance the house edge and the player’s edge. Interestingly, he concluded that the player’s edge increases when we exclude a single 2 from the deck.
When counting cards, you do not operate with big numbers. To make it simple, mathematicians have made it come down to operating with zeros and ones.
How to Assign a Value to a Card?
To be able to keep track of cards easily, and do the calculations without sweating, you should assign values to each card. In Blackjack, you assign the value of 1 to cards between 2 and 6.
Next, you should assign the value of zero to cards between 7 and 9. Lastly, cards that carry the numbers 10 and 11 get assigned the new value of -1.
So, what we have now are 0, 1, and -1. These are the numbers which you will use in the calculus. You will be either adding them up, or subtracting the value depending on the card that comes out of the shoe.
Counting
In Blackjack, there are 2 types of counting:
- The running count – keeps score of each card and every round until the next shuffle. It applies to every deck. Here, the cards with lower values favor the dealer.
- The true count – the running count divided by the number of remaining decks. For example, if the Running Count is 10, and there are 5 decks remaining, the True Count is 2 (10 ÷ 5). This means that the player’s edge increases by half percent.
What About the Bets?
Player’s odds increase with the higher result of the True Count. In traditional casinos, you would most likely play Blackjack with 6 decks. Every time the point is added to True Count, your edge will increase 0.5%.
How to Prepare for Playing
The game starts with the Running Count 0, right upon the first shuffle when the dealer’s edge is 0.5% . Even Odds are possible when the True Count is +1. These are the moments to place the base bet. Consequently, once the True Count reaches +2, you can place 2x the base bet, and so on.
As with many other casino games, you should read a lot, watch tutorials, and most importantly – play as much as you can, to put your knowledge into practice. We also recommend you to check out some of the previous tips on our blog, such as Blackjack Basic Strategy Bets and Rules as well as How to Excel at Blackjack.
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