Counting Cards – A Simple Method

Now I want to get something straight first, counting cards isn’t prohibited, criminal or cheating in anyway.  It’s merely utilizing your mind and considering your betting. It may seem that utilizing your mind is prohibited in several casinos,  nevertheless I can guarantee you it is simply that most people tend to gamble  like that!   Additionally you need not be considered a maths expert to count cards, no photographic storage or indeed a concealed computer gadget on your person.  Counting cards merely assists you evaluate the situation with a deck of cards and nudges the house edge down a little.  It’s not a roulette system obviously but can be used in most of the casinos card games so I’ve included it here.

The idea is simply if you have an concept of the amount of high/low cards left in any deck of card then you have a major benefit when playing.   To complete this there are lots of different counting methods that you should use — this is probably the most simple which I’m certain is the best for people to start with

The Hi-Lo Counting System
This system is called Hi-Lo and is frequently utilized a starting system for newbies.  Here’s how it functions — every card is designated a value as below.

• 2, 3, 4,5, 6 (all low cards) = +1
• 7,8,9 (neutral cards) = 0
• 10, Jack, Queen, King, Aces (High Cards) = -1

All you need to do is utilizing fundamental maths simply maintain a running total in your head.  You must include each and every card and update the total as appropriate.  This really is called maintaining a running count.

The total you have at any one time  is invaluable, for example when the count is negative then there are many low cards left and consequently favors the banker or dealer. When the total is positive then there are lots of high cards left which consequently favors the player.

Once you consider it, the program is fairly straightforward — every low card adds one to the total and indicates there’s one less low card within the deck.  Alternatively when you pull a higher card the total will drop –and so a reduced or negative running score implies that the high cards are low in supply.

So to review:

• a high positive count favors the gamer — i.e. more high cards to become worked.
• a negative count favors the home — i.e. more low cards to become dealt.

If you’ve kept count correctly the final total must be zero once the whole deck has been dealt out.
This is obviously fairly easy, nevertheless there’s one little problem that could have happened for you. Card counters require a somewhat more correct assessment  to maintain a real benefit — they need to understand the ‘True Count’. This describes the issue that several card games like Blackjack  used several decks. The True count is thus the current count divided by the amount of decks remaining to be played.
It will help balance the issue of penetration  in a card game. This is nothing rude, but merely that the running count  is more accurate the more cards have already been played.  The further in to the deck the more important the amount.  100 percentage  penetration is reached when all the cards inside the deck have been dealt.   Unfortunately no casino i’ve ever seen will ever get  near working away all of the cards — it might be simply too uncertain for them! Suffice to state a favorable rating of 5 or 6 wouldn’t be that significant  at the start of the game but it would be quite substantial with just one or two decks left to offer!!

It isn’t really that difficult to complete if you practice, you could try it at home using Dublinbets free Blackjack game. Simply make use of the free game  and you’ll be linked to the casino, try and figure  out when they alter the decks and then practice maintaining a running count. Following a little practice try it when lots of individuals playing — Friday and Saturday evenings are generally active and the Blackjack tables is going to be fairly full.

Do not attempt it in pc controlled Blackjack games —  as you’re not using actual decks.

Now this is quite a basic card counting method and i’ll cover more complicated ones in additional articles.  But you can notice that this does provide some benefit to you over an average player despite being an  easy technique.

Approximately a great good counter has an advantage of between .5% and 1.5%. Okay it’s not a tremendous benefit but with average luck and a respectable bank roll to perform out variances — this type of playing  should earn over time. A card counters basic strategy is to wager more seriously when the cards favor them (i.e. a large positive running county) and bet more cautiously when a reduced count is apparent (meaning there are several more low cards than high cards to become worked.)

 

Tagged as: blackjack, card counting