Posts Tagged ‘Card counting’
Monday, August 30th, 2010
There are any number of blackjack card counting systems out there, ranging from complex to simple. Obviously if you have decided to begin learning card counting it makes sense to start with an easy system. Then, once you have become skilled at using that system, learn a newer more complex one if you would like.
The easiest blackjack card counting system is also one of the most common. It is called the Hi Lo system, and it is the one that the majority of beginning counters start with. It is a basic counting system whose only demand on your math skills is to add and subtract a positive one and a negative one.
Almost all of the cards have a positive or negative counting value assigned to them. The only cards that do not are 7, 8 and 9. Those three are considered neutral and have no value in this counting system. The other cards are assigned like so:
2, 3, 4, 5, 6 are all +1
10, J, Q, K, Ace are all -1
The way this system works is that the player will add up the values of the cards that are on the table, including the dealer’s face up and hole card.
So say that you are playing with one other person. You have a 5/6 and you double for 9. The other player has 2/6/5 and stands. The dealer has a 10 with a hole card of 6 and hits for 7 and busts. Adding up the value of cards played, starting with your hand and ending with the dealer, would look like this:
1 + 1 + 0 + 1 + 1 + 1 + -1 + 1 + 0 = 5
Your count ends with a positive number. This means that more low cards were played than high cards, and so the remaining deck is richer in high cards.
You keep adding to you count with the next round. In the case of our example you pick up with 5 at the beginning of the next round.
A positive count means the remaining deck is rich in high cards, while a negative count means that more high cards have been played leaving the remainder of the deck rich with low cards. Blackjack card counters will raise their wagers with a positive count, and lower them with a negative count.
As the simplest blackjack card counting system, it is easy to see why so many beginning blackjack card counters start with this system.
Tags: Blackjack, Blackjack betting strategy, Blackjack Odds, Blackjack player, Blackjack strategy, Blackjack Tips., Card counting, Game of Skill, Hi-Lo, Hi-Lo System, How to Bet in Blackjack, How to play Blackjack
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Friday, August 27th, 2010
Every single player out there wants to know what the best blackjack strategy is. This comes from blackjack’s reputation that it is the one casino game in which players can beat the house.
The truth is that only the players who are willing to put a lot of time, patience, research and practice into the blackjack playing and blackjack strategy will come to the point that they can beat the house. They also must be highly skilled card counters. And, in all truth, not many blackjack players are willing to put the time and effort in to building up their card counting skill.
So what can the rest of the blackjack players out there do? The ones who want to play for fun and who want to make some money on it—like a serious hobby in other words. What can they do?
The best that a blackjack player who is not aiming to be professional can do in terms of blackjack strategy is to play according to basic strategy.
Basic strategy is a chart with every single player hand running down the left side. This includes pairs and soft hands, not just hard hands. The inclusion of pairs and soft hands is one of the strong points of basic strategy because pairs and soft hands are often tricking for players to figure out how to play.
Running across the top of the chart are all of the dealer up cards. Where any line from a dealer up card intersects with a player hand is the best statistical play for that combination of player hand and dealer up card.
What players need to understand is that they will not win every single blackjack hand with basic strategy. They will win more hands because they are making the best statistical plays. And while basic strategy does not beat the house, it will lower the house edge to 0.5%, making blackjack the casino game with the smallest edge.
Tags: Basic Strategy, Blackjack, Blackjack basic strategy, Blackjack Odds, Blackjack strategy, Blackjack Tips., Card counting, Casino Games, Game of Skill, How to play Blackjack, Pair Splitting, Soft Hands
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Tuesday, August 24th, 2010
What makes blackjack one of the most popular casino games out there?
Simply put, it is the myth that blackjack is the one casino game in which the player can gain the edge and beat the house.
Truthfully that can happen. But it does not happen just from sitting down at the blackjack table or by logging in to your favorite online casino to play a few rounds. To beat the house at blackjack you must study the game, its rules and its strategies. It takes practice. And it also takes card counting.
So truth be told, online blackjack cannot be beat because a player cannot count cards. This is because the game functions similarly to a blackjack table with a CSM in a brick and mortar casino. A CSM is a Continuous Shuffle Machine, and it prevents any cards from being discarded because at the end of a round all the just-used cards are put in the little machine, the entire deck reshuffled and then the next round dealt.
So you must be playing blackjack in a brick and mortar casino—at a table without a CSM I might add—so that you can count cards. You also need to be playing according to basic strategy. Basic strategy drops the house edge to 0.5%. A skilled and practiced card counter can overcome the remaining 0.5% that is against them and then begin to tip the odds up to 1% in their favor.
So, yes, blackjack is a beatable casino game.
However, the majority of blackjack players will not spend the time to gain the necessary skill in card counting that is needed to overcome that last bit of the house’s edge. And still many others will not play according to basic strategy.
And while casinos to not want to seem like they are handing out money for free, they do not seem to mind the continued myth that blackjack is the beatable casino game. For them, it draws more and more new blackjack players that they wind up taking money from.
Even knowing that, players who want to become skilled at blackjack should still work and practice their blackjack strategy. Strategy is meant to improve blackjack odds. So even if you do not beat the house, you will lose less money with a sound blackjack strategy than if you did not have a blackjack strategy.
Tags: Basic Strategy, Blackjack, Blackjack basic strategy, Blackjack Odds, Blackjack strategy, Blackjack Tips., Card counting, Casinos, Continuous Shuffle Machine, CSM, Game of Skill, How to play Blackjack
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Tuesday, August 24th, 2010
Recently I was asked a question in regards to blackjack strategy and insurance. The young man in question plays blackjack online, and had heard that insurance can sometimes be advantageous for the player. He wanted to know if this were true or not.
In a way, yes, it is true. But! But it cannot be used for online blackjack.
In order to make insurance work for you in terms of blackjack strategy you need to be a card counter. And I do not just mean that you have just started counting cards in the casino. You need to be a strong card counter.
Real quick let’s take a moment to review what insurance really is. Insurance is offered when the dealer has an Ace showing. The player can then make a second wager for half the amount of his original wager so that if the hole card is a 10 he will receive a payout that is equivalent to his original wager, but he will lose his original wager.
It sounds like this in not a bad idea, but players who take insurance will lose more money in the long run simply because they are wagering more money when they take insurance. Because insurance is really a side bet on whether the dealer’s hole card is worth 10 or not.
So if the player stands to lose more money in the long run, how can there ever be a time when taking insurance is advantageous to the player?
There are only two occasions when taking insurance could be advantageous: when you are holding a 20 or a natural blackjack AND you have been counting the cards and know that the deck is rich in high cards.
True the dealer could wind up with blackjack, but the net gain is the same. Take a look.
You are making $10 wagers. You have a natural blackjack and take insurance. If the dealer does have a natural blackjack too, then you push and hang on to your $10, but you also collect on the $5 insurance wager, picking up $10.
If the dealer does not have a natural blackjack, you lose the $5 insurance wager, but win $15 from having a natural blackjack. Subtract the lost $5 from the $15 you won, and your net gain is still the same: $10.
But taking insurance under these conditions can only happen when the deck is rich in high cards, and the only way to tell that is to be skilled at card counting. And because this little blackjack strategy trick requires card counting it means that it cannot be used for online blackjack since card counting cannot be down in online blackjack.
But this insurance trick is still a fun additive to your blackjack strategy—a bit of a sneaky way to take a play meant to take a player’s money and turn it around.
Tags: Blackjack, Blackjack betting strategy, Blackjack Odds, Blackjack Payout, Blackjack Rules, Blackjack strategy, Blackjack Tips., Card counting, Game of Skill, How to Bet in Blackjack, How to play Blackjack, Insurance, Insurance Strategy
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Thursday, August 19th, 2010
Like any amazing dish, what goes in definitely comes out. The better quality the ingredients are the better the food. Also like good food, some things take time to make.
How does this relate to blackjack? Card counting. It relates to card counting.
This is one blackjack skill that can have a big impact on a player’s blackjack strategy, and therefore on a player’s blackjack odds. Similar to good food, card counting is a quality skill that requires time. The more time and practice that a player puts into to their card counting the better the skill is.
So what can a blackjack player do to cultivate their card counting skills?
First off take the time to practice. Equate practicing card counting to not rushing through the preparations on a nice dinner you are making. The practice required for any good skill requires time.
A skill is not developed instantaneously. Be prepared to spend a good many hours counting your way through card decks. And that is the best way to practice when you are still learning the skill—count your way through card decks.
Practicing you counting skill is like following a recipe. Go step by step.
Learn the ‘rules’ of the card counting system that you want to become skilled at. Then start out by slowly counting your way through a single deck out loud. Once you can count through the deck quickly and without pauses, begin counting silently in your head until you can count silently without pauses. Then begin adding decks repeating those first two steps. Once you have a few decks down to where you can count silently in your head without pauses, throw in some distractions—music, the TV, or maybe both at the same time. This prepares you for card counting in a noisy casino.
We have covered time and steps, now on to quality.
Do not cheat yourself when practicing. This means no cutting corners. If you really cannot count through one deck silently without pauses, do not move on to multiple decks yet. If you cut corners you are not developing the skill completely and that could leave you vulnerable.
Vulnerable to what? Well, let’s say a pit boss who finds out you are counting cards and has your thrown out of the casino.
Just keep in mind when you are working on your card counting or any other skill in your blackjack strategy arsenal that you need to devote the time and quality necessary to developing the skill. Follow the steps and give yourself time. Or you might have a scary pit boss breathing down your neck.
Tags: Blackjack, Blackjack betting strategy, Blackjack Odds, Blackjack strategy, Blackjack Tips., Card counting, Casinos, Game of Skill, How to play Blackjack, play Blackjack
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Wednesday, August 18th, 2010
When playing blackjack, players who desire to be savvy blackjack players will work and work to build a blackjack strategy that they can use to reduce the house edge and increase their own blackjack odds. This is true across the board of blackjack players. Those who play in brick and mortar casinos seek to beat the house, just like online blackjack players. It is one of the similarities between the two formats.
The desire to be a savvy blackjack player will take players on a quest from one of the internet to the other. They will closely examine strategy methods of others and tear about blackjack betting strategies. For players who play in brick and mortar casinos, they will practice and practice at card counting.
But for all of this work and studying, many blackjack players overlook a very effective way of reducing the house edge that is built in to the very basics of the game: double down.
Doubling down hits the house edge for 1.6%. When you consider that other plays only knock off fractions of a single percent, a hit of 1.6% is quite large.
When a player doubles down, he has the chance of winning twice the amount off of the house that he normally would on that particular hand. Because blackjack odds are about money, the opportunities that give the player a chance to take more money from the house are the ones that increase blackjack odds the most.
So why are blackjack players hesitant to double down and why do others disregard it entirely?
The answer is simple. They are afraid to put more money on the line. And with an attitude like that, a blackjack player might as well be handing over a portion of their bankroll.
And it is not like players are left with no way of knowing when the best chances to double down are. Basic strategy tells players when the most opportune times to double down are, which further decreases chances of loss and increases chances of winning.
With that knowledge in hand and knowing just how much damage doubling down can do to the house’s edge, it is most unwise to ignore doubling down. And that is exactly why any savvy blackjack player will not ignore the ‘natural’ means of increasing their blackjack odds, and will not forget doubling down in their blackjack strategy.
Tags: Basic Strategy, Blackjack, Blackjack basic strategy, Blackjack betting strategy, Blackjack Odds, Blackjack online, Blackjack Rules, Blackjack strategy, Blackjack Tips., Card counting, Double Down, Game of Skill, How to Bet in Blackjack, How to play Blackjack, Online Blackjack
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Tuesday, August 17th, 2010
We have been down this road before. However, blackjack is one of the most popular casino games out there; and when it comes to card games, its popularity is second only to poker. But let’s face it—blackjack is easier to a play than poker. And the same applies to online blackjack.
And being one of the most popular online casino games for obvious reasons, it is no surprise that new players find their way to online blackjack.
What they might not know is that, while being highly similar, there are some difference between online blackjack and blackjack in a brick and mortar casino. The general house rules are the same, and most part of blackjack strategy will cross over. But there is a big one that does not cross over. And players who are new to online blackjack should be aware of it.
Card counting does not work in online blackjack.
Yes, there is a reason. There are no discarded cards in online blackjack. This is because of the Random Number Generator that runs the game.
When a game of online blackjack is first created by the developers, every possible two player cards and dealer up card combination is programmed into the game’s RNG. This means that it is pulling from all of the cards so to speak. As soon as a player clicks Deal, the RNG will select a two card and dealer up card combination.
Because the RNG pulls from all possibilities it means that no cards are ever discarded. This can be compare to playing blackjack in a brick and mortar casino at a table with a Continuous Shuffle Machine (CSM). And blackjack players know that card counting is impossible with a CSM.
So when players come to play blackjack online they should know not to try to count cards.
Tags: Blackjack online, Blackjack player, Blackjack Rules, Blackjack strategy, Blackjack Tips., Card counting, Casino Games, How to play Blackjack, Online Blackjack, Online Casinos, play Blackjack
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Tuesday, August 10th, 2010
Yesterday I discussed splitting a pair of 9s and how your blackjack strategy should go. Despite the hand total on a pair of 9s being 18, this is still a pair that you will want to split. When faced with a dealer’s up card of 2 through 6 or an 8 was covered yesterday. In those cases you split because the dealer can beat your 18 with three of the five hand totals he could hit to.
See that last line? The reason behind why you are splitting a pair of 9s against those dealer up cards? That is one of the points behind blackjack strategy. It is all well and fine to memorize and then automatically turn out the best play. But understanding why you are making that play is key to mastering your blackjack strategy, and allowing for further blackjack strategy finesses, such as card counting.
Now when you are facing a dealer’s up card of 9 I could simply tell you that you split your pair of 9s there too and be done with it. But since you are interested in mastering your blackjack strategy I am going to tell you why you are splitting those 9s.
Yes, you split a pair of 9s against a dealer’s 9 to improve your standing in that round, but it is just a little harder since the dealer has a 9 too. And there are a few cards that can help you, depending on house rules of course.
If you are dealt a 10 or Ace on one of your split 9s you just bettered your original hand to have a 19 or 20. So you can increase your chances of winning there. And you have a five out of thirteen shot of being dealt one of those cards.
You also have a one in thirteen chance of being dealt a 2, which would give you a hand total of 11. And you of course know that with an 11 your next move in blackjack strategy is to double down.
Finally if you are dealt another 9 you can split again if the house rules allow you to do so. And if they do not you are no worse off than you were when you started. So being dealt a 9 is another one out of thirteen.
So off all the cards that improve your hand or cause your hand total to break even there are seven out of thirteen chances. That leaves six cards that could potentially worsen your hand. But notice that by splitting you have a slight edge in doing so: seven cards can improve your hand while 6 will worsen it.
Now you can see why you need to split a pair of 9s when facing down a dealer’s 9—you have a slight edge in improving your hand. And either improving your hand or minimalizing your losses is desired end result of blackjack strategy.
Tags: Blackjack, Blackjack Odds, Blackjack Rules, Blackjack strategy, Blackjack Tips., Card counting, Double Down, Game of Skill, House Rules, How to play Blackjack, Online Blackjack, Pair Splitting, Pair Splitting Strategy
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Wednesday, July 28th, 2010
Yesterday I talked about blackjack strategy in regards to pair that you do not split when you are dealt them. And it does not matter whether you are playing online blackjack or blackjack in a brick and mortar casino, you still do not split those two pairs.
So today I thought we would talk about pairs that you always, always, always split. First up is a pair of Aces.
Logically you have to split a pair of Aces. Do the math and it just seems smart to do so. An Ace is worth 11 or 1, with 11 being the first value given; if that 11 does not work in the hand it is then reduced to 1. So a pair of Aces first adds up to 22, which is a bust. So naturally one of the Aces is reduced to 1, giving the player a hand total of 12. Nasty hard 12.
You can see why any smart blackjack player would split that pair of Aces.
Once split you have two hands that are starting at 11. Not only that you have half of what you need to make 21. If you are playing blackjack in a brick and mortar casino and also happen to be a card counter, and the deck is running with high cards, that would be a good time to split those Aces since your chances of being dealt the cards for a hard 19, 20 or 21 are increased.
Even if you are not a card counter or are even playing blackjack online, it is good blackjack strategy to split a pair of Aces. Doing so takes your hand from a weak position to a stronger one.
Tags: Blackjack, Blackjack strategy, Blackjack Tips., Card counting, Game of Skill, How to play Blackjack, Online Blackjack, Pair Splitting, Pair Splitting Strategy
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Tuesday, July 13th, 2010
As the gaming industry continues to grow and the gaming technology continues to improve, more and more people will begin to play their favorite online casino games online. And with how people are turning more and more to the Internet for their entertainment—TV shows, music—it really is not surprising that blackjack players are making the switch to online.
But while online blackjack is similar to blackjack in a brick and mortar casino, it is not exactly the same. Do not worry, the rules are the same. I was talking about blackjack strategy.
Not all blackjack strategy is good for playing online. Card counting, while useful in a brick and mortar casino does not help players in the least when playing online.
The way the actual game of online blackjack functions is that each round is dealt from the Random Number Generator. The RNG is programmed with every possible dealing for that game. At the beginning of each round of online blackjack the RNG pulls a combination at random to be dealt. And it pulls from all the cards. This means that cards are never out of play. With no cards being discarded card counting is useless.
So what is an online blackjack player to do?
The answer is actually quite simple: play according to basic strategy. On every hand. Every time. No deviating.
Without card counting to lend a helping hand to your blackjack odds, it is even more important to stick to the plays recommended by basic strategy since those are the best statistical plays in the game. While it will not even up the odds, basic strategy will bring you within 0.5% of the house edge.
Since that is the best that you can play for in online blackjack it makes sense to keep your blackjack strategy close and your basic strategy closer.
Tags: Basic Strategy, Blackjack, Blackjack basic strategy, Blackjack Odds, Blackjack strategy, Blackjack Tips., Card counting, How to play Blackjack, Online Blackjack, play Blackjack
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