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Posts Tagged ‘Card counting’

Your Bankroll and Card Counting

Thursday, October 21st, 2010

For players who do not know much about card counting—real card counting, not the stuff that they show in movies—there is pervasive idea that card counting blackjack players are rich and that they win every time which is what makes them rich.

This would be an inaccurate idea about card counting.

Now a betting system, those require a large bankroll due to their need to double and double and continually double wagers in order for the system to be used. Note that I said ‘used,’ not ‘work.’ That is because betting systems do not work.

Anyway. Card counting bankrolls.

The beauty of card counting is that you can use any size bankroll. No joke. You can play with $100 or $10,000. It boils down to what the table minimum is and how much you are betting per round.

If you are starting out with a smaller bankroll you need a blackjack table with a lower table minimum. That minimum will be you base wager. As the count swings up into the positive slowly begin to raise the amount of your wager. Do not jump from $10 up to $50. That is called a give-away. It is bad and it tips the dealer and pit boss off that you are up to something. Then they will watch you and watch you and put pressure on you until you either quit counting or they will escort you out.

The point is that you can start out with a small bankroll and slowly work your way up. You are not going to win every single hand in blackjack if you are card counting. But if you follow the count and subtly increase you wagers as the count goes positive, you can increase your bankroll. Being rich is not a necessity with card counting.

Tags: betting systems, Card counting
Posted in Card counting | 1 Comment »

Card Counting: Really Illegal?

Tuesday, October 19th, 2010

As I began to discuss yesterday, card counting is surrounded by blackjack myths. It increase the mystique of this blackjack strategy skill. It also raises it up on a pedestal as the blackjack strategy skill that every player wants but just does not think he can achieve. All because of the myths that surround card counting.

One of the myths about card counting makes up most of the intimidation about the skill, and casinos are only too happy to allow that myth to keep going. It is widely believed that card counting is illegal.

The truth is that there is no law that says that a player is not allowed to think—to use their brain—when gambling. While I am sure the casinos would love for players to not use their brains when playing blackjack, the truth is that players are at least protected from legal action against them for counting cards.

However, the law stops there.

It is also widely believed that casinos will throw players they catch card counting out. Casinos are private businesses. They are offering games as their services, and any business can refuse to serve a customer or ask them to leave the premises.

This holds true for casinos when they catch card counters. They can ask blackjack players they catch counting cards to stop playing blackjack or to even leave the casino entirely. And such actions are well within the law.

So while it is a myth that card counting is illegal—the law does not prohibit brain use when playing blackjack—it is within the casino’s right to ask a player to stop playing blackjack or to leave the casino.

Because casinos can legally ask caught card counting players to leave, it is your task to practice your card counting skills so that you do not get caught. That means practicing your card counting skill so that you can count quickly and quietly in your head while surrounded by distractions and even when making small talk.

Tags: Blackjack strategy, Card counting
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Blackjack Myths for Card Counting

Monday, October 18th, 2010

Thanks to movies like ‘Rain Man’ and ‘21’ a good many people are convinced that some of the blackjack myths surrounding card counting are in fact truth.

I would not already be calling them myths if they were real.

Blackjack myths having to do with card counting surround the skill in a sense of mystique like how the rose bushes surrounded Sleeping Beauty’s castle. You know they are there and you want what is on the other side. But there are all those thorns and other scary things in between.

And like how Sleeping Beauty is a fairy tale, the myths about card counting are just as untrue.

For example, a photographic memory is required to be successful at card counting.

This would be very untrue. Yes, I know that Rain Main did. But it was a movie and that is all. Card counting does not require a photographic memory. It does require basic math skills. Can you add 1 and subtract 1? Yes? Then you can learn to count cards.

All card counting is made up of is assigning tags or values to cards, such as +1, +2, -1 or -2, to the cards and then doing the appropriate addition or subtraction when those cards appear in game of blackjack.

Similar yet opposite of the photographic memory is the blackjack myth that you need to be a mathematical genius in order to successfully count cards.

Obviously I have already unreasoned that one. Adding and subtracting one is not an exceptional math skill. In fact, you could probably teach a child to count cards to a certain extent as they are capable of adding and subtracting numbers.

And those are only two of the blackjack myths that surround the castle of card counting. Make no mistake that card counting is a worthy skill, that it can give blackjack players a slight edge over the house.

Tags: Card counting
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Card Counting Practice Helps Your Math

Monday, October 11th, 2010

You hear often enough that practicing blackjack and blackjack strategy will improve you blackjack game and skills. This is very true. The only way you become better at something is to do it.

This truly applies to card counting when you are first learning the skill. Card counting, while it can greatly benefit your blackjack odds and your profits, it does require a lot of practice and time to make the skill a profitable one.

This is especially important if math is not your strong point. Even the most basic counting system, Hi Lo, involves adding positive and negative numbers together in your head quietly and quickly. It is important for you to be able to do your math in your head quickly and quietly with no outward appearance of doing so.

It is just as important as making sure to vary your wagers a bit when counting cards. Casino staff will watch players’ faces when they suspect them of card counting to look for signs of concentration. They will often try to engage players they suspect of card counting.

Because of the distractions they might try to throw at you, it is important to practice your math and that is easily done if you take the time to practice your card counting.

Here are some tips for practicing your card counting:

-Take a deck or two and shuffle it to mix all the cards up. Then work on counting quickly and quietly in your head. Time yourself to see how long it takes you. Work on decreasing the amount of time it takes. Try to reach a point where you are not stopping to think about the math, but rather are looking at the card you flip over and can instantly do the math.

-When practicing turn some music on, or the TV, or even both. Casinos are full of noise and noise can be distracting. Practice doing your card counting math with such distractions.

-This one might start out being a bit difficult. But have a friend sit down and try to count while talking to them. You do not have to have an in depth conversation, but talk about something like the weather or a sports team. Stick to light conversation that you would have with a stranger.

Working those tips into your practicing can help improve your ability to do math that relates to card counting, making you ready for the distractions and light conversation the dealer will have with you. Improving your math will improve your counting sills. The better your card counting skills are, the closer you are to gaining an edge over the house.

Tags: Card counting
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Card Counting Devices in Blackjack

Monday, October 4th, 2010

While I am sure that just about every blackjack player out in the world would love to have the advantages that card counting provides, the truth is that the majority of blackjack players will not take the time nor make the effort to gain the skill.

And there are companies out there that will try to turn a profit off of those blackjack players looking for an easy way to have the benefits of card counting without putting in the time. Such companies will create card counting devices and put them up for sale.

These little devices often are the size and resemble those little devices that you hang on your keychain to control your car alarm. In short, these little card counting devices—through the manufacturer’s technology—will do the counting for the blackjack player.

Now, while casinos consider card counting cheating, blackjack players think a little bit differently.

Card counting is not cheating. It is a skill that requires time, effort and practice in order for it to be of any use. Casinos do not like card counting because it can give players an edge, and how dare players find a way to even the odds or beat them.

But blackjack players do consider card counting devices as a way of cheating only because such devices take the skill out of card counting and take away from the skill’s prestige.

One more thing of note: while getting caught at card counting can get you thrown out of a casino, getting caught with a card counting device can potentially get charges filed against you. This is because the device proves you were cheating, while card counting as a skill cannot be proven as its evidence is really only circumstantial.

The point here, blackjack players, is that card counting devices should never, ever be used. They are riskier and pose grater consequences if you are caught with one. Just take the time and make the effort to learn to card count properly.

Tags: Blackjack Cheating, Card counting
Posted in Blackjack Tips. | 2 Comments »

Blackjack Things That Do Not Work with Card Counting

Wednesday, September 29th, 2010

Since we seem to be on a bit of a card counting trend this week, I feel that it is fair to not only discuss the good things that card counting can do for your blackjack strategy and blackjack odds, but to also discuss the things that do not work with card counting.

The biggest thing about card counting that does not work is combining it with online blackjack. It is like trying to combine oil and water—no matter how hard you try, the two will always separate.

The reason card counting does not work with online blackjack is because of how the actual game functioning of online blackjack works. When software developers create a game of online blackjack, they take all possible combinations of starting hands and dealer up cards and feed them into the game Random Number Generator (RNG).

When playing a round of online blackjack, as soon as you click Deal, the game’s RNG pulls one of those combinations. When the next round begins it pulls from all possible combinations again. And again. In online blackjack the RNG will always pull from all possibilities. Because of this, the effect is similar to when playing at a table with a Continuous Shuffle Machine (CSM) since it is like no cards are ever discarded.

And speaking of CSMs, let’s talk about those.

CSMs are a shuffling device that dealers feed all the cards from the round that just finished into. The CSM then proceeds to shuffle all of the decks before the dealer is allowed to deal the next round. This means that not only are all the cards for that table still in play, but there the order from the previous round is gone. Even if you tried counting and the count from one hand said that the cards were moving to be in your favor, the shuffle between rounds would completely throw it off.

So card counting is only effective when played at a table without a CSM and when not playing online blackjack.

Tags: Card counting
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Beating the Edge Using Blackjack Strategy

Wednesday, September 29th, 2010

Blackjack players, you are in luck. You are the players of the one casino game in which players have the best shot at meeting, it not over-coming, the house edge.

Congratulations to you and your blackjack strategy.

The reason for this is because this is the one casino game whose strategy can truly fight the house edge. In fact, there are two main pieces of strategy that players can use to bring that house edge down: basic strategy and card counting.

Basic strategy can be used in casino blackjack and online blackjack. This piece of strategy comes to players in the form of a chart with the all of the dealer’s up card possibilities across the top, and all possible player hands running down the left side. All a player needs to do is find his hand and then follow that line across the chart until it intersects with the line of the up card the dealer is showing. Where those lines intersect players will find the most advantageous play for that situation, including for stiff hands.

Basic strategy took four men a couple of years of calculating to figure out what the best statistical play to make for each hand against each dealer up card. While players will not win every single round, basic strategy gives them the best possible play.

For the player who plays every hand according to basic strategy, he can lower the house edge to 0.5%.

Unfortunately basic strategy is the best that online blackjack players can do in terms of strategy. But those who are playing in casinos there is another skill that can break even with the house edge and sometimes even get a 0.5% to 1.5% gain over the house edge. That skill is card counting.

Card counting is a system that players use to track the cards that have been played. The counting system tells them if a majority of low cards have already been played, meaning that the remaining unplayed cards are richer in high cards that favor the player. When a count reveals that the remaining cards are in the players’ favor, they will begin to raise their wagers to take advantage of the opportunity to win more.

Both basic strategy and card counting are skills, and both require practice. But with practice players can use those to make up their blackjack strategy and work towards beating the house edge.

Congratulations indeed.

Tags: Basic Strategy, Blackjack, Blackjack Odds, Card counting
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How to Count Cards in Blackjack

Tuesday, September 28th, 2010

Card counting is one of the many skills that blackjack players want. Whether because they saw it in a movie and thought it looked cool is beside the point. Card counting is one of the pieces of blackjack strategy that can increase players’ blackjack odds.

Players who are determined to beat the house are the ones who turn to card counting and who take the time to learn it and practice it so that they can take full advantage of it.

It also pays to practice your card counting skills as you also to not want the casino staff to throw you out of the casino.

Card counting is actually pretty easy to learn. The problem many aspiring counters have is that they actually have to practice this skill and keep practicing it. Those who take the time to learn and practice card counting can get the edge on the house by 0.5% up to 1.5% for those who are truly skilled.

One of the easiest counting systems to start with is the Hi-Lo system. In this system the cards are assigned the following counting values:

+1 = 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6
0 = 7, 8 and 9
-1 = 10, Jack, Queen, King and Aces

Starting at 0, players then add the positive or negative values of the cards that are played. When the count has a high positive number it means that a good number of low cards have been played and that the remaining deck is rich in high cards that favor the player. This is when card counting blackjack players begin to raise their wager.

But when the count turns strongly negative it means that a number of high cards have been played and that the remaining cards in the deck are low, which favor the dealer. As I am sure you can figure, this is when player begin lowering their wagers.

To practice card counting, sit down with a deck of cards and silently add the positive and negative values, starting from 0, as you look through the deck. You have to keep practicing this until it becomes easy and you hardly have to think about the math—so that you are at ease with counting silently in your head without any outward appearances that you are counting.

Once you are comfortable with that, turn some music and the TV on to provide some distractions like you would find in a casino. Now keep practicing until you can count through the deck with ease with the distractions around you.

Sure card counting can have a good impact on your blackjack odds when playing in a casino, but those odds are not achievable if you are unwilling to take the time to practice. So take the time, practice and then go try your hand at card counting at a blackjack table in a casino.

Tags: Blackjack, Blackjack betting strategy, Blackjack Odds, Blackjack strategy, Blackjack Tips., Card counting, Casino, Casinos, Game of Skill, How to Bet in Blackjack
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Good and Bad Blackjack Tips: Card Counting Online

Friday, September 10th, 2010

When looking at online casinos many of them have little sections on their sites with information about their casino games and casino games in general. Not always, but fairly often casinos will actually give players tips on how to play, say, blackjack and tips for blackjack strategy.

Now what is funny to me is that there are some players out there who blindly follow those tips on how to play blackjack and for blackjack strategy. Stop and think about that. You want to follow the tips on how to play better—as in win money—from the online casino—which wants to take your money? Yeah, that is what I thought too.

So I went out to see what some of these tips are. Some of it was as I expected and other times I was surprised. There are actually online casinos out there that will offer genuinely good blackjack playing tips.

Here is some of what I found and some blackjack tips about what I what I found.

I did find online casinos that encouraged players to use card counting. This is very dubious to me. Card counting is very much frowned upon in brick and mortar casinos. So first off why would an online casino encourage players to use it in online blackjack?

The answer is simple. Because card counting is ineffective in online blackjack. Because of the game’s RNG no card is ever discarded and all are still in the deck, so to speak since we are talking about a virtual game. On top of that, again because of the RNG, it is like all of the cards are shuffled before each round because the RNG randomly pulls a combination for the beginning of each round.

So online casinos will encourage card counting for online blackjack because it will not actually work and it actually can hurt a player’s online blackjack odds by trying to use it. Players could increase their wagers, thinking that they are getting the jump on the house and a run of high cards, when there are not any discards to back up that run.

Really all this so called blackjack tip is doing is encouraging players to use a blackjack strategy that does not work online in order to create erratic betting, which causes a gain in money for the online casino. So understand card counting does not work online, even if the online casino’s tips say it does.

Oh, and think twice about an online casino that is encouraging you to use card counting when playing online blackjack.

Tags: Blackjack, Blackjack betting strategy, Blackjack Odds, Blackjack online, Blackjack strategy, Blackjack Tips., Card counting, Casino Games, How to Bet in Blackjack, How to play Blackjack, Online Blackjack, Online Casinos, play Blackjack
Posted in Blackjack strategy, Online Blackjack, Online Casinos | Comments Off

Blackjack Strategy: Card Counting Odds

Thursday, September 9th, 2010

Card counting has always had this glamorous image in the blackjack world. It is considered the crème de la crème of blackjack skills. It is also the blackjack skill that can allow the player to beat the house. But how much of an edge does this piece of blackjack strategy give a player?

You might be surprised.

A skilled card counter may only get a 1% edge over the house.

But when you think about it and compare it to other casino games, that 1% is not as little as it might sound. Blackjack already has the smallest house edge of all the casino games: 0.5% for the player who uses perfect basic strategy, and card counters certainly do use it.

Card counting is when a blackjack player uses a counting system to get an idea of what kinds of cards are left in the deck. If their counting system reveals that a good number of lower cards (2 through 6) have been played, it means that the remaining deck has more high cards (10 through Ace) left than low cards.

Because there are more high cards left, the chances of being dealt a strong hand or a natural blackjack are increased. This is when skilled card counters will begin to raise their bets.

But when their counting system reveals that a larger number of high cards have been played, leaving the remaining deck rich in low cards that favor the dealer, the player will then begin to decrease his bets.

It is having the idea of what the remaining deck is rich in that gives players that 1% edge on the house—if they can exploit it and not be caught by the casino staff. And the risk of being caught is why players must be skilled at card counting to include it

Tags: Blackjack, Blackjack basic strategy, Blackjack betting strategy, Blackjack Odds, Blackjack strategy, Blackjack Tips., Card counting, Casino Games, Casinos, Game of Skill, How to Bet in Blackjack
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