It’s pretty well known that as awesome as card counting is, it can’t be used in online blackjack. Very unfortunate. Especially when you stop to consider the benefits that playing blackjack online has.
But the point remains that card counting can’t be used online. Oh basic strategy can be used online, that works like it would at an online casino. But for those who use card counting to manage their betting and bankrolls, well what do they do now?
I’ll be honest. Unfortunately there really isn’t anything you can do.
Some blackjack players will use a betting strategy, usually a progressive one, to try to fill in the whole left by card counting. But this isn’t the wisest thing to do. The problem with using a progressive betting strategy is that each hand of blackjack is independent of the next.
This means that there is not magic law of the cards that says that if you lose X number of hands you will win the next. The hand that you are dealt is not connected in any way to the one before it or any of the hands after it.
A progressive betting strategy usually works by doubling your wager each time you lose or win a hand, depending on which type of betting strategy you’re using. If you’re doubling each time you lose a hand, you keep doubling until you win; if you’re doubling each time you win, you keep doubling until you lose.
You can see how these progressive betting strategies are dependent on previous hands. And that’s the problem. Say you’re using the progressive system in which you double every time you lose. At a starting wager of $10, if you lose seven rounds in a row you will be wagering $1,280 on your eighth round. As you can see it quickly adds up and you have the potential to lose a lot. And there is nothing that says you will win back any of that money.
So what can you use to manage your bankroll in online blackjack?
Choose an amount to wager and wager that on each hand. Don’t deviate from that amount. And follow basic strategy on every single hand. Sticking to basic strategy will give you your best shot at bringing down the house edge. Thankfully online blackjack and online casinos, overall, have a higher payout percentage; that helps to even out the inability to use card counting online.
