Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Blackjack card counting

Categories: , ,

Whenever there is a game of Blackjack, there will be great money and style. Along with poker the game of blackjack (BJ) draws attention of the crowd than any other casino game. Even in the great Hollywood movies, we have seen blackjack tricks being used to win quick money.
Of course winning in blackjack is no cakewalk, but still there are professional BJ players who makes their living from the game.
One thing that sets apart blackjack from any other casino games is that it is beatable. You can beat the house and "card counting" helps in achieving this.
Basically card counting means counting the cards dealt by the dealer in a game along the remaining cards in the deck just to get a better hold on the game.

Card counting is of many kinds but the popular ones are:Card counting
  • KO Count
  • Hi-Lo Count
  • Hi-Opt I Count
  • Hi-Opt II Count
  • Zen Count
The basic thing that works behind card counting is that one must keep track of every card that is being dealt and then adjust the bet according to it.
In card counting people generally use Hi-Lo card counting because it involves less complicated maths and the speed of playing the game is also not affected. While if you use other card counting systems like Zen Count involves more complex calculations, resulting in slower game progress and casinos will be able to spot you easily. So on the whole you need to be extra good with your math in order to use advanced methods.

How card counting works :
When counting cards in a Hi-Lo method the count initially begins from 0. Every card is assigned a value positive or negative. Card from 2-6 are assigned a value of +1, 7-8-9 are assigned a value of 0. 10-J-K-Q-A are assigned a value of -1.
This was the hard part now just add the value of cards that are being dealt by the dealer this is known as Running Count.

This running count just keeps on fluctuating between positive and negative values. If there is a higher count this would mean that there are high value cards left in the deck and this is where the basic strategy should be recalled. One should now that card counting system calculates the odds of a 10 value card being dealt by keeping in mind only the cards which are still in the deck.

As a precaution, Casinos are a private place and they don't allow card counting. Having said that, this does not means that card counting is illegal. Because card counting directly benefits the player by reducing the house edge, casinos can throw you out from their premises if they find you for counting cards.

Spread The Love, Share Our Article

Related Posts