What Is Blackjack Card Counting?

When it comes to casino games, everyone wants to enhance the opportunities of winning and why not? After all, when you stake your hard-earned money in a game, naturally, you would like to win that game. There are several strategies devised and followed by veterans when gambling and even today, you’ll find many players using these tricks and tactics to ensure better winning chances at casino tables. There are evergreen strategies used by players in online casino games as well. One such well-known strategy used by Blackjack fans is Blackjack Card Counting. Here’s a brief on what is meant by Card Counting and how it can be applied to Blackjack in order to increase your odds of winning the game.

Blackjack Card Counting: Meaning and Significance

Before getting into an explanation on the strategy of Blackjack Card Counting, its best to take to introduce the game on which it is widely used. Blackjack is known as a game that needs a certain level of skill to maximise winning chances. It does not rule out the role of luck but the probability of winning could be enhanced with the application of the Card Counting strategy. Blackjack Card Counting Methods 

When Blackjack emerged as a popular casino game, Edward R Thorp discovered the method of Card Counting and published it through his book ‘Beat the Dealer’. Soon it became a trend at the brick-and-mortar casinos where Blackjack fans rampantly used this trick to increase their winning chances. It didn’t take long for casinos to ban card counting although card counting was officially not illegal and casinos kept a close watch on players to limit its use. 

So, what is Blackjack Card Counting all about? Blackjack Card Counting refers to the process of keeping track of the remaining cards that are in the deck to make a decision based on those. It is a simple strategy yet could take a long time to master. There are few steps that players need to follow when counting cards and these entail assigning a value to each card, keeping a count of the card dealt, keep the true count and change his/her bets based on the true count whenever it rises. 

What Makes Blackjack Card Counting Possible? 

Blackjack is one of the unique casino games where the house edge varies. It is the cards dealt from the shoe and the remaining cards that determine the chances of getting a natural Blackjack. So, if you already have an A dealt with you in the very first round, the likelihood of getting another Ace in the following round goes down. It is the cards that are left in the deck that determine your winning scope. For instance, if the combination of cards left in the deck is of high-value, the game could be in your favour. Experts say that a deck with 10s and A’s increases the chance of a player drawing 17 or more or even getting a natural Blackjack. This is when the game pays out well to the player. Many experienced card counters increase their bet size when they estimate that the deck has high-card values. 

Contrarily, a deck having lower value cards naturally favours the dealer and in such situations, card counters place lower bets. If the deck is packed with a larger number of low card values, the dealer might not choose to bust if he has to draw and also would be less likely to make a ‘pat hand’. 

Blackjack Card Counting Methods 

Blackjack Card Counting Methods When counting in Blackjack, players are required to assign a point value to each card rank. These then have to be either added or subtracted from the points to arrive at a running count. The running count helps determine whether the deck is positive or a negative one. There are different card counting methods which are used by players depending on their skill level and knowledge of the game although the basic idea is to keep track of the remaining cards in the shoe. Balanced Card Counting and Unbalanced Card Counting methods are common ones used with the latter one as a relatively simpler method. 

Regardless of which method you adopt to count cards in Blackjack, all you need to master is the trick of not being noticed by the pit bosses at casinos. Experts suggest players avoid remarkable jumps in betting as it could draw the attention of the casino towards your gaming style. Remember that Card Counting can get you a little added advantage over the house edge which is applicable when calculated over the long run.