The most common variations of card counting are based on statistical evidence that high cards (especially aces and 10s) benefit the player more than the dealer, while the low cards, (especially 4s, 5s, and 6s) help the dealer while hurting the player. A high concentration of aces and 10s in the deck increase the player’s [...]
Card counting is a casino card game strategy used primarily in the blackjack family of casino games to determine whether the next hand is likely to give a probable advantage to the player or to the dealer. Card counters, also known as advantage players, attempt to decrease the inherent casino house edge by keeping a [...]
Hand # Player’s Hand Dealer’s Up Card Decision (H,S,D,P) 1. 7,2 6 2. A,2 3 3. 10,2 2 4. 6,6 6 5. 9,7 10 6. A,7 9 7. 8,2 10 8. A,4 4 9. 7,2 7 10. 9,3 3 11. 5,5 6 12. 5,3 6 13. A,6 2 14. 9,2 10 15. 3,3 2 16. [...]
I often use the analogy of a prize fighter when I discuss practicing your counting; a fighter trains for both speed and endurance. They use a “speed bag” for the short, fast jab and a big, heavy bag for the hard punches. A single-deck countdown is your “speed bag”; try to get through it as [...]
Every serious counter should have a good knowledge of how to play single-deck Blackjack, even if you spend 90% of your time at multi-deck games, because when you are able to get to a single deck game, it can be very profitable. The primary lure of the game will become more evident as we get [...]
The method we use to count cards at the table is the real secret of this business. For those games where the cards are dealt face up to the players, the diagram below will show you how we do it. Games where the cards are dealt face down (mostly single deck) require a different methodology [...]
No, I’m not going to teach you card tricks here, but I am going to show you a few interesting ways to practice the count you’ve decided to learn and then teach you the methods we use to keep track of the cards as they’re played at the casino. Developing your speed at counting is [...]
By now you’ve chosen a counting system that you want to learn and even though it may be different than the Hi / Lo Count which I’m going to discuss here, the methods used to learn it are the same. Just make adjustments where appropriate and you’ll do fine. This entire lesson that you about [...]
The Hi/Lo counting system assigns a “point” value to each type of card in a deck. The first step in card counting is to memorize those values. Here they are. Card Point Value 2 +1 3 +1 4 +1 5 +1 6 +1 7 0 8 0 9 0 10 -1 J -1 Q -1 [...]
With this lesson, I’m going to unwrap the veil of mystery which seems to surround the concept of card counting. Here you will discover that you don’t have to be a genius to keep track of all the cards in a six-deck shoe; you just have to know a few card-counter secrets. The first “secret” [...]
