When playing at online casinos, one of the frequent questions of mine is “What do the reputable online blackjack dealers know that I don’t know?”
The honest truth is that there are no guaranteed ways to win at blackjack, or at any game for that matter, no matter how you might try to play the game. However, there are blackjack strategies that can be employed to give you the very best odds and statistics in winning. The most common of these strategies is to count cards, although there are many pros and cons to this card counting strategy.
Card counting is perfectly legal, but casinos have taken a dim at least in the United States with regard to the Federal Wire Act passed by Congress in 1909. The law was meant to stop illegal casinos from operate with the proceeds of gambling. However, today the legality of card counting is shaky at best in many states throughout the country, with some council even calling card counting legal. So why then, do blackjack dealers know about card counting and why do they still work in Casinos?
First of all, card counting can give you an advantage over the casino dealer. When you know the decks in the shoe are rich in face cards or ten cards in the blackjack deck, you will have a better idea of when you the card is Nixon to bust out and increase your chances of winning the hand. Of course the house can never be beaten, but if you can improve your odds of winning why not play the dealer? One of the Vegans taught me to watch the cards for any card in the shoe as well as any card placed on the table. If you can visualize the cards in the shoe being shuffled, you can guess (with a high degree of accuracy) what card is soon to be dealt.
Some card counting methods are simple. Some are complicated, but are simple to learn. If you can simple to learn the more complicated ones, you may be able to bet and work the odds to your favor. However, even if you decide to use a card counting method, you should be sure you can afford to bet the table limits. You don’t want to bet $1,000 to $1,000 and end up losing your house in two hands or less. This happens all the time. Don’t let it happen to you.
If counting cards is unachievable, consider another method. The most widely used is called the Hi Lo Card Counting method. Basically, count the cards as they are placed into a six deck shoe. You hi lo’ count, and then add a point for each card. The cards are added up as though you were placing them into the shoe. You then keep a running total. The higher the total, the more favorable the count. This method is the easiest, fastest method, but, as usual, it requires that you keep an accurate running count. This means you must time your counting perfectly to the ball game or tournament game you are playing.
Keep track of your total!
If you win a second card, you add =1 to your running count. You then take your running count and divide it by the number of decks remaining in the shoe. Subtract 1 from your count. This is called the correct play. In other words, you should add 1 to your running count for every 2 cards you score because you want the cards to count in favor of you not against you. When you take your running count and divide it by the number of decks remaining in the shoe, you are providing the deck with an accurate count number.
Once you learn the Hi Lo Card Counting method, you will learn that you may not make a profit from Vegas88 in the short run. Even if you are able to make a small profit, the zero window (or equivalent to your Hi Lo Card Counting count) will be passed more than 20 times. For example, if you are playing 20acks on a blackjack table that has a six deck shoe, you have a Hi Lo Count of +12. At this point, you have a total of 16. You now bet on whether or not the next card will be higher or lower than a 6. You have 5 cards in your hand that have been played. So far you have a total of +12. Then the next card is dealt, you have +14. This is the lowest card, or equivalent to your Hi Lo Card Count, thus the next card must be higher than a 6 to beat you. The good news is that as you count, 24 cards have been played. Your Hi Lo Card Count is now +16. You are most likely beaten by the +9 and +10 values that you started out with. However, at this point you are not beaten yet. There are still 52 cards in the deck that haven’t been played.