Online Blackjack Strategy, Card Counting

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i Blackjack Player's Strategy Guide

Card Counting

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Blackjack Player's Guide

Card counting in Blackjack gives the player a positive advantage over the casino. Let's look at how that is possible.

One of the most common hands in Blackjack is a player's hand of 16 against a Dealers 10. Do you Stand or do you Hit? Most players instinctively want to Stand. After all, there are only 5 cards - the Ace, 2, 3, 4 and 5 cards - that are going to make a hand greater than 16 without exceeding 21. If you are following the Basic Strategy rules then you know that you should Hit, however if you Count Cards you are more likily to make the correct decision and win the hand. If you know that there are more 10 value cards than low cards left in the shoe, it is a better decision to stand on 16.

The advantage, when playing perfect basic strategy, gained by drawing on 16 against a Dealers 10 is 4% - the player will win 4 more hands out of every 100 played. This is a small advantage that in the long run makes a sizable difference to your bankroll. If however you knew that there were more ten value cards still in the deck which would increase your likelihood of busting - would you still Hit? The answer is of course, "No". These situations occur reguraly in Blackjack.

Basic Strategy is based on the concept that each hand is independent of the preceding and following hands. The Blackjack game is one of the few casino games that is card dependent. A game like craps for example is roll independent. The roll on the preceding round has no effect on the current or future rounds. Card counting allows the player to gain an advantage by tracking the previous cards that have been played.

It should be stated that card counting is not memorizing the cards that have been displayed as depicted in the movie "Rainman". If you can count to 10, you can Count Cards. It's that simple! Card counting is based on the assumption that 10s are more beneficial for the player. Lower value cards, particularly the 5 and 6 cards, are more beneficial to the Dealer. In general the middle cards, 7 through 9, have no advantage for the player or Dealer. By keeping track of the proportion between lower and higher value cards, a player is able to determine when he has an advantage over the Dealer/casino. This proportion, or "Running Count", is kept by assigning positive value to the lower cards ( 2 through 6 ) and negative value to the higher cards ( Aces and ten value cards ).

The reason why high value cards are advantageous to the player is that the casino has to follow a strict set of rules. The Dealer must draw to 17. Therefore the richer the shoe is in 10 value cards, the higher the probability of the Dealer busting. Conversely, if there are more lower valued cards, remaining in the shoe, the better chance the Dealer has of achieving a good hand.

The player gains the most advantage from card counting in the following plays:

- Playing on 15 or 16 against the Dealer's 10 up-card
- Making Insurance decisions
- Making Side bet decisions ( e.g. Over / Under )
- Playing on 12 against the Dealer's 2 and 3 up-card

THe High-Low Card Counting Method

High Low lives on mathematical assertion that the deck is favourable to the player when the deck is short on cards from 2 to 8. Shortage on the rest of cards (9, Tens and Aces) is a disadvantage to the player. When the deck is favourable, you should wager larger bets, otherwise, wager smaller ones. Even if you don't resort to a full blown card counting scheme you can still modify your Basic Blackjack strategy tableto consider the favourabilities of the deck and get better results.

The score in a card counting system reflects the situation in the deck. Consequently, low cards are given a positive influence on the score and high cards are negative. The deck starts with a zero score immediately after the shuffle (notice that this is not essentially true in other systems which may give a positive or negative initial score to the deck). In High/Low, low cards are given +1 score and high cards are given -1 score. 7, 8 and 9 have no influence and their score is zero.

As soon as you have a system to predict the state of the deck you will want to connect it to your wagering. High-Low recommends the following betting strategy:

Place your minimal bet (not essentially the table bet but in consideration with your bank roll) if the score is less than two

Place 2 bet units on 2 and 3
Place 3 on 4 and 5
Place 4 on 6 and 7
Place 5 on 8 and more

Important to note that card counting will not be able to help you play black jack at online casinos because the decks are shuffled more often than you know and cards are picked at random. In any case you can practice for free at our own Play For Fun Flash Black Jack table with no need to download, coutesy of iVegas Flash Casino .

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