Smart gamblers like to play blackjack in casinos, for two simple reasons: because it has better odds for the player than any other card game that is played in casinos (when played blindly only 2.5% in the house's favour over the player), and because it is very simple to master.
Of course, there is also the added satisfaction that comes when you see the dealer go bust
.. when you are holding the best hand at the table!
Players who are successful at winning money at blackjack consistently over time achieve this through the discipline of a method which tells them when to bet and how many chips to put on the table when they make each bet. They apply a card counting system as the dealer passes cards, and the count produces a multiplier to the minimum stake, so the player knows whether to bet the minimum or multiply that minimum by a factor of two, three, four or five. There are complicated mathematical reasons as to why it is not advisable to ever bet more than five times the amount of your minimum bet when gambling using a probability system.
So, how to count the cards as the dealer dishes them out? In a game where only one pack of cards is used as a deck, it is relatively easy if the game is played with all cards visible (you might get dirty looks from other players if you steal a look at their cards, but you will probably not get thrown out of the casino as long as you do nothing that significantly interferes with play).
It is well within the ability of most players to improve their odds even more by using systems which can keep track of which cards are left in the pack, or in other words, which cards are most likely to be dealt next. An idiot savant or a rocket scientist with a freak memory might be able to keep track of the appearances of every one of each of the twelve cards in a pack, but that is totally unnecessary because exactly the same advantage can be gained simply by giving a score to each passing card and using a points system.
The same kind of system is used by bridge players to calculate their bids at the beginning of a hand. There are lots of variations but most of them are more trouble than they are worth, ninety-nine percent of all possible advantage can be gained using a very simple and basic count which you should be able to keep up with even during those stressful or distracting moments that happen in casinos.
The system is highly effective and it works by keeping score like this:
- Start when the deck is shuffled, with the number zero as the score.
- Whenever a low card is dealt (twos through to sixes), add one to the score.
- Whenever a high card is dealt (any card with a value of ten, or an ace), subtract one from the score.
- When your turn comes to bet, bet according to the total score like this:
Score is 8 or more
minimum bet times 5
Score is 6 or 7
.. minimum bet times 4
Score is 4 or 5
.. minimum bet times 3
Score is 2 or 3
.. double the minimum bet
Score is 1 or less
.. minimum bet
When a player manages to count all the cards dealt like this, the odds will actually shift from being slightly in favour of the house to being slightly in favour of the player. So you are probably asking yourself at this point if this is too good to be true. Well, it is and it isn't. Bear in mind that nine times out of ten, most blackjack players at a casino table will be playing blindly, for fun, with no real hope or expectancy of making money. That is the good news.
The bad news is that a dealer is allowed by the rules to shuffle the deck at any time, which will of course destroy your count. The dealer may also be keeping an eye on the cards and he may have been instructed to perform extra shuffles when the odds shift too strongly in favour of the players. Dealers can also deal extra fast, making it harder to perform an effective count, although there is a way around this problem only count every second card dealt.
Don't forget that as soon as you miss even one card, the effectiveness of the card counting system completely disappears, so you have to stay sharp and on the ball (you might want to consider refusing those free drinks). Also, of course, it is not always easy to find an open card game in casinos, but they are out there and if you hunt around on a busy night you will find one.
Playing in a game where multiple decks are used complicates things slightly but there is a solution. Follow the counting method I described above but when your turn comes to bet have a quick look at the cards left in the shoe.
A pack of cards is about three-quarters of an inch high, so by looking at the height you should be able to estimate how many decks of cards are left in play. Take the number of decks and multiply that with the score. For example if you have a score of 3 and there are 1.3 decks left in the shoe, your reassessed score will be 4 and you should therefore bet three times your minimum, as outlined above.
Obviously it takes some practice before you can use this system effectively. Practice at home. Guess the height of cards in a shoe in inches, check with the measuring tape. Get a friend to deal out cards quickly around the table and practice keeping a count total. It shouldn't take too long to master and once you have this under your belt, you will be ready to hit the blackjack tables. Happy counting!
If you are interested in using more complicated counting systems, there are about twenty other systems to choose from. If you are exceptionally mathematically-minded, when you have mastered the simpler count already described here, you might want to try your hand at one of these for the small additional advantage it could give you at the table.
Complex systems are difficult to master within a casino environment, and it can be very tempting to form a team to work a table, as instead of one person having to do the counting, the calculating and the betting, you could have someone for each role working with one hundred per cent concentration. This cannot be recommended! All casinos watch players, and take particular notice of anyone acting or betting unusually.
A team that reacts consistently to certain events at the table will probably be told to leave the casino. Remember that casinos can ask anyone to leave the premises whenever they want. You might have heard the famous story of the team of M.I.T. students who formed a card counting team, allegedly netting themselves millions of dollars.
They found it necessary to resort to elaborate disguises and other ruses within the casinos to avoid detection, but they were still "caught" soon enough! Rumour has it that they were only able to make so much money by betting large amounts in short periods of time as they knew they would be discovered pretty quickly. Apparently they had to borrow lots of cash in order to put the necessary big stakes down remember that a perfect card counter has a mathematical probability of winning 2% on bets over time, so to win millions, they would have had to have bet billions!
