"Cheating" at Blackjack by Counting the Cards
Did you ever see the movie “The Rain Man”? If you did, then you know all about counting cards (“there’s lots and lots of queens”.) But if you didn’t see it, stay with us anyway, because we’re going to tell you all about this mythical “blackjack cheat”.
Card counting is simply keeping track of the cards that have been dealt, and cards that are still in the deck. As cards are dealt / played, the odds shift toward or away from you. By determining what cards are available, you can make educated bets.
The first thing to understand with card counting is high cards (particularly values of 10) in the deck favor the player, and low cards in the deck favor the dealer. This is because the dealer usually must hit if they’re under 17. If there are more low cards to be played, then chances are against the dealer busting. More high cards increase the chances of a dealer busting. We all want the dealer to bust (even the dealer probably wants to bust, as more winners mean more tips!)
Ok, you must be thinking “but it’s impossible for us ‘non-rain man people’ to keep track of so many cards”. And you’re right - especially if there are multiple decks. However, all is not lost.
There’s a simple way to do this – and here it is: The “High / Low” method. All you do is assign a value to each “group” of cards, and add and subtract as you play. Each card is assigned a positive value of 1, a negative value of 1, or a neutral value of 0.
2 – 6 are considered good and have a positive (+1) value when removed (or dealt). Aces, Face cards, and 10s are bad when removed (because they leave more low cards in the desk) and have a negative (-1) value. The middle cards from 7-9 are considered neutral and have no value. So as the game goes, you add or subtract based on the card. If your number is positive, then the odds are in your favor. If the count is negative, then back off.
Other card counting strategies exist that are more exact in card values (a 2 would have a better value than a 3). This strategy is very advanced and difficult to master (especially in a busy casino) so most people stick with High Low.
Contrary to urban legend, card counting is not illegal. However, earlier in this article, we called it a “blackjack cheat” – this is because the casinos don’t like it when you count cards. If you’re discovered or suspected to be a card counter, you will be asked by some (very large) gentlemen to leave. This is legal since casinos are private property – they can kick out whomever they want.
Since blackjack is one of the few games where it’s possible to beat the house edge, casinos will “hedge their bets” by frustrating card counters. This can range from the very effective “removal by large men named Vito and Knuckles” to more subtle techniques like having people chat to disrupt your concentration, increasing the cards/decks in a shoe, and restricting increases on bets.
However, we don’t mean to sound discouraging - counting cards can be fun for the novice player, as it gives them a better edge than if they didn’t count at all. But, for all but the big pros, it’s usually not enough of an edge to matter much to the casino (trust us, a novice card counter has nothing to fear from Vito and his friends!) Have fun out there.
