Tag Archives: card counting

General

Blackjack House Edge — What To Pay Attention To

December 21, 2019 – 12:35 pm

Many online casinos offer a wide variety of games. For example, USA online blackjack is present on almost every site, as people love playing this popular card game. However, what many don’t realize about blackjack is that it’s not only a game of chance.

In fact, it is a game of skill as well. In other words, if you know how to play blackjack properly, you can improve your chances and get hefty prizes in return.

Blackjack is considered the game with the lowest house edge in casinos, which is why it is very popular among casino lovers. Yet, to lower the house edge, you need to apply certain strategies along the way.

This is not a difficult task, and once you get into the swing of things, you can improve blackjack skills by far.

One of the things that you need to avoid completely is making any additional side bets when playing the game. These bets usually have awful odds and are made to increase the house edge when playing this game.

The second thing you should definitely take into account is a blackjack strategy chart. Several blackjack professionals mapped the best possible plays in almost every possible situation that may occur during your blackjack session.

If you stick to this chart, you will significantly improve your chances and lower the blackjack house edge. Without applying the basic strategy, the house edge is above one percent. However, with this strategy, the edge can go as low as 0.5 percent.

Keeping Count

Finally, there’s the technique which is often frowned upon — blackjack card counting. Although it is not exactly illegal anywhere to apply this technique, casinos still reserve the right to ask you to leave the game if they suspect that you might be counting cards.

Moreover, if you are noticed counting cards in online casinos, you can get banned from them. Therefore, don’t try this technique unless you’ve mastered it.

Even then, you could get in quite a lot of trouble for doing that. On the other hand, sticking to the basic blackjack strategy is always a good idea, and casinos allow it (some of them even welcome it).

However, don’t forget that the element of luck is still very much present. In other words, no matter how great your blackjack strategy is, sometimes we need to give up and come another day.

Most importantly, we shouldn’t forget to enjoy this exciting card game — it’s a game, after all!

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General

Does Card Counting Really Work in Blackjack and Is It Legal?

August 16, 2019 – 12:09 pm

Card counting is a popular technique used by some blackjack players who want to minimize the luck factor and lower the house edge as much as possible. In fact, card counters claim that this technique could even give players an edge over the casinos. While this is theoretically possible, there are many things that need to be taken into account for it to work.

First of all, according to American law, card counting is not illegal. In other words, nobody can prosecute you if you use the card-counting technique when playing a game of blackjack. However, casinos simply do not like the practice and can ask you to stop playing the game if they notice that you are counting cards. In fact, USA online blackjack platforms can ban you from playing the game for a while if they notice that you are counting cards.

It is very easy to spot a card counter, especially if they are new. They often take time to make bets, and cannot focus on the game itself, as they do the math and count cards all the time. The more experienced ones will definitely hide the fact that they are counting cards, but even they can be busted if casinos notice that they apply some of the betting patterns that are typical for card counters.

Card counting can pay off in the long run. Playing short blackjack sessions will not give you an advantage over the casino. It takes a lot of effort and can sometimes even take all the fun out of the game.

Are There Alternatives to Card Counting?

Card counting is not the only blackjack strategy that can help you increase your chances of winning in this game. In fact, there are many other strategies that are not frowned upon by casinos. Make sure to check out a blackjack strategy chart in order to find out more about this technique that is both profitable and entertaining!

To sum up, you can either learn how to count cards by devoting a lot of time to this technique, or you can learn some other techniques that are accepted by casinos. If you want to go with card counting, you will risk being banned from a casino and will take all the fun out of the game. On the other hand, if you apply other blackjack strategies, you are in for a great ride!

Naturally, card counting will give you a better edge compared to other techniques, but it will take time before you master it!

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General

What is Card Counting and How Does it Work?

April 20, 2016 – 7:19 am

Card counting is part of what makes blackjack unique, in that it is the only real way a player can claim an advantage over the casino without breaking the law and cheating. Here we take a look at what cared counting is, when it was “invented” and whether it remains relevant in the modern world of blackjack and specifically USA online blackjack.

What is card counting?

Card counting is a method a player uses to keep track of the rough formation of the deck by following what cards have already been dealt. In general, high cards in the deck help the player, whilst low cards in the deck are less advantageous. By knowing how many high value cards remain to be dealt the player can ascertain whether they are more or less likely to win any given hand and alter their bets accordingly. When the deck is favorable, they will stake big and when it is against them they will stake small or not at all.

When was it first formulated?

Dr. Edward O. Thorp is considered by many to have been the first person to espouse card counting in his classic 1962 book Beat The Dealer. That said, there are known to be several professional and semi-professional players using similar systems in the 1950s and perhaps the most famous four men in blackjack history, known as the Four Horsemen, published Playing Blackjack to Win in 1957.

That book was more focused on Basic Strategy but also touched on card counting and ultimately the wonder of card counting cannot be fairly attributed to any one single person, although it almost certainly began in the 1950s in America.

How does it work?

Blackjack is unique among casino games in that what has gone before has an impact on what will happen next. In slots or roulette – or indeed any other online of offline casino game – keeping track of previous spins is pointless. However, in blackjack this is not the case.

High cards are proven to help the player, making it easier to hit blackjack, making doubling more successful and, most crucially of all, making the dealer more likely to bust when they are forced to hit on 12 to 16.

There are countless variations of card counting but what they all have at their core is keeping track of the relative numbers of high cards and low cards that remain in the deck and using this count to alter how the player approaches the game.

Can you use card counting to play USA online blackjack?

Card counting remains legal but the casinos have, over the years, introduced a range of measures to offset it. When it comes to playing USA online blackjack, the benefits of card counting are minimal, with almost all real money online casinos effectively shuffling the pack after every hand, thus ensuring that all cards are in play on every hand.

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General

Does Card Counting Work for Live Dealer Blackjack?

July 17, 2015 – 2:00 am

Okay, we’ve all seen the movies, we may have read the books, but let’s get one thing clear at the outset, card counting at blackjack is no easy task. You’re as likely to get thrown out of a casino as to make any money from it if you are not very careful, and if you don’t already have basic strategy all but memorized, you might as well forget your chances of getting anywhere close to profiting from card counting. In short, card counting is not for the amateur blackjack player.

Card counting involves assessing when a deck has a glut of 10s and aces (which works out well for the players) or a lack of them (which puts things in favor of the dealer) and wagering accordingly. For instance, when the card counter knows there are many 10s, picture cards and aces to come in the deck, he would alter the way he plays, upping his bets and amending his strategy to go against the basic strategy in certain circumstances when deciding to split, hit or double when the basic strategy says to stand.

Of course, card counting usually takes place in bricks and mortar casinos rather than on USA online blackjack sites (whose standard blackjack games are powered by Random Number Generator software). The advent of live dealer blackjack, however, has given hope to some that you might just be able to get away with a spot of card counting when playing online while not of course running the risk of getting thrown out (there are no cameras watching your every move when you play online of course!). Even though live dealer blackjack games involve real dealers and real packs of cards, the likelihood of you being able to gain any advantage from counting cards is small at best, and even then it is probably reliant on dealer error. This is the case for one simple reason: deck penetration.

Deck penetration refers to how far into a deck (or, more usually, the decks – plural) the dealer will allow play to go before reshuffling. The larger the deck penetration, the better chance card counting has of bearing fruit. Alas, most live dealer blackjack dealers reshuffle after about half the cards have been dealt, which – especially with the commonly used eight-deck shoe – is not nearly enough to make card counting particularly effective. In other words, when playing blackjack online, simply stick to basic strategy for your best chance of winning!

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