Casino Guide: Blackjack

Although card counting does not give the blackjack player as much of an advantage nowadays as it did in the past, it still has the potential to increase your winnings. It is very simple to do and does not require that you are either a clever mathematician or have a brilliant memory. If you can add and subtract one, then that is all the mathematical ability you need.

When card counting you need to look at every card that is dealt to you, other players at the table and the dealer. What you are attempting to discover are the times when the percentage of high value cards in the remaining deck is higher than average. When this is the case, you have a greater probability of getting a blackjack which pays out at good odds (though often not as good as in the past).

So, all you need to do is to keep a track of the high value cards that have been dealt. In order to do this a number of arithmetical tricks have been devised which make this simplicity itself. Although there are a number of variants, we will describe the simplest, which is the Hi-Lo count. We suggest that you perfect this one first, and then maybe try some of the more complex ones that provide higher degrees of accuracy.

In the Hi-Lo count, you simply add one (+1) every time you see a number between 2 and 6 being dealt, and subtract one (-1) every time you see a card with a 10 value or an ace. Keep track of this number, which is known as the running count.

Blackjack is played with an initial shoe containing various numbers of decks, usually four or six. In order to get the true count you simply divide your running count by the number of decks remaining. You can estimate this by the number of hands that have been played.

Normally you bet the table minimum until the true count is favourable at which time you should raise your bet; the higher the count, the higher the bet should be.

Always remember that your card play should be strictly as demanded by basic strategy.

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