Rules and Strategies for Blackjack Card Counting

Online Blackjack Australia is one of the few casino card games that does not rely only on luck, and players who take the time to learn various strategies will be rewarded for their efforts.

Blackjack is a fairly simple game to understand and play. The objective is to beat the dealer by coming as close to 21 without going over that score, while still having a higher total than the dealer. If a player’s hand exceeds 21 the player will lose, and the dealer will clear the cards away. If the dealer’s hand goes above 21 the house loses and the players ‘winnings will be paid out. There is a basic strategy when it comes to deciding how to play a given hand.  You do not want to guess, or play hunches. By playing basic strategy players can reduce the house advantage. This can involve memorizing the correct action to take for the cards dealt. Another technique for reducing the house advantage is blackjack card counting. To become an accomplished card counter involves lots of practice and is sometimes used when playing advanced blackjack.

The Increase of Advantage Play

Since the 1960s there has been a technique in playing blackjack in what is called advantage play. This is a method of increasing your chance of winning by using memory and computation. One of the main techniques is called blackjack card counting. This is done in several ways.

During the course of the game, the dealer exposes the dealt cards. Careful accounting of the exposed cards allows a player to deduct information about the cards still to be dealt. For instance, players can make larger bets if they know there are many aces and tens left in the deck, in the hope of hitting a blackjack. Players can also deviate from the basic strategy, and if they feel there are many tens left in the deck they may double down in more situations, giving them a better chance of a good hand.

A Points System Helps the Card Counter

A blackjack card counting system assigns a point to each card rank, like one point for cards with values of 2 to 6, 0 points for 7 to 9, and -1 for 10 to Ace. When a card is exposed, the card counter will add the score of that card to a total, called the count. A player using blackjack card counting will use this count to make playing and betting choices according to a table which they have learned. Balanced counting systems start at 0 for a freshly shuffled deck. Unbalanced counts often start at a value which depends on the numbers of decks used in the game. Card counting can give a player up to 2% advantage over the house.

Certain Restrictions Casino Use

Single deck games are most susceptible to blackjack card counting, as card counting is most rewarding when as few as possible cards remain. As a result, some casinos insist that players do not reveal their cards in a single deck game. In games with more decks of cards, casinos can end the shoe and reshuffle the undealt decks of cards. Some casinos have a shuffling machine to reintroduce the cards after a deck has been played.

Card counting is legal as long as the counter does not use an additional device. But certainly casinos do not welcome players doing blackjack card counting!