Introduction to Blackjack Card Counting
Blackjack card counting is the only way to turn the house’s advantage around and in to your favor. When played correctly (using proper basic strategy), a typical casino blackjack game holds less than a 1% advantage for the casino. When you add a good card counting technique to perfect basic strategy, the advantage is no longer with the casino, but with the player.
The reason why card counting works is very simple. The player is more likely to win when there are lots of high cards in the deck and the dealer is more likely to win when there are more low cards in the deck. High cards are good for the player because even if there are very many high cards left in the deck, the dealer still has to hit on hands like 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16. When there are lots of high cards left, the dealer will be busting much more often. High cards are also good for the player because they increase the chances of getting a blackjack. So, in the most basic terms, when the player knows there are lots of high cards left in the deck, he should bet more money and less money when there are fewer high cards left.
As explained above, we don’t really care to keep track of how many of each individual card values are remaining. We only care about the ratio of low cards to high cards. Generally, this is accomplished by counting low cards as +1 and high cards as -1. Each time a card is dealt you either add 1 or subtract 1 from your running count. When the number is high, you know there are more high cards than low cards so you should be betting more money. When the count is low, you should be betting low.
This was just an introduction to card counting. Please see our other articles for different card counting methods. One of the easiest to learn is the Red 7 Count, so be sure to check it out at our website. Remember, card counting is useless unless it is used with proper basic strategy. So, if you haven’t learned it yet, be sure to review our articles on blackjack basic strategy before diving into card counting.