Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner. Those words, made famous by a Chinese dealer, are now synonymous with a BLACKJACK! Thanks to the movie
21, the secret world of the card counter has been revealed. It is a dark world, shrouded with an image of danger and adventure. In reality, the card counting world is a very boring place, where great mathematicians use their brains to earn a slight edge over the casinos. Let's talk about how it works.
In order to discuss card counting, we need to understand the game of blackjack. Blackjack is a game of you versus the dealer. The goal is to have cards with a total value that is closer to 21 than the dealer's cards, without going over. All face cards are worth 10, Aces are worth 1 or 11, and all other numeric cards are worth their face value (ie. a 7 is worth 7 points). At the outset of the game, the player is dealt two cards and the dealer is dealt two cards. In a typical game, the player's cards are dealt face up and the dealer's cards are dealt with one up and one down. At this point, you need to make a decision based on the limited information given to you. You know your total and you know a portion of the dealer's total. You have 4 choices, hit, stand, double down, or split. I am not going to go into the details of the game here, there are some great books for that, but I wanted to give a brief introduction.
So now on to the interesting concept, counting cards. In the game of blackjack, counting cards works for one specific reason: the game has a history. More simply, the cards that have already been played affect the cards still to come. This is the only game in the casino with this trait. Typically, the dealer will play with a 1, 2, 6, or 8 deck shoe. This means simply that the dealer will shuffle a certain number of decks, for now let's use 6, and draw cards from this pile until they have nearly reached the end. At this point, the dealer will reshuffle the entire stack and start again. With this in mind, you can understand that if you have played through 4 of the 6 decks and are yet to see any aces, you can easily predict that a lot of aces are yet to come.
This is the concept that makes card counting work. If you are able to track the cars that have been played, you can predict the cards yet to come and update your betting and playing strategies accordingly. The most popular card counting method is simply called the Hi-Lo system. It was made popular by the MIT blackjack team, and remains popular for its simplicity. In this system, all cards have a value of -1, 0, or 1. The breakdown is as follows:
2-6: 1 point
7-9: 0 points
10-A: -1 points
As the cards are dealt, a running count is kept in the players head. As the count moves positive, this means that there are more high cards than low cards left to be played, which is in the player's favor. At this point, you want to bet big! On the flip side, if the count moves negative, this is bad for the player so you will want to either leave the table or reduce your bet.
So why does this system work? Well it revolves around the basic strategy of the game of blackjack. You can find this basic strategy on many sites, including
BlackJackInfo.com. Basic strategy revolves around the fact that odds favor a card with a value of 10 coming next (Because there are 4 cards with this value). Based on this, there is an optimal way to play each hand. If the count moves positive, there are more 10's in the deck, so the system holds up more often.
Now that you know the basics, you are probably wondering how you can make any money with this system. I have put together a simple 5 step program for preparing yourself for a great run at the casinos.
1) Practice and memorize basic strategy. This is essential. Study the strategy tables and then play a ton of blackjack. I prefer using old fashioned cards, but there are great programs for free on the PC or Iphone.
2) Practice counting. This is easy. Just buy 3 decks of cards, mix them up, and then flip them over one at a time while keeping the count. Continue flipping cards as quickly as you can while still maintaining the count. After you have gotten through all three decks, the count should equal zero. If not, you made a mistake. Keep practicing until this becomes second nature. It took me about a month of practicing 3-4 times per week to get really quick.
3) Build up a cash reserve. Even though counting cards will give you a slight edge, you still need a bankroll to protect against bad runs. My general rule of thumb is that your bankroll should be 200 times your minimum bet. So if you plan on playing at a $5 table, you want at least $1000 available to ensure you won't go bust early.
4) Prepare your betting strategy. At all times during your play, you will be keeping a running count. As you may have already guessed, this count needs to be adjusted to account for the number of decks of cards remaining. For example, a count of 16 is far more valuable with 1 deck remaining than it is with 4 decks remaining. So to account for this, simply divide your count by the number of decks remaining. This will give you the True Count. In the example above, if 4 decks are remaining and the running count is 16, the true count is 4. My betting strategy is to multiply my minimum bet by this true count. So again, if my minimum bet is $5 and the true count is 4, I would bet $20. It is easy to get greedy and exceed these limits, but I would highly recommend against it.
5) After you have completed the steps above, you are ready to head to the casino. Before you sit down, I would spend some time watching. Stand behind another player and keep the count, making sure that you're able to keep it even will all the distractions. Losing the count even once can cost you a small fortune.
That is it! If you complete the 5 steps above successfully, you are ready to take a seat. If all of this excites you, start practicing. If you have some success with the techniques above, then you may be ready to move on to more advanced counts or perhaps even team play. I won't discuss these topics here, but the resources below can tell you far more than you would ever want to know.
Finally, I need to dispel one of the largest rumors about card counting. IT IS NOT CHEATING! Many people believe you are cheating, when in fact you are simply using math to beat the game. Because of this, counting is not illegal, nor dangerous. I have spent a TON of time counting cards and have never been harassed for it. Unless you are sitting on the extremely high limit tables, the casino won't even notice. So don't let this stop you!
Hopefully I have convinced you to give it a shot. If nothing else, it is great mental exercise to keep your mind sharp.
Good luck and may the cards be with you!
Keys to Success:
Practice. Counting and basic strategy need to be second nature before you even consider setting foot in a casino.
Patience. It is easy to get overexcited on the first positive count and blow your whole stack. Realize that there is still luck, and even with a positive count, you can still lose in the short run.
Do your homework. All casinos have variations on their game rules. For example, some houses pay 3:2 for blackjack and others only pay 6:5. It may not seem like much, but it really eats away at your profits. Find the optimal game before you take a seat. Some rules that you want to look for: Black jack pays 3:2, Surrender allowed, Dealer stands on soft 17.
Resources on the Topic:
T-shirts and mugs, and those now famous lines quickly lead to a lot of product sales.
If you want to make a career out of it, your best bet is to focus on current events. Remember the Somali Pirates? How about Octomom? Maybe the Swine Flu? Any idea how many people googled each of these things? Me neither, but I bet it was a LOT. And the beauty is that you can develop your idea and get it up on the web immediately! People googling these topics are likely to stumble upon your products, driving up your sales.
