How to Count Cards Like a Pro in Blackjack?

Who doesn’t want to bag millions of money in a casino? Blackjack or twenty-one is one popular casino game where a gambler using the right strategy can turn the odds in his favor by knowing a simple trick. And that is knowing how to count the cards! And, one who knows the craft of card counting really well can make the money rain like anything!  

In this push-your-luck-game card game, the gambler has to beat the dealer by acquiring cards with a face value of as close to 21. The dealer uses a simple set of rules and a gambler can freely pursue the best strategy possible. 

In Blackjack, having more Aces and 10 Value Cards (10’s, Jacks, Queens, and Kings) remaining in the shoe is favorable. So card counting is about keeping a track of the ratio of low cards to high cards.

It doesn’t have anything to do with memory. And you don’t have to be a genius. It’s just about practice and mastering the craft. Let’s know some history, theory, how it works & why it works for counting cards. 

A Brief History

Source = Casino-profit

The father of card counting in Blackjack, Ed Thorp was the first mathematician to figure out that removing a 2 from a deck of cards made blackjack a hope for the perfect basic strategy player. After that, he devised a system, tested it in a real-life scenario, and penned down the bestseller “Beat the Dealer.”

Keep Track of Certain Cards & You'll Seize the Game

Source = Zoomtecnologico

When you play a normal game of blackjack with a single deck of cards, the “house edge” (the statistical likelihood that the casino will come out on top) is necessarily zero. This means that if you play according to the best possible strategy (by memorizing and following the optimal method), you’ll break even in the long run. Even if that does not sound like a big deal, but blackjack is the only table-game claiming such favorable odds. And these odds make blackjack advantageous for card counting.

By keeping a tally of certain words as we’re calling it “counting cards”, the dealer burns through the deck. By keeping that tally, you can almost know which cards are more likely to come up next for both you and the dealer.

And this little information tells you when to bet big or when to bet small. Having more low-numbered cards left in the deck is a bad sign. This means that you are less likely to get a blackjack (21 points on your first two cards, which pay a bonus) and the dealer is less likely to "bust" (get over 21 points worth of cards) because of the dealer’s strict betting rules. And more high-numbered cards are good for the contrary reasons.

If you play it strategically, counting cards will increase your winning odds by about 1%. This may not sound like a big deal again but over many, many hours and even more hands of cards, you can go for netting in the green.

High-Low is the Best & Easiest Card Counting Strategy- Practice It to Perfect It!

(Video credits: WIRED)

By implementing the High-Low strategy, the card counter needs to keep a simple mental tally of three groups of cards. Each time he/she comes across a high number card played on the table, the counter subtracts 1 from his or her tally. For every low number card, he/she adds 1 to his or her tally. And the middle cards are disregarded.

Keep practicing to master this art! And next time you visit a casino, make sure you try this card counting strategy out & nail the Blackjack game!