Blackjack Card counting: What You Need To Know
If you know how to play blackjack, and you have your blackjack strategy down-pat, there’s one more thing you could do that can get you winning hands faster: Card counting. Card counting is a technique that helps players recognise when they have an advantage over the dealer and other players.
There is a lot of speculation in the gambling arena about card counting – how did it start, how is it possible, and is it legal? We aim to answer those questions for you.
History of Card Counting
The history of card counting dates back to the mid-1900s, long before online casino gambling was thought of. Jess Marcum created a counting method in 1949 that led him to enough success that he could quit his job as a nuclear physicist. In 1957, a book called Playing Blackjack to Win was published, giving the first detailed strategies in card counting, but lacked details such as how to vary bets. In the early 1960s, Edward Thorp developed a more powerful method and published a book called Beat The Dealer, which is still considered The Bible of card counting today. If you want to learn the ins and outs of card counting, that book is still on the market today – and still extremely useful.
Have you heard of the MIT Blackjack Team? This is a group of American college students who used card counting techniques to beat casinos around the world. They originated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and operated for a bit over 20 years, from 1979 onwards. Other kids from Harvard and other schools, also took part. It started when the first group of six kids taught themselves how to card count. Then a professional blackjack player, JP Massar, came up with an idea that could take advantage of the new law in New Jersey that Atlantic City casinos couldn’t ban card counters. He formed a group of players, recruiting more as he went along, and a professional gambler and an investor. The group went to Atlantic City and began their success, increasing their capital four-fold. The professional gambler he’d enlisted was Bill Kaplan, who ran a successful blackjack team in Vegas a few years prior that eventually went global. Eventually, Kaplan helped the students (and other team members by that time who had answered posters around the campus) count more effectively – increasing their chances of winning. That was the start of the MIT BlackJack Team’s bank – which saw investors and players putting up the capital – and essentially saw them double their money within 10 weeks.
The success continued until 2000, by which time most of those players, and those recruited, simply moved on to other things.
How does card counting work?
To put it simply, it works like this: the dealer shuffles the cards, and at this point, there is an equal number of high and low cards that are in the deck. If high cards are dealt more often in the early rounds of the game, of course, there are less high cards in the final rounds. And visa versa. The belief is that cards that have high values, such as a 10, picture cards, and Ace, will benefit the player more than they do the dealer; and lower numbers, such as 2s, 3s, 4, 5 and 6s, benefit the dealer more.
So, if there are more high cards left, card counters will generally bet more – it means they have a better chance of winning.
How do card counters keep track?
Whether you’re playing blackjack at your local casino, or you’re playing blackjack online, there is a really basic strategy you can follow to increase your chances of winning.
It sounds like it would be a lot of work, but really, card counting is quite simple. You just have to practice so that you’re fast enough, that no one else notices.
Here’s how it works: Card counters generally follow a Hi-Lo card counting system, complete with tags. Low cards from 2-6, have a +1 tag. 7,8,9 are considered neutral cards (meaning they can benefit players and dealer alike) and this has a tag of 0, while high cards of 10+ have a -1 tag. Card counting means having your eyes on the table at all times. You need to watch every card, and as it gets dealt, work out the maths in your head and keep a running count.
At the end of the round, including what the dealer gives themselves, if the count is high – the player likely has more chance of winning the next round. This is the perfect time to increase your bet. If the count is negative, the dealer has more chance and usually, players who do card counting will have a smaller bet size in that round, sticking to the minimum bet. Use the information on each round to establish true counts for the entire game.
Is card counting illegal?
No. It’s not. Card counting is not illegal in Australian casinos, or online (how are they going to stop you?). But offline casino’s aren’t too happy about the practice, and they do have methods they use to try to prevent it, including the following:
1. If the dealer has suspicions, they might tell the pit boss about you. They can’t stop you, but the pit boss is likely to try to distract you so you lose count. If you are too good, they could see you as a threat to the casino, and ask you to leave.
2. They could alter the rules of the game to put you off. They might remove doubling after a split, or remove late surrender as an option. Anything to increase the house edge.
3. They may use multiple decks, which make it harder for you to determine what cards remain in the decks left.
There are a few things the dealer will look for when looking for card counters: large bets up-front, playing a small number of hands during a shoe, placing large bets at the end of a shoe, table hopping, playing multiple hands, and racial profiling.
Although it’s not looked upon favourably, if you do know how to card count and can do it discreetly, there isn’t a lot Australian casinos can do to stop you!
If you want to master your blackjack skills, playing blackjack online with JoeFortune.com is one of the best ways to do so. With various games available, and a huge following of Australian players, you’re guaranteed to have a great time. Just remember our principal when gambling online – be responsible!
