Card counting is a strategy used to determine whether or not you will be dealt a good next hand, which will then give you an advantage over the dealer. Getting an advantage over the dealer is the main objective of playing blackjack, as you are essentially playing against the dealer and not the other players at the table.
Card counting can also allow you to predict the value of the cards that are still left in the deck, based on all the high and low valued cards they have already seen dealt on the table. So basically players that even play at Slotzo keep count of the cards they have already seen in order to determine what their odds are of receiving the card that their hand needs in order to beat the dealer.
How to Count Cards
Counting Cards Can Be Broken Into 4 Steps:
1: Assigning a value to every card.
2: Keeping a running count based on the values of the cards already dealt.
3: Use this information to calculate the true count.
4: Changing your bets according to the true count.
It might sound very simple, but this strategy can take quite a while to master.
Step 1: Counting cards has nothing to do with memorising, contrary to popular belief. The odds are better for a blackjack player if there are more Aces and 10 Value Cards (Kings, Queens, Jacks and 10’s) remaining in the deck. Card counting is all about keeping track of the ratio of low to high valued cards.
When using the high-low counting system, the following card values are used;
• 2-6 = +1
• 10-Ace= -1
• 7-9 = 0
Now what does this mean? If a card with a value from 2 to 6 is dealt, you will add 1, if a card valued from 7 to 9 is dealt you will do nothing, and if a card from 10 to Ace is dealt you will subtract 1.
Step 2: A running count is kept by simply adding or subtracting every card that is dealt. The running count will be updated with each new card dealt. The player counts card after card and round after round until the cards are shuffled again. An increasing running count is in the player’s favour. If the running count is in the negative, the casino has the upper hand. Back when casinos used to use only one deck of cards, this information would have been enough to adjust your bets accordingly. But nowadays casinos use more than one deck to prevent card counting.
Step 3: This step is used when casinos deal with more than one deck. The true count is calculated when we do a count per deck. A 5+ count can mean two very different things when there are 6 decks remaining, vs. when there is only one more deck remaining. A 5+ running count with 6 decks remaining means that there are less than one high value card in each deck. If you had a running count of 5+ with only one deck remaining, there would be 5 high valued cards in that deck, which significantly increases your chances of winning.
Step 4: The only thing left to do now is change your bets accordingly.
Happy card counting!
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