Mastering Blackjack: How to Count Cards

Description: Have you been trying to win playing Blackjack but cannot figure out how to count the cards?  Here is a simplified guide to help you grasp the basics about card counting in Blackjack.

 

The reason movies portraying gamblers winning in blackjack and counting cards to turn around losing games were very successful in the last and previous decades was mainly because people did not have access to resources that they could use to improve their gameplay.  Watching movies of such type was their way for getting more experience through watching blackjack movies. Today we can find everything we want using the Internet, and if you are looking forward to being a casual or professional Blackjack player and wish to know how to count cards, you are in luck.  Today, there is ‘too much’ information available, most offering contradicting tips and ideas, but we have done the research and here are the top ideas you need to master to perfect the art of counting cards in blackjack.  While you’re at it, you are also welcome to learn poker rules basics in a single site and try out another game instead.

The Hi-Lo Strategy

Although there are many card counting strategies in Blackjack, one of the most efficient yet easy to learn and master is the Hi-Lo strategy.  The basic principle underlining this technique is that the player can make greater bets to improve the chances of winning when the deck is favorable.  The deck is said to be favorable when the ratio of the high cards is greater than that of low cards than normal.  This means that there are still many cards with high numbers in the deck.  To master this technique, you will also need to have a number to bet in mind.  Higher numbers win more because there will still be more high cards to be played.

How to count cards using the Hi-Lo strategy

Assign the cards values to make it possible to track high and low ratio cards.  You can assign cards 2 to 6 value +1, 7 to 9 value 0 and 10s and aces value -1.  Next, know to tell when to up your bets when the count is positive, but be careful because as much as higher counts mean greater payoff, ranging bets too much is a cause of trouble.  Increase your bets by 1 when the point goes up or down and practice this technique with a complete deck of cards, preferably alone at first, and aim at going through the entire deck in less than 30 seconds.  Timing is crucial when it comes to Blackjack, your first times may average 60 seconds but practice should bring it down to 25 or 20.

After some time of practicing in vulcanrus, you will need to take the cards in pairs, for instance when you see a 5 and a 9, it will be (+1) and 0, bringing the tally to +1.  Most Blackjack players will tell you that counting cards is all about remembering what numbers you see but the truth is that it is also about accuracy and speed.  Counting cards in pairs is more effective and faster than counting single cards.  Experienced counters count even more cards at once, with time you will learn to count 3 or even 5 cards at once.

Finally, to get the true count, take the running count and divide it by the number of decks about to be dealt.  A result of +4 means 4 decks are left and the true count is +1.  You must also find out how many decks are remaining but if playing with a single deck, invert the fraction of remaining deck, and multiply by your count.