card counting

Blackjack is a very common game played in casinos. It is also one of the game that depends less on luck but more on the players' strategies. In addition to the basic strategies, players can also use a technique called "card counting" to enhance their chances of winning a game. In the movie "21", a few students from MIT form a team and they rely on card counting as their main wining strategy. The team eventually wins lots of money from the casino that they play in, and this has also caught the casino's attention. The casino try to find all of the members in the team and stop them from counting cards.

In this article, I want to show you how to count cards, and how to use card counting to win Blackjack. First of all, I want to talk about the system of card counting. There are many kinds of card counting systems, but let's start with the most basic one.

Every card counting system uses the same concept. In every kind of system we give different cards a different value. For example, the most basic system give the cards' number which are from 2 to 6 a value "+1",  gives the cards' number which is from 7 to nine a value "0", and gives the cards' number from 10 to Ace a value "-1". Once you keep those values in mind, you can start counting your cards. Imagine yourself walking into a casino as you head to the Blackjack table. When you sit down, you exchange the chips and start playing. This is when you keep a number "0" in your head. That number, 0, is the value of your counting. (You always start to count from 0 when you join a new table.) At the moment the card dealer deals the cards, you have to see the value of every card on the table. If you see the dealer deals a 2, 3,4,5,or 6 down, you have to plus one to the counting value in your head because the value of a number 3 card has a "+1" value. (the cards which has the number from 2 to 6 has a value of "+1"). If the dealer deals a 7,8, or 9 down, you plus "0" to your counting value in your head. If you see the dealer deals a 10, J, Q, K or Ace down, you minus 1 to your counting value in your head.
When you are playing Blackjack, you have to keep doing the plus one, minus one, and plus zero depending on the cards the are dealt. After playing a few hands of cards, you will have a counting value in your head. This value may be plus something, minus something, or zero. Once you understand how to keep track of the counting value, it's time for you to know how to interpret the counting value and figure out what's going on. Basically, the counting value can tell us how many big values cards and small value cards are left in the deck. If the counting value is positive, it means that there are more big value cards left in the deck because many small value cards have been dealt before. That's why the counting value is positive. (You calculate plus one when you see small value cards, and minus one when you see the big value cards. If the counting value is positive, it means that you have seen more small value cards than big value cards. ) On the other hand, if the counting value is negative, it means that many big value cards have already been dealt before, and there are more small value cards than big value cards inside the deck. You may be curious----Why do I want to know how many big value and small value cards are left? The reason is that if there are more big value cards are being left in the deck, the situation favor the players. Think about it, if there are many big value cards in side the deck, you are more likely to get a big value cards on one hand. It means that you can get a good combination for the first two cards easily, which means that the total value of your cards is very likely to be above 18 when you have only two cards. On the other hand, if there are many small cards in the deck, you are not likely to get a good combination for the first two cards. When you don't get a big combination for the first two cards, you may want to hit, and the action of hitting may cause you to bust your hand. Therefore, it is better for players to get good combination for the first two cards, so they don't have to get another card, risking themselves on busting the cards.

In addition, when there are many big value cards inside the deck, the situation doesn't favor the dealers. According to the rules of the casino, dealers have to keep getting the card before the total value of cards exceed 17. If the total value of the dealer's cards is 16, he must get another card in order to make the total value exceeds 17. It is very easy to bust the cards when the total value of cards is 16 in a normal situation, not to mention when there are many big value cards in the deck. On the other hand, if there are more small cards inside the deck, the dealer are not likely to go bust when he hit on his hand, and he may win when players bust their cards.

Since the counting value going up means situation is turning better for the players, you should put more bet on each round when the counting value is very high, and decrease the bet when the value goes down. When the situation is in you favor, you have to take advantage of that, when the situation is not good, you have to pull back. The counting value can tell you what the situation is at the moment, so it is important for you to keep track of the value and try not to miscalculate it. In addition to the situation, the counting value can also tell you whether you should hit on your hand or not. For example, if you get a 15 or 16 for the first two cards, and the counting value is very high, it is not a good idea to hit because it is very likely for you to bust your cards. However, if the counting value is negative, you can try to hit on that hand because it is very likely for you to get a small value card and make the total value of your cards go above 17 .

Card counting is very interesting and useful. Also, it is easy to learn. You don't have to be a genius or MIT student to learn to count cards. You can understand the concept in an hour and master it through practicing.