People have been trying to dream up ways to beat the house ever since the advent of casinos. For most games it just isn't possible, but blackjack has some unique features that allow you to actually gain an edge on the casino. Blackjack is different from games based purely on luck (like roulette), which allows you to take in information and use it to decide how much to bet and what strategy decisions to make when playing your hands.
Blackjack card counting is the strategy used for blackjack, but it hasn?t always been possible to use it outside of a brick and mortar. This is because card counting relies on being able to estimate the composition of the remaining deck. When online blackjack games are played, each new hand comes from a new virtual deck, which makes keeping track of past hands useless. But now with the advent of new Live Dealer Online blackjack games, players can use their card counting abilities for profit! Forget your video poker download and get ready for some Blackjack action. This is because these games are dealt by real dealers using real cards, just like in a brick-and-mortar.
Card counting is based on one simple principle. Face cards and aces are more important for the player than they are for the dealer. There are a couple reasons for this:
Firstly, the player makes 100% of their own decisions when it comes to whether or not to hit their hand, while the dealer adheres to very specific rules. Generally the dealer must hit until they reach 17-21 or when they bust by going over 21. When there are more face cards than small cards remaining in the deck, the dealer is more likely to bust and give the player a win. The opposite statement is also the case. When the remaining deck mostly contains low cards, there is a lower chance that the dealer will bust. This explains the statement that face cards are best for the player, while low cards favor the dealer.
Second of all, aces are a lot better for the player than the dealer. It?s not too difficult to understand the reason for this. A player that makes blackjack gets paid 1.5 times their bet. The player only loses their original bet when the dealer makes blackjack, however, which is the same result had the dealer just won with a 17.
One simple but effective counting strategy is called the Hi-Lo count. In this strategy, the good cards (10, J, Q, K and Ace) are allocated a value of -1, while the lowest cards (2 through 6) are allocated a value of +1. Using this counting strategy, cards 7, 8, and 9 are assigned zeros.
As the cards are dealt from the same deck, you keep a total of the card values in your head. For example, if the sequence of cards is 4, 9, Q, A, 3, 4, 2 you would tally the count like this:
| Card | Card Value | Running Count |
| 4 | +1 | +1 |
| 9 | 0 | +1 |
| Q | -1 | 0 |
| A | -1 | -1 |
| 3 | +1 | 0 |
| 4 | +1 | +1 |
| 2 | +1 | +2 |
Once you?ve totaled everything up, the +2 count now means that there have been two more bad (small) cards removed compared to the good (faces/aces) cards. This means that in the rest of the deck that hasn't yet been dealt, there are more good cards. All it takes now to beat the casino is betting larger when the count is good!
This introduction is very basic, so be sure to also check out the full blackjack card counting online guide at flopturnriver/casino/blackjack-card-counting-online-1.php.
