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Blackjack card counting
Main principle of blackjack card counting
A deck or a shoe with a high percentage of tens (including J, Q and
K) and aces favors the player. More tens and aces mean more chances
for blackjack and more opportunities to double down. Moreover, it
has been *proven* by computer simulations that a high percentage of
tens and aces favors the player over the dealer. So if you would know
the percentage of tens and aces left in the shoe, you could adjust
your wagers accordingly. If the percentage of tens and aces is high
you would increase your bet size. If a shoe is rich in low cards you
would decrease your bet size. A card counter keeps track of the percentage
of tens and aces left in the shoe, and modifies his or her bets accordingly.
Blackjack card counting systems
You might wonder how you can keep track of the percentage of tens
and aces left in the shoe. A simple method developed by Harvey Dubner
and Julian Braun, known as the High-Low
system, is to assign a value of -1 to tens and aces, a value of
0 to 7, 8 and 9, and a value of +1 to all other cards. You would then
keep a running count of all the cards that were dealt. If the running
count becomes +2 in a single-deck game,a card counter would increase
the bet size, and would do so more if there were less cards left in
the shoe.
There are many card counting strategies available today, but the
basic principle is similar to that of the High-Low system described
here. When combining 'Basic Strategy' with card counting it is possible
to eliminate the typical house edge of 1% or less, and turn the
odds slightly in favor of the player.
Card counting no good for online blackjack
Unfortunately, card counting can only be used in land-based casinos,
because in a typical online blackjack game, the cards are reshuffled
every round. This means it is simply impossible to keep track of the
percentage of tens and aces left in the shoe.
The best Blackjack bets (with the lowest house edge) are offered
by Boss Media casinos , because
they offer single-deck blackjack. Actually the odds are slightly
in favor of the player in Boss Media's single-deck blackjack.
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