Blackjack Card Counting Systems

There are several different methods of blackjack card counting and none of them actually involve remembering every card that has been played, or allow a blackjack player to absolutely know what cards will be dealt next. Remembering every card would be possible if the casino dealt every game down to the last remaining cards in the deck, but, in the real world a casino would never do that because they would be at a huge disadvantage — and the casino management will make sure that doesn't happen. This doesn't mean that card counting can't be done or that a player can't profit from it. This article will discuss what card counting is really about.

The basic idea behind card counting is that a deck that is rich in Aces and face cards will favor the player rather than a dealer. This is true for several reasons:

a player that receives a blackjack is paid 3-2 on the original bet but when the dealer receives a blackjack only the original bet is won;
if a dealer has a low hand such as a 12 or 16, the deal must hit and deck rich in Ten's will likely cause the dealer to bust;
if a player has a low hand such as a 12 or 16, the player has a choice to hit or not;
the dealer can't double on Nine, Ten or Eleven but a player can;
a deck rich in Ten's means that there will be dealt more blackjacks;

It has been mathematically proven through computer simulation that a deck rich in Ten's and Ace's favors the player and a deck rich in low cards always favors the dealer. Therefore, a deck rich in Ten's or a deck rich in low cards provides the opportunity to the player to modify their wager, double down and split decisions accordingly.

So, how does a player actually count cards? Well, there are several well-known and publicized strategies and some are difficult to master while others are fairly easy to learn. But, it has also been proven through computer simulation that the easier strategies are just as effective as the more complicated strategies.

Here are some of the most well-known strategies: