Blackjack Card Counting

"Common Misconceptions About Card Counting" - There are quite a lot of misconceptions about Blackjack, and more so counting cards while playing Blackjack. First off, most people think that counting cards at a Blackjack table, requires a strong memory, or that it takes some kind of super hero to count multiple decks of cards that are dealt from a shoe, by a dealer. A lot of people think that to count cards, someone must sit at a table, and count each individual card, and remember it, all through two, four, six or eight decks of cards at some tables in a casino. A lot of people think that counting cards is illegal and that you could goto jail for counting cards. Some people think, that by counting cards at a Blackjack table, you will win money, hand over fist and the house will be none the wiser. As I said, there are a lot of myths out there about card counting at a Blackjack table.

Allow me to clear up some pretty common misunderstandings the general public has about card counting in a casino.

First, there is no magic memory, or photographic memory required to count cards, because you are not actually “counting cards” per si, but rather, just “keeping score” or a “running total” of ten valued cards, versus smaller cards. The more the lower valued cards you have seen throughout the shoe, the more ten valued cards there are left, in comparison to how many small ones are left. It's a rather simple task to figure out the ratio of big cards to little cards remaining in the shoe, but that isn't really enough information to form a theory on when the big cards are coming, or who they will come to, you, the dealer or an other player at the table. Considering the house instructs the dealer to “cut off” a deck and a half, from a six deck shoe, at a lot of casinos, a lot of times, there can be nothing but big cards left, but you may never see them, if the dealer shuffles before dealing out  more than four and a half decks of  the six deck shoe.

Secondly, just by “counting cards” while playing blackjack, does not at all mean you will just start making money, winning hand after hand, cashing in rich and quiting your job the next day to travel the world as a clever card counter. Just simply knowing “the count” does not at all make the game easy to predict. I mean, if the player next to you at the blackjack table, leaned over and whispered in to your ear, “The count is at 'plus seventeen'!” would you even know what that meant, or know what you should do differently than “basic strategy”?

I have played at tables, with friends that know the game well, can swiftly count down a six deck shoe, know their math and whatnot, and they would be playing table minimum, for shoe after shoe, winning hand after hand, on a real hot streak, but refused to raise their bet, because “the count” wasn't calling for betting big. All the while, me, playing “basic strategy” and just betting big when the dealer was breaking like every hand, for a couple of shoes, I turned my hundred dollars in to fifteen hundred, while my friend just made out with a couple hundred. Then, the next shoe, as I'm ready to cash in my chips and go home, my friend notices “the count” go to an extremely favorable ratio for face cards to be coming. My friend chanted aloud, “Nothing but Blackjack's and Twenties coming for the rest of the shoe.” Amazingly, he was right, he successfully predicted that the majority of the hands dealt from that point in the shoe forward, were blackjacks and twenties. My friend starts betting maximum bet, every hand, and all the twenties landed for us players, but all the blackjacks went to the dealer, so as he was correct, we still won no money. In fact, he lost the couple hundred he spent hours building, plus pulled out at extra thousand from his pocket, to chase after his losses with. Moral of that story, the count is the same for the dealer, as it is the player. The dealer has just as good of a chance to catch the big cards as you do. So, bottom line, you will not “beat the house” just by knowing how to count cards, much more is involved in “breaking the house”.

Thirdly, if you do successfully count the cards, bet big at the right time, and cash in big when all the tens are coming, you will most likely not go undetected. Just as most any average blackjack player can learn to count cards, any average Pit-Boss can learn how to count cards too. So, when you are betting low when the count is negative, and betting big while the count is strong, it will be rather obvious to any other card counter, that is monitoring your activity. Remember, those “Pit-Bosses” are there for a reason, not just to hand out free buffets, or validate valet parking, but to figure out how it is that you are winning money. It surely won't take a very experienced pit-boss to figure out if you are counting cards, or just lucky.

Though it is not illegal to count cards, it is definitely not something the casino wants it's players doing. I mean, the casino advantage over the player is somewhere around 5%, when a card counter sits at a blackjack table, that advantage gets reduced. The casino does not want to take the chance of not beating all of the people that sit at the blackjack table, so they like to monitor player activity, find the card counters, weed them out, get their picture on file, monitor their wins and losses and then decide if you are a legitimate threat to their advantage over you, or if you are a card counter that has no self control and will most likely go on “tilt” and lose all of your chips anyway. Once they decide you have a chance of beating them, they may then exercise their right to refuse your business. It is not illegal to count cards, and it is also legal to refuse to serve someone.

In this day and age, information travels fast, when a casino labels you a card counter, they then distribute your picture and their files on you to casinos all around the country, at which point, you are basically out of the card counting business, with facial recognition programs in the surveillance rooms in casinos, you won't make it 30 feet past the entrance, without surveillance knowing exactly who you are and what you are about. Some card counters think that if they go to every casino, count until they are contacted by security and asked to leave, that they can possibly win some quick money before detected, that's an other case of under estimating casino intelligence. The casino may know you are a card counter, and chose to allow you to play, after all, just counting cards does not equal beating the house. The casino may wait until you start winning some of your losses back from them, and when that  count gets to a dreamy extreme, and you are about to start beating the house senseless, they may then chose to, whisper in your ear, “Excuse me, but could you come with us, please? Oh no, you don't have to gather your chips, just leave those there at the table, that's OUR money.”

I've also seen a casino, when business slowed, they sent a mailer to all of the people they banned from their casino, for counting cards, inviting them all back to the casino to play. Later, after some of the card counters started to get ahead of the house in winnings, they simply asked those players, once again, to not return to the casino and escorted the player out.

In the end, counting cards, successfully is tough enough, making money at it, while not getting detected, is even more effort. With the amount of concentration, self control, sneaking around and bankroll required to have an actual advantage over the house, you could apply all of that energy towards something more productive and make a better living doing something else with your talents.

These are just a few common myths and truths about counting cards at a blackjack table in a casino.