---
title: 'How to Count Cards When You Can’t See Them'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=dWvXYVB2jBc'
video_id: 'dWvXYVB2jBc'
date: 2026-07-07
duration_sec: 0
---

# How to Count Cards When You Can’t See Them

> Source: [How to Count Cards When You Can’t See Them](https://youtube.com/watch?v=dWvXYVB2jBc)

## Summary

This video teaches a foolproof system for counting cards in face-down blackjack games, where only the player's own cards and the dealer's upcard are initially visible. The method involves counting only cards that are flipped face-up by the dealer, avoiding double-counting errors that can ruin the running count.

### Key Points

- **The Face-Down Problem** [00:40] — In face-up games, all cards are visible. In face-down games, you only see your own cards and sometimes a neighbor's. This makes accurate counting difficult.
- **Team's Initial Flawed Approach** [01:06] — The team trained players on face-up games and told them to 'figure out' face-down. One player, Mike, admitted he 'usually remembers' if he saw other players' cards, which is not reliable.
- **Double-Counting Error Example** [01:35] — If you count a neighbor's card when you see it, then count it again when flipped, you double-count. In a double-deck game, this can make the true count off by 2-3, a horrendous mistake.
- **The Foolproof System** [02:51] — Count your own hand and dealer's upcard immediately. For all other player hands, count each card only when it is flipped over by the dealer and fully exposed, never to be face down again.
- **System Demonstration** [03:19] — Example: Start with D2 (your hand + dealer). Player hits: D3, tucks: D3. You hit: D4, tuck: D4. Another player hits: D5, tuck: D5. When cards flip, count them: D4, D3, D2. Your own hand is not counted again.
- **Practice Round** [04:34] — Second round: Start D3. Player stays: D3. You hit and bust: D3. Another player hits and busts: count their hand (cancelling) → D3. Dealer flips: D2, D1. End of hand.
- **Splits and Doubles** [05:07] — When a player splits or doubles, cards are flipped immediately. Count them at that moment. Example: Split hand: count flipped cards (0,1,2,1,1). Double: add flipped cards (1,2,3). Your hand: 5,6.
- **Half-Deck Division** [06:01] — For double/single deck, learn to divide by half-deck increments. With half a deck left, true count = running count × 2. With 1.5 decks left, multiply by 2/3. Master this to maximize edge.

### Conclusion

The key to accurate card counting in face-down blackjack is to count each card once and only once, by waiting until the dealer flips cards over. This system eliminates double-counting errors and ensures a reliable true count for betting decisions.

## Transcript

Apprentichip. And it's one thing to count a game where all the cards are face up the entire time, but how do you keep an accurate count with a faceown blackjack tables? We just finished filming a couple dozen new videos, both
improving old videos and adding two new videos for our paid video course. And asked me how to count a faceown game, I thought I would share the video we just recorded on how to count a faceown blackjack game. So, without any further
ado, here's our video. [Music]
and you're able to see your hand. In a face up game, you would see all the cards on the table. Well, here you only see your own cards and sometimes you're going to see the cards of the person next to you, and sometimes you're not.
Let me back up and tell the story of how we dealt with this with the church team. flying around the country with as much as $100,000 playing blackjack. And when we trained players, we trained them at a
face up game. And then we were like, "Oh yeah, you know, figure it out with with everything else." And we didn't actually train them. And I remember asking a guy on our team, Mike. I said, "Mike, how do you deal with a faceown game? How do you
cards?" He said, "I can usually remember if I saw the other players cards or not, and I'll count them when I see them." And I said, "You can usually remember that is not good enough. Imagine that you count your own hand. You've got D1
you count your own hand. You've got D1 and the dealer's card makes it D2. You see this guy's card. So, you go D1. You see their cards 01. And then it You see their cards 01. And then it plays out
they flipped these over and you forgot they already counted these and you count they already counted these and you count them the other players cards again. them the other players cards again. In this scenario, you would have double
counted these cards, meaning you're off on your running count by a running plus three. In a double deck game, that means that your true count is off by a true left, your true count's off by a true two. If there's a deck left, your true
count is off by a true three. That is a horrendous mistake to have the running count or the true count off that much. When I discovered that players on our When I discovered that players on our team are playing with six figures and
players cards or not, I thought we need a foolproof system. Just like we have it with the face up game, we need a way to count the cards once and only once all the time. Follow that same procedure every single hand of double deck. And
that's when we started one testing out our players at double deck specifically the count perfectly, but secondly showing them, hey, here's the way that whether you use this way or another way, I don't care. You just need a foolproof
count. But this is the way I recommend it. What we're going to do is count cards. We're going to count our own hand and the dealer's card. And then every player's hand or a face up card, we're going to count it only when it's flipped
over and fully exposed, never to be face down again. So in this situation, we look at our hand, we got D1, and with the dealers's card, we've got D2. And this guy, even if you see these two
So we're saying D2, he's going to take a hit. D3, he tucks his cards. We're going to take a hit. D4. Tuck our cards.
Even if you see this guy's cards, you're not going to count them. He takes a hit. D5. Tuck. D4. D5. At this point, cards are going to
get flipped over, and we'll count them. D4. D3. This was our own hand, so we don't count it again. And D2, count the cards once and only once by waiting till the cards are
flipped over by the dealer to count them outside of our own cards and the dealer's hand. So, just for practice, let's do another round. We had D2 at the end of that first round. I'm just going to deal it out.
So D3, we've got cancelling a neutral hand. So we're at D3. This guy is going to stay. We're going to take a hit. We bust. Still at D3.
This guy takes a hit. Busts. Now we're going to count their hand. And it's a cancelling. So we're still at D3. And then D2. still at D3. And then D2. D1
the hand is all done. Let me show you an example. So, we still had that D2. hand cancels. So, we're at D1. This player wants to split. So, it's getting
flipped over. So, we're going to count this now. 0 one two one one and then this guy it's going to have
flip his over because he wants to double. So we add one, two, three,
This was our hand. Still five. And six. That's the way to count when the cards get flipped and are not going to be face down. Again, now we got a six. We got like a true four. Throw those bets out there. Make the
going to be playing a lot of double deck or even single deck is to learn how to divide by half deck increments rather than just dividing by full deck amounts. We can already divide by two and one. So that means adding to our game dividing
you get good enough deck penetration dividing by half a deck. Well half a deck is actually really easy because with half a deck left your troop count is just going to be double your running
if you take a number, divide it by a half, you actually take that number in So if you have a running four, you have a true eight with half a deck left.
Running two, you have a true four with half a deck left. So really, when you learn how to divide by a deck and a half. That just takes a little practice a deck and a half. One and a half, three, four and 1/2, six, 7 and 1/2,
nine, and so on. Take the time to master divide accurately by half deck amounts so that you can maximize your edge. Make disadvantage by getting off on your rank count and your true count and beating
those double deck games. Hopefully that was helpful. As I said, this is part of our paid video course that comes with our membership along with training drills, betting software, a casino database, members forum, a bunch of
carding, you can check all that out at blackjackapprenip.com.