---
title: 'How to Keep the Count (with all the distractions of a casino)'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=_D7Du8XUl18'
video_id: '_D7Du8XUl18'
date: 2026-07-07
duration_sec: 0
---

# How to Keep the Count (with all the distractions of a casino)

> Source: [How to Keep the Count (with all the distractions of a casino)](https://youtube.com/watch?v=_D7Du8XUl18)

## Summary

This video offers five practical tips for card counters to maintain the running count in a casino environment, addressing the common challenge of losing focus amid distractions.

### Key Points

- **Don't Use Chips to Track Count** [01:26] — Avoid stacking chips to remember the count; it looks suspicious to surveillance and no professional card counter uses this method.
- **Repeat the Running Count Constantly** [02:05] — Verbally repeat the running count in your head after every round, e.g., 'seven, seven, seven' then 'eight, eight, eight' as it changes.
- **Make Running Count the Priority** [02:47] — Update the running count before any other action—adding up hand, celebrating, or answering pit boss questions. The primary goal is counting cards.
- **Use Fingers Under the Table as a Shortcut** [04:25] — Use fingers on your lap to remember the count during long pauses, fills, or distractions, but don't become dependent on it.
- **Master Individual Steps** [05:23] — Get mindlessly good at basic strategy and counting separately; then combining them becomes easier. Speed and accuracy come from practice.

### Conclusion

Mastering the running count requires prioritizing it above all else, constant repetition, and drilling basic skills until they're automatic. These tips help bridge the gap between home practice and real casino play.

## Transcript

of cards in the comfort of your own home it's a whole other thing to keep the running count in a casino while playing basic strategy betting dealing with other players and the dealers and all the other sights and sounds in casino
this video I'm gonna give you five tips to help you keep the Ryan count in the [Music] [Applause] apprenticeship where I teach people how to legally beat blackjack with card
counting and one of the things I get to do at blackjack apprenticeship is test players out so someone has done all sorts of training and then they might test out their skills and I did this with a guy recently and first I dealt to
him at home it was actually at coffee shop but I dealt to him for about an hour three different shoes dealt to him and he played perfectly and I ran him I gave him lots of high counts and all sorts of difficult decisions and he
played perfectly then we drive to the casino and within one deck he had completely lost the count he had no idea what the running count was and I can remember the first time I went to casino and I'd spent quite a bit of time
training at home practicing I go into a casino within two rounds I had no idea what the running count is so if you've ever had this problem I'm gonna give you some tips to help you overcome this so that way you can do at home you can
accurately do also at the casino my first tip is something you don't want to do which is don't use your chips to keep track of the count and I've talked to people that say oh I'll just stack the number of chips for the running
this first off it looks really weird to surveillance if they see someone stacking their chips after every round for the running count you just don't every round it looks weird secondly I don't know a single professional card
counter that has something like that a shortcut to keep the running count you have to get to a point where you know in your head the running count after every single round my second tip and this is really an important one is that you need
to be repeating the running count in your head over and over so if my running seven seven 7/7 then there were in count changes to eight eight eight seven six six six that's literally what I'm doing in my
head as the Rhine count is changing I don't say six and then just pause and I've even found myself driving home from a casino fifteen or thirty minutes later and I'm still repeating the last running count that I had in my head because it's
so much of a habit and what that does is it keeps that running count moving in it you're constantly repeating it and then that number is changing every few seconds as the running count changes my
third tip is to make the running count the priority so I find this all the time a bootcamp or if someone's doing private training with me I'm dealing to them and I can tell when they've stopped updating the running count they've gotten
distracted by adding up their hand or by basic strategy or whatever and they've just stopped focusing on the running count but we're at the casino not to play blackjack we're at the casino to count cards to play positive rounds of
blackjack let me tell you story about very early on in my career I was in this bowling alley casino here in Seattle and I get asked during a really high count I get asked by the pit-boss you look young how old are you and all I
you look young how old are you and all I could think is 14 14 14 14 and I'm looking I'm thinking 14 14 because that's my running count and I had to say it so many times that I knew my ranking was 14 I look up to her and say 22 then
I'm thinking 14 14 14 that's what I had to do to focus on the running count there to count cards and so you know I'm sure I looked like an idiot to her but I didn't care I needed to nail down 14 as my running count answer her question get
I tell people before you add up your hand update the running count before you celebrate $1000 blackjack update the running count before you freak out whole bunch of money you update the running count we're there to update the
running count that's the first thing we do and it's the priority and honestly after 15 years of counting cards I still cannot let anything distract me from the running count if the pit boss asks me a question now I make sure I've
before I even think about answering their question okay my fourth tip is a little bit of a shortcut but I still think it's valuable I still use it and fingers under the table to help you remember the running count so let's say
that the pit-boss brings in a fill and they're gonna fill the chips and it's playing again and you're thinking three I got to keep this ranked count of three you know I'll actually under the table on my lap be just repeating three in my
head and also with my fingers or if the counts fourteen I can do one for under the table with my fingers and you don't want to become dependent on a shortcut but it's just something that I've learned to do while I have a long period
count in between rounds or when they bring in a fill or when something weird and it's the middle of the shoe you can do that to just help you remember don't become dependent on it but you can use it and my fifth tip and this is actually
the best thing you can do to get really good at keeping the count that casino get really good at each individual step as a card counter so just the other day I was training a couple and they knew basic strategy and they knew how to
count and they were working on putting it together but they occasionally made counting and I was thinking to myself what am I doing differently than them and in reality I'm not doing anything differently than them I'm just doing it
faster and better they know basic strategy and they know how to count but I know basic strategy better than them and I can count faster than them so to me those mental processes are a lot faster than it is for them and the fact
that I'm better at the individual steps means I can put it together a lot faster than them so one of the most important things you can do is to step back and get really good at basic strategy mindlessly good at basic strategy and
get really good at counting mindlessly good at counting where you always can very quickly then it's really not that difficult to put those two together by the way that player who lost the count in the first
deck of the shoe don't worry he ended up getting it all figured out me and he's been a profitable card carrier today for more on how to practice card counting watch our video how to practice
card counting and for a lot more tips and weekly updates subscribe to our and weekly updates subscribe to our channel below