Beginner's Guide to Blackjack Card Counting

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[00:15] The first thing I want to remind you though, is to make sure you subscribe to the channel Blackjack is an insanely popular game the world over and the reasons for that are twofold.

[00:27] The first reason it's so popular is because the game is so easy to grasp. In fact, to understand blackjack, all you really need is the ability to count to 21.

[00:39] Other than that, the second reason why the game is so popular is of all the casino games offered, blackjack offers the best player odds. The house always has an advantage, but the advantage is only about 0.5 percent overall.

[00:54] Now, there are ways to mitigate that 0.5% advantage and those are all rooted in math and we've already talked about those on the channel - about knowing when to double down,

[01:06] knowing when to stay, knowing when to surrender your hand and so on. One thing that we haven't talked about yet on the channel and a lot of people have asked us about, is card counting. Mainly because they've heard about it, but it's a topic that's poorly understood by newcomers to casino gambling.

[01:27] So, card counting, while technically not illegal, is highly frowned upon by every casino and the casino is on the lookout for card counters and looking out for behavior patterns that indicate that you are card counting.

[01:45] Card counting is exactly what it sounds like. You are keeping track of the cards in the deck, so that you know when it's full of cards that are gonna help you win

[01:57] and you know when to make your big bet so that you have that maximum chance of that maximized payoff. So, there are tons of different systems for card counting

[02:11] but the simplistic system that we're going to use today is the 'high-low system' where every single card in the deck is assigned a value of +1, -1 or net 0. By keeping track of the cards as they come out, you keep a number - a tally in your head, known as 'the count'.

[02:30] If the count is high, you know that you have a good chance of getting a blackjack. If the count is low, then you know that the deck has been exhausted of high value cards

[02:43] So, if you keep the count in your head and you use it effectively, you'll be able to maximize your payouts over time. The most important thing to understand about card counting is that it's a long-term strategy.

[02:59] It is not something that you can just walk up to any blackjack table and start using effectively to maximize your wins. If you want to maximize your chances of winning one hand to the next, you need to have a strategy that's rooted in math

[03:15] and we've already talked about those strategies already on other videos that we have on the channel. With card counting, you need to have what's known as 'deck penetration'. Every casino is going to have something called 'the shoe'

[03:29] which is a large stack of decks of cards - each deck being 52 cards. Casinos will vary from one to the next, some casinos play with 4 decks, some casinos play with 6.

[03:42] And over time, you're gonna see more and more cards getting kicked out of 'the shoe' and you need to keep a track of the count as it happens. If you try to use the strategy out the door, it's gonna fail every single time

[03:58] but over time, if you keep an accurate count and you know when the count is high, you can adjust your bets accordingly. So, let's get down to explaining how this 'high-low system' works exactly.

[04:12] What's important to understand is that every single card in the deck has a value associated to it. Either -1, +0 or +1.

[04:25] The goal is to have an accurate count at any given time. So, every single time a card is dealt, you need to subtract or add 1 to the count, or add nothing to the count -

[04:39] Now, cards that are valued 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 all add 1 to the count.

[04:51] Because these cards are low value cards that aren't really going to help you too much to get to 21. Cards 7, 8 and 9 have a net value of 0 as far as keeping track of the count.

[05:07] And then finally, cards value 10, Jack, Queen, King and Ace are going to have a -1 value. The reason why is because these are the cards we actually want to see.

[05:22] These other cards, they might help us get to 21, but these cards right here, are the cards we're after. So, every time one gets dealt, we need to make sure to subtract 1 from the count

[05:35] and every time one of these cards is dealt, we need to make sure to add 1 to the count. An important thing to remember is that a casino is going to use multiple decks. So, it's a little bit more difficult to get an accurate count.

[05:50] But, if you use this 'high-low system', the deck actually totals out to a 0. So, no matter how many decks the casino is using, you should still be able to use this technique fairly effectively.

[06:04] We're going to go ahead and take a look now at an example where we have 4 players at a blackjack table against a dealer and we're going to try to utilize the count to help us maximize our chances of beating the dealer.

[06:17] So, I'm gonna go ahead and put 4 players out. All right? All right.

[06:29] So remember, cards that are valued 2 to 6 have a +1 value, cards 7 to 9 have a +0 value and cards 10, Jack, Queen, King or Ace have a -1 value.

[06:46] So, assuming this is your first hand at the table and you're trying to get an idea of the count, you need to start immediately getting a handle on how this system works, all right? So, as cards come out one at a time, you need to kind of keep track in your mind.

[07:01] So, we know that we have here a -1, +0, so the count's at -1. Then this takes us to 0, then we go to +1.

[07:15] Then we go back to 0, -1 back to 0, -1 and then finally, -2. So the count at this hand, at this point in time is -2.

[07:27] Now, that's going to give us a great idea here that to know that the dealer is unlikely to have another face card on here because the count is currently at -2. We also unfortunately know that it's unlikely that you're going to get a face card randomly dealt to you if you decide to take a hit.

[07:45] So, this player right here is currently sitting at 19, all right? Knowing that it's unlikely that the dealer is holding another face card, the best bet here is just to stay.

[07:57] 6 is a terrible position to have and he's gonna be having to take a hit no matter what. Now, with the count being at -2, he's probably unlikely to get a face card.

[08:11] So, he's gonna go and take a hit, we get a 3. That, luckily for us, raises the count from -1, or sorry, from rather -2 to -1. The total is 9, we take another hit, 19.

[08:26] So now, with this 10 being dealt, that takes the count back to -2. So this player, sitting at a 20 is going to stay. This player right here sitting at a 12, they know the count is at -2 -

[08:41] unlikely that there's gonna be another 10 dealt, so that actually works in their favor. With the count being at -2, the deck is pretty much empty of 10 valued cards, which would be - the worst thing possible for them right now would be to be dealt a 10.

[08:56] So this technique right here, we know that 12, we're gonna take a hit, we got a 17 total, we're gonna stay because now the count goes from -2 down to -1.

[09:10] And now, the odds of getting a 10 are higher and higher. So, these players have all decided to stay, we have numbers ranging from 17 to 20

[09:22] and now, the dealer finally reveals their facedown card, it's a 6. As we established earlier, it was unlikely that they were gonna have a face card anyway. So 16, they're gonna take a hit, 22, they bust!

[09:38] So, if card counting is such an effective strategy, why doesn't everybody do it? Well, the answer to that question is pretty simple: it's not as easy as it seems. Keeping an accurate count from one hand to the other is very difficult.

[09:50] As time goes on, as you get increasingly larger and larger amount of 'deck penetration', Especially if the play is acting rather fast.

[10:04] Another issue is the number of decks that the casino might be using and also, a lot of casinos now are utilizing auto shufflers which make it more difficult. The other issue is that every casino out there is looking for these kinds of players

[10:22] there are trained spotters who will notice that you're giving away certain behaviors and then there are even softwares that automatically detect that you are counting cards

[10:36] based on your betting practices or how you're carrying yourself, okay? The best strategy that I can give you in this regard is: try your best not to look like you're card counting.

[10:49] Again, this is one of these things that's going to require an immense amount of practice. You might want to practice at home with your friends in order to get an effective means of not showing your hand - that you are in fact counting cards.

[11:04] If you are caught counting cards, you would typically be blackballed or thrown out of a casino and very well could have a lifetime ban, and if you do this at enough casinos, you might even be pushed out permanently

[11:20] where they'll have you on a list and as soon as you walk into any casino, they'll know you by face and they'll just escort you out. Remember, casinos reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.

[11:34] They are not a public entity where you are entitled to walk in just because you want to be there. When it comes to online casino gambling, card counting is unfortunately all but impossible.

[11:47] The reason for that is that digital casinos have algorithms, programs that truly give a randomization that is almost impossible to understand or workaround.

[12:03] If you're playing online with a live feed from a casino, it becomes just like playing in the casino. So, it makes a matter of, if the casino is using an automatic shuffler and in some ways it can be easier

[12:18] because then, you can use pen and paper to actually keep track of the count manually. This is a technique you can't obviously use live because if you try to bring out a piece of paper and a pen

[12:32] and then keep track of the count at the table, you'll be escorted out immediately. Essentially, your best bet of counting cards is in live play. So, the bottom line is: card counting is just another strategy

[12:47] and ultimately should be coupled with traditional math based strategies that we've talked about on this channel. Don't think that just because you effectively understand card counting and how to use it

[12:59] that it can be used in place of these strategies. It's best you kind of bring them all together to form strong skills as a player. If used effectively, it will help you maximize your play.

[13:13] Unfortunately, as I've explained, it's one of these strategies that requires a long-term amount of play So guys, that brings us to the end of this video.

[13:26] Make sure you hit that like button, clickidy clack that subscribe button, go ahead and leave a comment down below if you have any comments, questions or concerns about this or anything else and guys, remember as always, play responsibly!