Card Counting

There is no law or rule that says a dealer cannot count cards. A dealer may count cards because he or she is bored but more likely is that the casino may encourage counting. The reason being that if the deck is favorable to the player, the house can know this and "shuffle up". This is also called preferential shuffling (a game control measure) and it vaporizes your advantage.

Count adjusted strategy tables for some common house rules follow. These tables indicate when it is best to make a playing action that deviates from the basic strategy based on the true count. The count definition used is the HI-LO count strategy where cards 2-6 are given the value 1; cards 7, 8, 9 are given the value 0; and 10-valued cards and aces are given the value -1. On each of the tables, the first column represents the player's hand total or hand composition (i.e. 10 represents a hand total of 10 whereas A7 represents a soft 18 or a hand composed of an ace and the other cards total 7 (a hand composed of A, 7 and A, 3, 4 and A, A, 4, 2 would all qualify)). The top section of each table represents hard hands, the middle section represents soft hands, and the last section represents pairs. The top row of each table represents the dealer's exposed card. The range of the player's hand value for the hard hands starts at 8 and ends at 17 because, excluding extreme cases, it is always best to hit a value below 8 and stand on a value above 17. The first number in the rest of the entries represents the true count value for which the best action deviates from the basic strategy. If an entry does not have a number it means that no matter what the true count is, the best action to take is the action specified (this will be the basic strategy action). If an entry has a true count value, it will have two actions specified after it. The first represents the action to take when the true count is <= the specified value. The second represents the action to take when the true count is > the specified value. For example, for the player's hard 8 versus dealer's 2 entry in a single deck game, it is best for the player to Hit until the true count becomes greater than 14, at which time it is best to Double Down. For the pair hands, when X (don't split) is indicated, the hand should be considered a hard or soft hand to find the action to take. For instance 5,5 would be a 10.

HI-LO count strategy for single deck game where doubling down is permitted after splitting:

H - hit, S - stand, D - double down, P - split, X - don't split

HI-LO count strategy for four or more deck games where doubling down is permitted after splitting:

Once you are comfortable counting and betting accordingly, you may wish to add some clout by learning a few strategic plays (based on the count) to further increase your advantage. I'll comment on the most valuable of these plays: insurance.

Recall that insurance is offered to players when the dealer has an Ace showing. It is really a side wager on whether or not the dealer has a ten in the hole. A basic strategy player would never take insurance, unless they are card counters. We should take insurance if there is a suitable preponderance of tens remaining.

High/Low allows us to accurately identify these situations in a simple way (the insurance running count value happens to be +3), again without the need for converting to a true count.

While card counting has never required superhuman skills, it remains relatively inaccessible to most. There's simply too much to think about, and under highly distracting circumstances it takes great skill to master this art.

So what can card counting be worth to you? A good card counter will generally realize an advantage of some 1 to 2 percent over the house. That means that for every £1,000 you bet (about an hour of play assuming a betting spread of £10 to £50), you can expect to win £10 to £20. Everything scales with bet size, so the degree to which you "pummel" the casinos is up to you.

Are these profits guaranteed? Not in the short run. It's important to realize that the card counter's advantage manifests itself over the long haul. In the short run, the game is an inevitable series of ups and downs, and entails risk that's commensurate with your betting level. Plus, don't forget that you have to be able to add to and subtract from the running count accurately enough to ensure a proper read of the deck. However, if you play properly and long enough (in a fair game), you are virtually guaranteed to come out ahead in the end.

Remember, too, that whether you're winning or losing, the casino thinks it has the upper hand. So even if you only play well enough to break even, you will probably still beat them due to freebies you can receive as a welcome player.