Gambling

INTRODUCTION TO CARD COUNTING

Why Count Cards?

Counting cards as they are dealt will give the player a definite advantage over the house. The odds of the game are based on the thought that nobody knows what the next card is going to be, so having a good idea of what your cards are before they are dealt will obviously shift the advantage to you. Once you have realized that the odds have shifted to favor you, it is time to adjust your bet accordingly. Let me show you how it would work . . . Whenever you begin to play blackjack, it is a good idea to start out betting at the table minimum. It makes no difference what the minimum is, just as long as you can afford to play for quite some time. If you decide to place 50 bets at $10 per bet, you will be betting a total of $500. Based on the odds of the game, you are going to lose 1% of that $500 which would equal $5. Regardless of how poor you may be, that is not a huge loss. In theory, a card counting system will change the odds of the game so that you will now win 1% of the money you bet. Knowing this, when your system tells you that the next hand is going to be to your advantage, you increase your bet 5 times the table minimum to $50 per hand. Now you can expect to win 10 times the amount and avoid losing the 1%. The plan is obviously not without its share of problems but the end goal is to win more than you lose and if you can capitalize on your card counting system, you will reach the ultimate goal of winning cash. You must however keep in mind that the odds of the game change depending on how often you play. A player may win 1% of their wagered amount but how long did they play? Some players record their odds over a 1 year period. Some days they may lose 5 or 6 thousand dollars while on others, they may win $8,000. Can you afford to lose thousands of pounds developing your system?

A Basic System

10 Cards & Non 10 Cards:
Every counting system that you will come across will recognize the value of the 10 card (the ten and all face cards) and focus the system around it. The easiest count for anyone to try involves offsetting the 10 cards with the highest valued "non 10 cards" (3,4,5,6 ) to figure out whether the deck is rich with or lacking 10 cards. Each deck of cards has 16 - 10 cards and 16 - "non 10 cards". Now, whenever a 10 card is dealt, you assign a value of minus 1 (-1) to it and a value of plus 1 (+1) to all "non 10 cards" that are dealt, to a running total in your mind. The system is very basic and very simple. You probably won't make a million pounds with it but it will definitely help you predict whether you are going to get a 10 to go with your 7 card and 4 card!

Aces:
Although the Ace has the highest value in the game, it is the second most valuable card when it comes to a card counting system. The Ace can be counted along with the "10 card" system I mentioned earlier but to do that, you would have to add the 2 card to the "non 10 card" count to balance out the numbers. A more difficult system of counting Aces would be to do a side count. It is difficult because you will have to determine whether more or less Aces than normal have already been dealt. There is 1 Ace for every 13 cards in a deck so you will have to keep track of a greater number of cards to determine a profitable outcome. It is important to keep track of the Aces though because they carry the value of 1 or 11.

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