Card counting in Blackjack – Learn the techniques & tricks

Card counting in Blackjack is the technique to keep track of the running tally to know the number of low and high cards left in the deck of a dealer when you are playing the game. By counting the cards, you could determine if the next hand is going to give a possible advantage to you or the dealer so that you could raise the bet when the odds to win are in your favor.

How Does Card counting in Blackjack Work?

• Bet at least with 200 units so that you could avoid going broke. General, betting 200-units place you at the chance of 4/10 to lose your bankroll.

• Assign each card dealt a value. Before the deal, the running count is 0.

• When a card lays on the table, you raise one if it is 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6, add 0 if it is 7, 8, or 9, and subtract one if it is 10, Jack, Queen, King, or Ace.

• Divide your running count by the number of decks undealt to get the true count. For example, if your running count is five and decks remaining is 6, your true count is 0.83, which means that you do not have the advantage yet.

• Bet your true count with minus one betting unit, which means if your true count is five, you should bet four betting-units.

• Raise the bets when the true count increases. If your running count is positive at the end of a round, there are more high cards than low cards in the undealt cards, and you have the advantage.

• Reduce the bets when the true count decreases. If your running count is negative at the end of a round, there are more low cards than high cards in the undealt cards, and the dealer has the advantage.

What Are the Popular Systems for Card counting in Blackjack?

Except for the Hi-Lo Count mentioned above, the following are some other popular systems for card counting in Blackjack.

Omega II

It is an intermediate-level balanced system with multi-level values. Omega II is a more sophisticated technique for card counting than the classic Hi-Lo Count of adding +1, 0, or -1 values. In this technique, 2, 3, or 7 counts as 1. 4, 5, or 6 counts as 2. 8, or Ace cards count as 0. 10, or all face cards count as -2. 9 counts as -1.

Wong Halves

It is a balanced system with considered as the advanced strategy on counting the assigned values. It is created by Stanford Wong and named after its creator. In this system, 3, 4, or 6 counts as 1,
2 or 7 counts as 0.5, 5 counts as 1.5, 8 counts as 0, 9 counts as -0.5, and 10, Ace, or face cards counts as -1.

Group Counting

While individual players could keep their advantage with card counting, the card counters could also make it as a team effort to maximize their advantage. The benefits are that the players could count multiple decks played on the different tables at the same time. The team could use signals for communication with each other to avoid detection.

Is Card counting in Blackjack illegal?

Card counting in Blackjack is not considered illegal under laws, which includes federal, state, or local laws in America, as long as the players do the card counting in their head without using any external device or people for helping them in counting cards. However, for the sake of their interest, many casinos could ban the players believed to be card counters.