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Online Blackjack News - What is Card Counting?
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Card counting is a system that allows players to keep track of certain cards played. You are not memorizing every card like Rain Man; rather you count only certain cards. The way you count cards is this way. You assign a tag to specific cards, such as +1 for small cards like 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, and -1 for the high cards like 10, picture cards and aces. Then it's just a matter of counting the tags of each of these cards as they are played. For example, if player #1 has a 6, 5 and decides to double down and draws a queen, the count of her hand would be +1 (if you add the tags of each card in her hand, you arrive at the sum of +1). Card counters look at each card and continue the process of adding the tags to arrive at a sum, which is known as the running count.
The basic concept behind card counting is this -- high cards tend to favor the player and small cards favor the dealer. Why? If there is a large concentration of high cards in the undealt cards, there is a higher chance of getting a blackjack, which favors the player because of the 3 to 2 payout. Also, players will most likely draw a high card when the undealt cards are rich in high cards. If there are a lot of small cards left, the dealer is more likely going to draw to a standing hand and beat the players. So, as a general rule, if the undealt cards are rich in large cards, this is a player favorable situation. Likewise, if the undealt cards are rich in small cards, the edge swings to the dealer.
The correlation between the running count and the condition of the undealt cards is as follows. When a card counter has a positive running, this means there is an excess of small cards over large cards played, therefore the reverse has to be true in the undealt cards (i.e., in a positive running count the undealt cards contain more large cards). With a negative running count, the opposite is true; namely, the undealt cards are rich in small cards.
The bottom line is this. When a card counter has a positive running count, the edge is in his favor and therefore he increases the amount of his wager. When the running count is negative, the dealer has the edge and the counter bets the minimum amount. By only making large bets when the counter has the advantage (i.e., when the running count is positive) and small bets when he doesn't have the better of it, the counter gains the upper hand over the casino.
The issue of the legality of card counting is a complicated one. Historically most of the known cases have come from Nevada and Atlantic City. Most other gaming jurisdictions are still grappling with this issue. Since I am not a lawyer, I will say up front much of the response you are about to read was gleaned from the excellent book Blackjack and the Law by I. Nelson Rose and Robert Loeb. I highly recommend it.
"Is blackjack card counting illegal"?
As long as a card counter is only using his brains to decide how to play his hand, then the act of card counting is not illegal.
What is Card Counting? What is Card Counting? What is Card Counting? |
| Source:
Blackjack2002 News Staff
| Friday, 31 August 2007 |
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