Blackjack and card counting

[LuckySevens]

I’ve been accused of card counting because I doubled up and put $500 on a hand after only betting $40 a hand… And won easily.

The pit boss came over and watched me for a few minutes, giving me the glare, so I took my money elsewhere

[AmbushBug]

@Sam Stone

A true preferential shuffle involves a dealer who can count, and a single deck game where the dealer has the option of when to reshuffle. In such a game, if the count goes bad, the dealer will deal an extra hand before shuffling. If the count goes good, the dealer will shuffle a hand early.

…and according to a lawsuit recently filed in Las Vegas, there’s a computer system which can count for the dealer, and signal a deck change if the cards turn against the house.

Full disclosure: I work for a competing gaming company in Las Vegas, and we don’t make software which tracks gaming tables or their players. Just slot machines & those players.

[crozell]

@muttrox

It just is. I find it pointless to point to blackjacks or other partial answers. If you add up all the probabilities and such and multiply them out and do all the mathematics and so forth, the answer is what it is. When you try to translate that into “card talk”, you lose the essence of the point. Odds above 50% are good. Odds go above 50% when the composition of the remaining cards is such and such.

At the end of the day, you are right in that the overall odds are what counts for you to make or lose money (over long periods of play). But, one advantage of analyzing the statistical components separately is that it lets you evaluate the effect of rule variations in different games.