# Blackjack online gambling question **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [October 2, 2019, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackjack-online-gambling-question/841158 "2019-10-02T16:42:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CardboardBoxx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardboardboxx/32/7079_2.png) [@CardboardBoxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CardboardBoxx)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackjack-online-gambling-question/841158/21 "2020-09-28T14:12:58Z")
A year late, but nobody answered this the first time round. For online Live Dealer tables, they never do more than about 50% penetration into the shoe. 50% penetration into an 8 deck shoe is next to useless for card counting. ---
**Author:** ![Turble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Turble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turble)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackjack-online-gambling-question/841158/22 "2020-09-28T15:16:25Z")
I just did a search for online card counting programs. There are quite a few; some are expensive but many are free. The first one I looked at gave me a “Potential Scam Site” warning. The second tried to automatically load an .exe file on my computer. Now I’m running a full virus scan and preparing to reboot. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackjack-online-gambling-question/841158/23 "2020-09-28T21:34:25Z")
@Rob54, there is no wagering scheme that will turn any combination of negative-expectation bets into a positive expectation. It’s absolutely mathematically impossible. Or if you don’t trust the math, trust the casinos: If such a thing were possible, they couldn’t exist. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2020, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackjack-online-gambling-question/841158/24 "2020-09-29T08:04:43Z")
Poker, not blackjack, but this also deals with online as well as live gambling, and the value of using programs for card counting and working out odds. I somehow ended up reading _The Biggest Bluff_ by Maria Konnikova: > **[The Biggest Bluff: How I Learned to Pay Attention, Master Myself, and Win -...](https://www.amazon.com/Biggest-Bluff-Learned-Attention-Master-ebook/dp/B083XS1Q8R)** > > The Biggest Bluff: How I Learned to Pay Attention, Master Myself, and Win - Kindle edition by Konnikova, Maria. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while... It shows just how bright and perceptive you have to be, and just how hard you have to work, to become a poker champion. She’s an excellent writer, and the book is entertaining and interesting from a psychological point of view as well as poker. ---
**Author:** ![Rob54](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rob54/32/4665_2.png) [@Rob54](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rob54)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2020, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackjack-online-gambling-question/841158/25 "2020-09-29T13:28:22Z")
Dude, my advice is, first of all, you need to not rush to the first sites you see, because there are a lot of them now and not all sites can really match. In quarantine, I went through a lot of registrations and a lot of disappointments ---
**Author:** ![Rob54](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rob54/32/4665_2.png) [@Rob54](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rob54)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2020, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackjack-online-gambling-question/841158/26 "2020-09-29T13:47:37Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#): > > _«Самый большой блеф_ » Марии Конниковой There is also a rather interesting book - Alan Schoonmaker “Your Worst Poker Enemy” The author of the book is a psychologist, doctor of sciences. He advises major corporations such as IBM and General Motors, writes about how psychological factors affect your game and the play of other people, teaches you to apply this knowledge against your opponents, to be less susceptible to their negative influence. psychology and of course poker ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2020, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackjack-online-gambling-question/841158/28 "2020-10-26T13:38:10Z")
Well, your first strategy isn’t counting cards, it’s knowing what the proper plays are. You can find a chart online easily enough. If you haven’t studied one, you are not playing ideal strategy. (Do you split a pair of deuces when the dealer is showing a 5? You’re supposed to; most players do not do this.) The difference between blackjack and poker, of course, is that poker is an arms race. You can learn perfect blackjack strategy in thirty minutes - in fact, most casinos will let you look at a strategy card, so you don’t really have to learn it at all. The house’s strategy never changes. In poker, which is a billion times more complex, you are playing against humans who are trying to learn just as fast as you are; even if you spend a year practicing and betting better, your opponents did the same. Indeed, the average quality of poker player at almost any game, live or online, is MUCH better now than it was ten years ago, or ten years before that, because the game’s popularity has caused its participants to learn and study. The blackjack dealer cannot “learn.” The house edge will always be the same. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackjack-online-gambling-question/841158.md?page=1)