There’s a thread in GD about this. I’ve led a sheltered life and apart from a little Brag when I was serving my time (RAF) I am not much of a card player. I’d assumed that counting cards was just being a good player by remembering what cards had been played and by whom. Obviously there’s more to it than that because apparently you can be thrown out of a casino for doing it.
I didn’t want to break into the thread and ask there so I’m asking here, what is it?
In blackjack, card counting is remembering which cards have already been dealt, and therefore knowing which cards have yet to be played. The counter then is able to know the proportion of high value (10s, face cards) cards remaining in the shoe, and adjust his or her betting accordingly.
When you count cards in blackjack, you keep a running total of the high and low cards that have come out of the shoe. If the count indicates that there are many more high cards left in the shoe than normal, then the odds are slightly in the player’s favor. A player alert to this situation can bet high, as well as make other plays (splitting tens, for example) that under normal basic strategy conditions are not wise, and make money. Once the deck has been reshuffled, or the ocunt has dropped to normal or unfavorable levels, the player can resume playing minimum bets.
Wikipedia comes to the rescue once more and offers everything you need to know. Casinos have measures to counter the card counters such as using many decks of cards and frequent shuffling.
No, you got it about right.
Most, if not all, counters don’t literally memorize every single card that’s been played. They keep track of important cards in their head with a running count, and when the count is in their favor bet higher than when the count is in the dealer’s favor. There’s a variety of systems out there, but that’s one way casinos can tell whether someone is counting or not–by watching a gambler’s betting patterns. Of course, there’s also ways to reduce being caught this way, including working with another player in collusion, who sits down at the table when the count is in the player’s favor and bets big.
This is a little misleading. It’s not like the player thinks “OK, two aces, five kings, one queen…” That would be nearly impossible. Or even “Sixty seven low cards, eighty two high cards.” Players keep a running total that starts at zero (or some other number, depending on the system) and each low card counts as +1, each high card counts as -1, and middle cards count as 0*. When the count gets over, say, 20, that’s when the deck is “favorable.”
*Numbers may not actually reflect reality.
Thanks for the speedy replies and link. Now that I’ve had it confirmed I can enjoy reading the proper thread in GD.
Right. And this book, Bringing Down the House, has intermingled, inside a quite fascinating and true story of a team of card-counting MIT students, some detailed explanations of how card counting works. Plus, it shows some other tricks employed by card counters designed to increase their take and make even bigger bets at the most favorable points in the shoe.
Oh yeah. The method described by tdn, is called the hi-lo method and was developed in the sixties by Ed Thorp.
I would love to buy a CD-ROM which includes the basics of card-counting and other ways of beating the odds in a Casino. Is there one available?
I’m not talking about “cheating” per se. Just about making intelligence over the odds and/or machinery work in our favor!
Q
Card counting isn’t cheating and it’s not illegal. It is, however, against the policy of virtually every casino and they will remove you from their privately owned property if the suspect you are doing it, doing it well anyway.
Haj
Right. The casinos reserve the right to throw you out, not for cheating, but for playing well by the rules. They aren’t satisfied having the odds in their favor, they only want to play against stupid people.
Just one more reason I never gamble in a casino.
>Just one more reason I never gamble in a casino.<
Does that mean you gamble online, and is there any advantage to that?
Just curious, and thanks!
Q
No, I only play poker with friends for small stakes.
(And I vote for democratic candidates.)
On the contrary, they are satisfied only when the odds are in their favor. Since counters occasionally have the odds in their favor, they are likely to be invited to leave.