Tips, strategies and stories about black jack.

Taking a Realistic Approach to Blackjack Card Counting: First in a Series



Those of you who follow this posting know that I love blackjack, both in land based casinos and online casinos  (confession: I also play online poker).

What I want to do for you always, as a reporter, is to let you know what’s happening in the blackjack world, show you how to play, report on tournaments, talk to experts, and help you make money.In the end, it’s all about winning money, right?

Damn straight.

I like talking to experts who do know the game, be it played in brick in mortar casinos or online casinos. And then giving you tips on how to play and win.

Lately, I’ve been card counting when in Vegas.

It’s the only way to play and win (unless you are very lucky)…so here begins a series on how to card count.

Let me begin by confessing that I probably don’t have the brain cells to recall how many low cards and high cards are played out in a six deck game, like the ones they play in Vegas. [Suggestion by experts: when in Vegas, you can also find one deck games... try to find those in smaller casinos off the strip. Downtown.]

I do try to count high cards… and it does give the player an advantage. However, no matter how proficient card counter you become, your best shot would be somewhere between 0.5 and 1.5 percent edge.

You should try to adopt a realistic approach to your game of blackjack right from the first hand. That way, you protect yourself from disappointments when your beliefs fail the test of reality.

Casinos cling to the law of large numbers when it comes to making money. You, on the other hand, cannot follow the same path, since your idea of large and small numbers does not correlate to the value casinos assign to it. By all means, it is advisable to acquire as more blackjack skills as you can, but don’t kid yourself into thinking there won’t be any downfalls on the way.

The gaming strategy you decide to use depends on the game you play and bets you make.Play a basic strategy.

Keep in mind the 1 percent edge. In Blackjack Basic Strategy with flat bets of $100 per hand yield a house edge of 0.5 percent and a standard deviation of 1.13 units.

We’ll go over some basic strategies in future posts. I’ll talk to the experts and give you their thoughts.

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