Can someone explain to me the concept of "counting cards" in Black jack?

Question

I heard about it some place and people say if you get the hang of it, you can a lot of money, how does it work?

Answer 1

Just means that the player doing the 'counting' is making a mental note of all the cards that have been played from that deck to get some idea of what may be left.

Knowing what is left improves your chances of winning.

Answer 2

What you are actually doing is keeping track of the concentration of low cards in relation to the concentration of high cards (10s and Aces). A deck with a high concentration of high cards favors the player, and a deck with a high concentration of low cards favors the dealer. Once the count hits a certain point, the player can has a statistical advantage over the house, and will increase his bets and alter his plays to take advantage of it. A skilled player can give himself an overall advantage over the house and become a long term winner. I will not try to explain the exact strategies for counting, as there are several and they can almost all be found in books available at the store or library.

The evolution of a good blackjack player takes several steps, and must be done in this order:

1.) Learn to play perfect basic strategy.

2.) Learn proper money management skills.

3.) Learn to count cards.

4.) Learn to alter your plays based on the count.

5.) Learn to HIDE the fact that you're counting cards (because you can be forbidden from playing blackjack or even banned from the casino if they catch you).

6.) And finally, only after learning to hide your counting, take it to the casino.

Answer 3

sure when playing blackjack the 2,3,4,5,6 favor the dealer and the A,K,Q,J,10, favor the player and the 7,8,9 are neutral. The idea is track the cards -1 for every player card that comes out and +1 for every dealer card. The logic here is that once and a J-A is dealt its no longer in play same with 2-6 u don't count the 7,8,9 The reason to do this is to identify situations where many low cards have been dealt and the renaming cards are tilted toward the player and to bet more during this time and play the table min at other times cause ur more likely to loose. Also a high count means u should but insurance when the dealer cause there are more 10's left

This is not perfect statically u have a 2% edge as opposed to 1% with out countin disadavantage on single deck blackjack played correctly. If u count and play poorly hitting/standing then u will lose as well. Casino gift shops sell cards with those charts and others players and often the dealer will tell u how to play by the book. If u want to know more plz write i have done this a few times and had sucess as well as failure

Answer 4

you keep track of what cards have gone by so you can see the chences of getting certain card because you have couldn't and can see which ones have gone bye

Answer 5

You assign a + or a - to certain cards and then you count the total after a hand has been dealt. If the number is in the correct range you place a bigger bet otherwise you don't.