How do you count cards when playing blackjack?

Question

How do you count cards when playing blackjack?

Answer 1

With your brain.

Answer 2

face cards represent 10points, numerical cards represented by the number on them, A (ace) can be a 11points or 1 point depend upon your preferential needs. if you are dealt 16 points you stand, (u r @ a risk of pushing/busting. if you got that feeling then you want be chancing- but its all gambling.

Answer 3

There are many card counting systems (Other than the hi/lo which most people suggest) some are suited for certain types of games, and each has their own pros and cons in attacking different areas of the game.

There are also an ENORMOUS amount of variables in the world of counting cards, so many that they could not possibly be summed up here.  In the end, and take my word on this, you are going to need to buy a book that has all of the neccesary information you need to learn as well as charts relevant to each kind of game, and counting system.  There is information available on the web but it is far too incomplete, the fact of the matter is, since you dont knwo what information you need to know yet you will not know if after scouring the web you happened to miss any important details relevant to the topic, therefore the best course of action is to buy a book, you can find them in the cards and games section of the bookstores.   Here is a link that i suggest you use for guidance purposes only, got here learn what you can then decide if card coutnign is for you or not.  http://www.qfit.com/blackjack.htm

In general i will give a breif overview of what counting is and how its done to answer your question, though like i said, the actualy intracacies are far to enormous to explain here.

Card counting attacks the weakness in the game of blackjack that occurs when multiple hands are dealt before shuffling.  After each hand is dealt the cards played are pemanently removed form the game untill the shuffle.  Essentially you are no longer playing with an honest deck after the very first hand following the shuffle.  For various reasons, cards either increase the hosue edge when removed from the deck or decrease the house edge when removed from the deck.  Card coutnign systems seperate those types of cards and assign positive numbers to one group, and negetive numbers to another group, they may go even further to asign larger or smaller numbers to certain cards to better reflect how large of an impact their removal has on the game.  Based on computer simulations relevant to the system being used, a card counter will know how many cards of a certain type need to be removed before the player has an advanatge, since points are assigned to the cards, he does not need to know the actual cards rtemoved, only the point total.   A card counter will add up the point values of all the cards as they are dealt and keep what is known as the count, he then uses that information to detect when he has an advantage over the house and bets accordingly.

Furthermore, since cards have been removed from the deck, and you are no longer playing from an honest deck, it is in the card counters best interest to change some of his playing strategy, this again, is based on computer simulations relevant to the specific countign system.  When counting cards you will make some very strange plays in other poeples eyes  (like splitting tens, doubling soft 20, standing on 16vs10 and 15vs10 etc), but they are the correct plays.

Card counters need to not only be able to make every play instinctively according to "basic playign strategy" but they also need to know at what count they need to change that specific play to another action, it requires a lot of memorisation, practice and training to get to the point where you are ready to pose a threat to a casinos assets, but it can be done.

To learn more about blackjack visit:

http://www.qfit.com

http://www.blackjackinfo.com

http://www.hitorstand.net  (for learning basic strategy)

Again, i strongly recomend you buy a book

Answer 4

It's a statistical method that is considered illegal... You can buy books on it...but you're gambling more than just with money if you use the techniques and you get caught...

Answer 5

Lots of differnent ways. Some count just the face cards or from some point up and down. Depends how fast and long you can count them without loosing track.

Answer 6

Counting cards and other 'advantage play' is not illegal http://www.gamblingandthelaw.com/batl.ht...

It is useless to try to do it online as a shoe may have 8 decks (RTG can provide 1-256 decks) and the important point is that the 'cards' are shuffled after every hand! Impossible.

A good primer on cardcounting is on wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Card_counti...

Answer 7

Cards 2,3,4,5, and 6 are given a value of positive 1. Cards 10, J, Q, K, and Ace are given a value of negative 1. Cards 7,8, and 9 are given a zero value. As each card is dealt remember which cards are +1, which are -1, and which are 0 and simply tally up or down starting from 0. Note that on a single deck table the true count will always end up at  0. The rule is, the higher you count, the more you should bet. And the lower you count the lower you should bet. Strategy wise, the lower the count, simply play basic strategy. The higher the count, you play differently according to what card you know will be dealt next. You know what will be dealt because according to the count, in this case we'll say it's a high count, all low cards have been dealt. Because in order to get a relaly high count, all the low cards (2,3,4,5, and 6) must have been dealt most, leaving only the high cards (10, J, Q, K, and Ace) left to be dealt. So if you're count is high, it's ok to split kings because what's going to be dealt next will most likely be a high card. Which gives you a chance of having two 20s, two 21s, or a 20 and 21. The main thing to remember is keeping the count. Even in between shuffles. Never erase the count just because they shuffle.

Note: often times casinos have a "no mid shoe entry" rule. Meaning no one is allowed to buy in for chips and play mid deck. They have to wait for the next shuffle to buy in. This rule allows counters to lose count if the have been counting on the outside. You would have to play 3 or 4 shuffles to get a good count in your head. So play the minimums first until the 3rd or 4th suffle. Good luck. Hope that helped.