Watching 21 in cinema...?

Question

Is it easy enough to count cards in blackjack?if it was wouldnt casinos be losing out?i play texas hold em 2 times a week but never tried blackjack

Answer 1

I don't think it's as easy as they make it look. The dealer has more than one deck and you have to constantly know the count. Thats why only some people can do it and more often than not get caught.

Answer 2

It certainly isnt easy, but you can learn it with enough training. Although if you use your fingers to count, dont bother!!!  The book the film is based on is much better - Bringing down the house, and gives a laymans terms description of card counting. Or google Card counting, plenty of websites (not been able to go into them as blocked at work), these might give you more info.

Answer 3

Keep in mind that Hollywood over-dramatizes and embellishes a lot for the sake of telling a story and making it look believable. They didn't tell you every thing about card counting and the whole truth for effect and time constraints. Card counting is not as easy as it looks or sounds and takes a lot of time to master correctly. Done right, you can be successful. Done wrong, you may fine yourself blacklisted and banned for MANY casinos! Most people just stick to blackjack's "Basic Strategy".

Answer 4

Texas Hold'em is easy to play.  But making a large and consistent profit is hard, and often takes years of practice to get that good.

The movie 21 is just a movie.  If it were that easy to take casinos for a bunch of money they would either change the rules, or simply stop offering Blackjack.  Card counting is not that easy, and it's made even harder by modern rules.

Casinos have literally over 3,000 combinations of rule variants that significantly affect the house edge.  Some casinos use such a combination that even the best counting in the world is not going to help.  Also many casinos are doing single deck Blackjack and frequent reshuffling to throw off the card counters.

I guarantee you this.  Casinos love this movie.  They are certainly not worried about a new generation of card counters hitting them up for money.  They are laughing all the way to the bank over a wave of players showing up thinking they can beat the game.

Stick to Hold'em, the odds are way better.

Answer 5

They shuffle the cards so its impossible to count cards. Movies are movies, real life is real life