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Blackjack Card Counting Tutorial

The practice of counting cards requires a fair amount of concentration, but is easier than its name implies: a player must observe the cards as they are dealt, keep track of a running total, and adjust the wager accordingly.

The Basic Technique

It is not necessary, as some assume, to keep track of every card that has been dealt. Though it would be useful to know the exact number of each value that remain, it is not necessary and beyond the capabilities of the average (or even reasonably intelligent) player to do so. Card counting relies on an estimate of the value of the cards that have been dealt, as an indication of the ones that remain to be dealt.

This tutorial is based on the High-Low counting system: two, three, four, five, and six cards are valued at +1; seven, eight, and nine are 0; and all ten-value cards and aces are valued at -1. Other counting systems are available (discussed in alterante counting systems), but the High-Low system is one of the easiest to follow, and sufficiently effective in practice.

By this system, and others, low cards "add" to the count and high cards "subtract" from it. This is because the removal of low cards from the deck increases the number of high cards left to be dealt, and vice versa - and a higher proportion of high cards in the deck favor the player.

Keeping the Count

To keep the count, a player must note the cards as they are dealt, and keep a running total in mind. One method of doing this is by noting the value of each card as it is overturned and keeping a constant tally of the total:

While this is effective as a training method, the resulting physical behaviors—constant eye and head movement during the deal—is a very obvious signal to casino personnel (dealer, pit boss, surveillance crew) that the player is a card counter.

A better technique is to observe the value of each hand as it is played, as it is common for even leisure players to watch as others play their hands, noting the total value as a player's cards are collected:

Using this technique will allow the player to focus on other things while the cards are being dealt—namely, acting the part of the leisure player in order to avoid detection. A hand of two high cards has a net effect of -2, two low hit with a high +1, a high and a low hit with a high -1, a blackjack is -2, etc. It requires a bit more practice to learn to count cards a hand at a time rather than one-by-one—but it will eventually become second nature, so the effort spent to learn this technique will result in less effort to use it in an actual playing situation.

Counting in Multiple-Deck Games

Because the count is an estimation of the proportion of high cards left in the deck, it must be adjusted according to the number of decks that are used in the game. The running count keeps track of the instances—the number of high cards, as opposed to low ones, that remain in the deck. In other words, if four kings are dealt from a single deck, none remain—but if four are dealt in a double-deck game, four still remain.

The easiest way to estimate the "true" count from the running count is to divide the running count by the number of decks in the game. A running count of +8 is worth +8 in a single-deck game (8/1), but only +4 in a two-deck game (8/2), +2 in a four-deck game (8/4), and +1 in an eight-deck game (8/8).

A more accurate method to estimate the "true" count requires dividing the running count by the number of decks that remain to be played. If the running count is +15 in an eight-deck game, but two decks have already been played, the true count would be +2.5 (+15 divided by 6 remaining decks), and +5 (+15 divided by 3 remaining decks), when five decks have been played. Though the running count of instances remains the same, there proportion of higher concentration of high cards increases in a smaller deck. Again, four kings among 156 cards are more likely to show than four kings among 312 cards.

Estimating the number of decks is fairly simple to do in most casinos: simply glance at the discard tray. Most casino decks are almost exactly half an inch thick—so if the discard stack is about 1.5 inches tall, three decks have been dealt, and only five remain in an eight-deck game.

If the casino uses an opaque discard rack, and if you cannot sit in a position that allows you to see the stack of discards (first base is an excellent position for to be able to see the discard stack), you may have to estimate by the number of players and rounds played. Since the average hand requires 3.2 cards, a game with five hands in play (four players plus the dealer's hands) will consume 16 cards per round—roughly one deck every three rounds played.

Wagering based on the count

Simply stated, you should increase your wager when the count is in your favor and decrease it (or leave the game) when it is not.

The most basic system for doing this is to wager one unit plus the value of the true count. After the shuffle, wager one unit (one plus zero, as the count has begun). If the count rises to +2, wager three units (one plus two). If it drops to -1, bet zero (one minus one)—which means sitting out a round. If it drops lower than -1, keep sitting out or leave the table.

While this is generally sound advice, a player who regularly sits out hands may be asked to leave the table to allow others to play (this is especially true when there are a lot of onlookers waiting for a seat). Also, a player who switches tables regularly, winning small sums at each, will quickly be identified as a counter and asked to leave the casino altogether.

In order to maximize your playing time, an minimize the risk of being identified as a counter, it may be necessary to stay in the game at a one-unit wager (or less, if possible), even when the deck is in favor of the house. While this sacrifices some profits, it will enable you to remain in the game, and the count will be reset with the next shuffle.

Some common sense is necessary. If you're nearing the end of a session, or if the count drops to an abysmal level with many rounds remaining to be dealt before the next shuffle, there may not be sufficient time or opportunity to recoup the losses you'll sustain by waiting for the count to turn. Get up, walk away, and come back later.

Insurance and Even Money

Under normal circumstances, insurance and even money are sucker bets: a 3:1 payoff on a 30.7% chance gives a 2.6% edge to the house. However, since the odds of an unknown card being a ten-value card increase roughly 0.5% times the count, these wagers become almost fair when the true count stands at +5, and shift in favor of the player when the count exceeds that level.

However, since most players refuse these side bets, taking them (especially after repeatedly refusing them in the past) may draw suspicion. To remain in the game, and on the premises, it may be worthwhile to pass on these opportunities—or to take advantage of them only once in a while, making some off-the-cuff remark about luck or other such nonsense to disguise the fact that you're playing smart.

Alterations to Basic Strategy

Because basic strategy is based on the probable outcomes from a freshly-shuffled deck, it can (and should) be adjusted based on the count. There are tables that indicate the exact decisions to make for each level of the count, based on mathematical probability with the odds adjusted for missing cards. However, it's difficult enough to memorize one table of 270 possible situations for a game without having to memorize seven or eight more. Instead, try to keep the following adjustments in mind:

When the count is +5 or higher

• Always take insurance and even money
• Stand on 12 against a deuce or a three
• Stand on 15 or 16 against a ten
• Double 8 or 9 against a five or six
• Double any soft 13 to 16 against a six or lower

When the count is +10 or higher

• Stand a 14, 15, or 16 against anything
• Double any soft hand less than 19 against a six or lower
• Double 8 or 9 against a four
• Double 10 against a ten
• Double 11 against an ace
• Split fours against three, four, five, or six
• Split fives against a four, five, or six
• Split tens against a five or six

When the count is +15 or higher

• Double a soft 19 against a six or lower
• Double any hard hand less than twelve against six or lower
• Split tens against anything less than a nine
• Split fours, fives, and sixes against anything less than a seven

Again, to avoid detection, it may be preferable to forego some of these opportunities, especially the ones that are certain to draw attention—such as splitting fives or tens or doubling a hand less than seven—for the sake of blending in.

Practice Practice Practice

As with basic strategy, card counting will require a fair amount of practice to learn. To be of any value in an actual casino situation, a counter must be as fast an accurate as possible. You should practice for a few hours daily until you're confident in your abilities, and practice again for at least an hour before entering a casino.

Card counting trainers are provided on this site to assist you, or you may practice on your own with a few decks of cards. The best technique for "analog" practice is to run down a deck, a card at a time, while keeping a running count, until you can do this in fifteen seconds are less (about a quarter of a second per card). Then, deal out blackjack hands in the same configuration as a casino, keeping count as the cards are played.

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