A Brief History of Card Counting

Back in 1949, Jess Marcum, a nuclear physicist, figured out how to count cards. In the 1950s he quit his day job to become a professional gambler. In 1961 Harold Smith Sr, a former Reno Nevada casino owner, published a book entitled “I Want to Quit Winners”, which featured card counting techniques. But it was Ed Thorpe, dubbed the father of card counting, who had the first proven mathematical system for beating Blackjack. He outlined his results in a book called “Beat the Dealer”. Thorpe’s discoveries put the fear of card counting into casino owners and helped hone the skills of the first set of professional Blackjack Players.

What Card Counting is and How It's Done

Card counting is a strategy Players employ to get an advantage over the casino by tracking the ratio of high cards to low cards already played. A deck that has more high cards than low cards is more advantageous to the Player because he is more likely to hit a Blackjack. It would make more sense for the Player to raise a bet with a deck that has more high cards. If he does this, he is increasing his mathematical advantage because a Blackjack pays 3:2.

Everyone can count cards, even the Blackjack novice, but before you begin counting cards, you should know Blackjack Basic Strategy. All card counting systems are based on Basic Strategy. It is easy to learn and memorize. Click here for a Basic Blackjack Strategy chart.

Many different techniques and strategies have been researched and employed where card counting is concerned. For the sake of simplicity, we will focus on two methods – the simple way and the more common method. This method does not require a lot of concentration or relying on memory. The key here is observation. If you notice after the first few hands that hardly any Face Cards or Aces were played, then you could logically assume that the next hand will be a good one for you to raise your stake. Always look for extremes and capitalize on the absence of exposed High value cards by increasing your wager. Why? Because, the absence of exposed High value cards means that they are sitting somewhere in the deck. This increases your chances of being dealt a Face Card at some point, which puts the odds in your favour. There you have it a simple yet effective way to count cards.

Professional card counters generally keep track of the ratio of High cards and 10s by attaching a value to them (either +1 or -1). The opposite is given for Low value cards in a deck. You keep running a total in your head, and, based on that total, you either raise or lower your wager. The easiest way to use this method is to start the count at 0, count every Ace as -1, and count every 5 as +1. When the count is positive, you bet 2 units times the number of the count. So 2 units at +1; 4 units at +2; 6 units at +3 etc.. The best time to employ this method is if you are playing in a multiple deck Blackjack game; especially if the game has 6 decks. This method yields a 0.22% Player advantage. Though small, it is more effective than playing at random, especially if you are not too familiar with the game. In a single deck Blackjack game, the Player increases his advantage each time a 5 is dealt from the deck by 0.67%. If two or three 5s are dealt, then the Player can significantly increase his odds against the Casino. Any card between 2 and 8 that is dealt increases the Player’s expectation; while 9s, 10s, and Aces that are dealt increase the casino’s expectation. It is important to note that 8s and 9s have very little effect on the outcome of a hand because an 8 adds 0.01% to the Player’s expectation and a 9 adds 0.15% to the casino’s expectation. Considering the low expectation percentages, these cards are not usually counted. Card counting can put the odds in the favor of the blackjack player and is often considered the "holy grail" by many avid blackjack Players.

Some Misconceptions About Card Counting

Several Blackjack card counting myths exist. These only cause Players to lose so don’t believe these myths. Some of them include:

• Using a complicated strategy will ensure you win more times than you lose and, thus, increase your Player advantage. This is so very wrong. A complicated strategy will not guarantee success over a simple one. From what you learned above, you can increase your odds of winning by simple observation.

• Card counting can predict the card sequence. Card counting is a probability theory; not a predictive one. Therefore, a Player cannot logically detect which card will be dealt out of the deck next.

• You don’t need a lot of money to win. Wrong again. Bearing in mind that Blackjack carries a 0.5% to 1.5% expectation, you should always prepare yourself for a losing streak. Losing runs happen to practically every Player so ensure that you have an adequate bankroll to ride out the losses. And always bear in mind that, although you may have a positive edge in a game, that doesn’t mean that you are guaranteed to make profits all the time.

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