Card counting in blackjack

So my little brother caleld me at work and asked a very odd question; "Danny, how do you count cards." That is a very interesting question coming from a 17 year old. Anyway I spewed some crap about different ranges of cards being worth a different amount of points and somehow you add up each point until you get into a certain # range and start betting big. I am probobly wrong but I remember reading about a similar type of system. Anyway, does anyone here really know the process to card counting? He has me curious now.

PoWdA wrote:So my little brother caleld me at work and asked a very odd question; "Danny, how do you count cards." That is a very interesting question coming from a 17 year old. Anyway I spewed some crap about different ranges of cards being worth a different amount of points and somehow you add up each point until you get into a certain # range and start betting big. I am probobly wrong but I remember reading about a similar type of system. Anyway, does anyone here really know the process to card counting? He has me curious now.

The system that was shown in the movie "21" was one of those systems. I'm not 100% on the values for each card, but here is a basic run-down of what i remember:

Any card that was 10 or higher is a -1
Any card that is 6 or lower is a +1
7-9 had no value, I'm not sure if aces had a value or not.

All you do is add or subtract values for EVERY card that is dealt. When the value gets above ~+10 then the deck is stacked with high cards and you have a higher chance of getting dealt a 20, or having face cards you could split.

Casinos are aware of this system and have tried to offset it by using multiple decks (usually 3 or more) and shuffling more often (usually after ~2/3rds of the deck has be dealt)

dexman1349 wrote:

PoWdA wrote:So my little brother caleld me at work and asked a very odd question; "Danny, how do you count cards." That is a very interesting question coming from a 17 year old. Anyway I spewed some crap about different ranges of cards being worth a different amount of points and somehow you add up each point until you get into a certain # range and start betting big. I am probobly wrong but I remember reading about a similar type of system. Anyway, does anyone here really know the process to card counting? He has me curious now.

The system that was shown in the movie "21" was one of those systems. I'm not 100% on the values for each card, but here is a basic run-down of what i remember:

Any card that was 10 or higher is a -1
Any card that is 6 or lower is a +1
7-9 had no value, I'm not sure if aces had a value or not.

All you do is add or subtract values for EVERY card that is dealt. When the value gets above ~+10 then the deck is stacked with high cards and you have a higher chance of getting dealt a 20, or having face cards you could split.

Casinos are aware of this system and have tried to offset it by using multiple decks (usually 3 or more) and shuffling more often (usually after ~2/3rds of the deck has be dealt)

This is pretty much exactly what I told him. I also told him about casinos using multiple decks in the shoe as well. They make it sound so easy. I wanna try it.

It really isn't that difficult. Adding and subtracting by 1's is about as simple as it gets.

The hard part is looking natural while you're doing it. If you start showing signs of card counting, the pit boss will usually ask you to leave.

The thing is that this system isn't bullet proof. It only says you have a higher chance of getting face cards, that's it.

dexman1349 wrote:The thing is that this system isn't bullet proof. It only says you have a higher chance of getting face cards, that's it.

Shit! Count me out as my 98% odds will surely lose to the 2% odds. Oh wait, this isn't holdem?

You should also divide your count by how many decks are left in the shoe to give you a better idea of where you stand. A Plus 10 count with 3 decks in the shoe is obviously not as good as a Plus 10 count with 1 deck left.

I've actually done this betting small amounts just screwing around in Vegas. It's not that hard if you practice, but it doesn't create that big of an advantage unless you make it REALLY obvious - small bets when the count is against you and HUGE bets when it's in your favor. A lot less fun actually.

in order to have fun in Vegas I just stay away from table games like blackjack and craps....it takes too long to make that $$ back playing $1/$2NL

You make money playing poker in LV?

ak1971 wrote:You make money playing poker in LV?

actually yes I do!

http://www.bj21.com/

Pretty much anything you want to know about card counting in blackjack. It's pretty useless up the hill since you can't vary the bet size.

You can play multiple hands when the count is in your favor in Blackhawk. One of the dealers helped me count and understand some of the mechanics of advantage play. She said that they don't care about counting in Blackhawk as they don't have much exposure at $5 per hand.

What is interesting about BJ are the ways to gain advantages without getting caught. There are active BJ groups that are always looking for new faces to plug into their systems, or so I hear.