Blue Square Blackjack :  Card Counting

Card Counting

At BlueSquare Blackjack we not only allow card counting on our blackjack games, we actually encourage it and to help you along here is our beginners guide to perfect strategy and card counting.

Thousands of books have been written on Blackjack Strategy and there's no substitute for picking up the odd tome to improve your game. Some strategies will vary from our guide here and some may be based on different rules from our extremely generous Blackjack rules, especially as on all our Blackjack games you can Split on any pairs including aces, you can double down on any count, you can even split and then double down, but just not on split aces..

First let’s start with the cards. For our Casino Blackjack game we use a 4 deck system, where the cards are randomly shuffled at the beginning of the game and a marker placed at the end of the pack. When this marker is reached the cards are re-shuffled and you are notified of the reshuffle along with a shuffling sound being played.

Now you know how many card are present, its time to learn perfect strategy

Let’s start with what to do when dealt a pair of matching cards. This table it shows you the when you should and shouldn’t split them. The top line shows the dealers upcard and the left column shows the possible pairs.

Pairs

					Dealer's Upcard
Player	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	T	A
(A,A)	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
(T,T)	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N
(9,9)	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	N	N
(8,8)	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
(7,7)	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N	N
(6,6)	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N	N	N
(5,5)	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N
(4,4)	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N
(3,3)	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N	N
(2,2)	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N	N

Now to deal with all the other combinations of card you can be dealt. Starting with the “Soft” totals, this is when you are dealt an Ace and another card.

Soft Totals

					Dealer's Upcard
Player	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	T	A
(A,9)	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S
(A,8)	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S
(A,7)	S	D	D	D	D	S	S	H	H	H
(A,6)	H	S	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
(A,5)	H	H	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
(A,4)	H	H	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
(A,3)	H	H	H	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
(A,2)	H	H	H	D	D	H	H	H	H	H

Here are the “Hard” totals, in which the dealt cards add up to the following.

Hard totals

					Dealer's Upcard
Player	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	T	A
17	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S
16	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
15	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
14	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
13	S	S	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
12	H	H	S	S	S	H	H	H	H	H
11	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	H
10	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	H
9	H	D	D	D	D	H	H	H	H	H
8	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H

Much of it boils down to a few key decisions you have to make on:

• when to hit and when to stand
• when to double down
• when to split
• whether to insure against a dealer's blackjack

So now you know your perfect strategy, its time to chose a counting system to use. You can look up many different counting system, each with its strengths and weaknesses. The one below is a nice straight count to get you started.
Firstly you need to learn the running count
Using "Hi/Lo" as an example system, the 2-6 cards are valued at +1, and the 10-value cards and Aces are counted as -1. Note that there are the same amount in each group: 2,3,4,5,6 and 10,J,Q,K,A. The 7,8,9 are neutral in this count.

It’s helpful to learn how to ignore cards that cancel each other out. For example, if you see a King and a two then you know they cancel each other out so instead of adding both numbers into the count (which means doing 2 additional calculations) you ignore them and you don’t have to do any more math.
Now you can keep a “Running count” on the cards, the next step is to convert that into a “True Count” in order to know what your edge is and to bet accordingly. To do this we divide the running count by the amount of decks not seen. For example, in our 4-deck game, after 1 deck has been dealt and the running count is +9, we take the number of decks undealt (3) and divide that into +9, which gives you +3.
Now you have the “True Count” you can adjust your betting according to match. This is called Bet Spreading. A typical system would involve

True Count	Betting amount
+1	x1
+2 to +3	X2
+4 to +5	X3
+6 to +7	X4
+8 or more	X5

This system is a balanced count and is just one of many systems available to lean and try out at BlueSquare Blackack, the other types of systems available are classified as follows:
Balanced & Unbalanced counting systems.
In a balanced count, all of the point values add up to zero. In an unbalanced strategy, the sum of all the cards is positive. Unbalanced strategies have an advantage because they can be used in the easier running count systems - although they can also be used in true-count systems. Balanced strategies have an advantage in that they are generally a bit more accurate and makes the counting easier. Usually unbalanced counts are better suited for single- and double-deck games, which is why this guide focused on a Balanced system.

Ace-Reckoned vs. Ace-Neutral
When counting. the Ace is counted as a negative number (Ace-reckoned) or zero (Ace-neutral). Ace-Reckoned strategies are generally better for shoe games and Ace-Neutral strategies are better for single and double deck. Today, Ace-reckoned strategies are more popular.

Level
The level of a strategy refers to the highest value assigned to cards. Level 2 and 3 card counting strategies are more efficient, but more difficult for the average people. There are also Level 3, 4 & 5 strategies but you don't need a system that strong. The most popular strategies these days are level 1. In a level 1 strategy, the high cards are counted as -1 and the low cards are counted as +1. Many times, in high level counting systems, the addition profit you get from the higher accuracy of those systems will be more than offset by the mathematical errors you make with the more complicated system.

Side Counts
Some strategies use one or more side counts. The most common is counting the Aces in a separate count to make betting more accurate in Ace-neutral systems. This is because Aces are large cards for the purposes of betting but small cards for the purposes of playing when you don't have a Blackjack.

Now you have learned the basics of card counting why not give it a go in either our Multiplayer head to head blackjack where card counting can provide an advantage in longer games or in our casino Blackjack, where you start at the beginning of a 4 deck shoe and is perfect for counting...

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