A beginner's guide to card counting

What makes blackjack more interesting than many other equivalent games is the fact that it offers a mix of chance with elements of skill and decision-making. Plus, the aura of "card counting" that lets a player turn the odds of a game in his favor, makes the game more alluring.

What is card counting?: When a player says he is counting cards, does that mean he is actually keeping track of every card played? And do you have to be numerically suave to be a successful card counter? The answer to both questions is "No".

Actually, you are not counting and memorizing specific cards. Rather, you are keeping track of certain cards, or all cards as the case may be, as they leave the blackjack deck (dealt) to formulate a single ratio number that indicates the composition (makeup) of the remaining deck. You are assigning a heuristic point score to each card in the deck and then tracking the total score, which is called the "count".

Card counting is based on the assumption that high cards are good for the player while low cards are good for the dealer. There is no one system for card counting - different systems assign different point values to various cards.

The Hi-Lo Count: This is one of the most common systems. According to the Hi-Lo system, the cards numbered 2 through 6 are counted as +1 and all tens (which include 10s, jacks, queens and kings) and aces are counted as -1. The cards 7, 8, and 9 are assigned a count of 0.

The above description of the Hi-Lo system exemplifies a "level one" counting system. There are other counting systems, called "level two" systems, that assign +2 and -2 counts to certain cards. On the face of it, this system seems to offer additional accuracy. However, experts agree that this additional accuracy is offset by the greater difficulty of keeping count and the increased likelihood of making a mistake.

The "K-O" System: The "K-O" System follows an unbalanced counting system. The points are the same as the Hi-Lo system, with the addition of 7's also being counted as +1. A typical unbalanced counting system is designed to eliminate the need to take into account the effect that multiple decks have on the point count. This multiple deck issue, incidentally, requires a process of division - something that most players have difficulty with. The "K-O" count was made popular by the book "Knock-Out Blackjack" by Ken Fuchs and Olaf Vancura.

Though it may seem to be a humungous task to learn how to track cards, the returns, in terms of time invested, are well worth the effort. It is a known fact that effective card counting gives an "unfair advantage," so to say, to the blackjack player. There is practically no known defense against card counting.

Caution: But do remember, that though card counting is not illegal in any state or country, casinos have the right to ban card counters from their establishments. So don't be an obvious card counter!