Card Counting on Black Jack 21- Strategy to Determine a Propabability Advantage

A Game of Strategy

Card counting is a card game strategy used to determine when a player has a probability advantage. The term is used almost exclusively to refer to the tracking of the ratio of high cards to low cards in blackjack and its derivatives such as Spanish 21, although it is sometimes used to refer to obtaining a count of the distribution or remaining high cards in trick-taking games, such as contract bridge or spades. This article deals only with card counting as it applies to blackjack and its derivatives.

The Basics

The basic principle behind card counting is the fact that high cards, particularly aces and tens, are better for the player and low cards, particularly 4s, 5s and 6s, are good for the dealer. A high concentration of Aces and tens give a higher chance of Blackjacks (which immediately pay at 1.5:1 unless the dealer also has Blackjack) and the tens also increase probability of a hand totaling 20, which are almost as good (the dealer must hit Blackjack to beat), and of splittable pairs also resulting in 20s. A high number of ten-value cards also makes the insurance bet more profitable since that is essentially a bet that the dealer's card is a ten (giving them Blackjack). Low cards are good for the dealer, because the dealer must hit stiff hands (12-16) unlike the player who can hit or stand according to basic strategy. Tens bust all stiff hands and will increase the chance the dealer will lose, so a concentration of low values is safer for the dealer. A low count of Aces also decreases the probability of Blackjack.

Are Special Abilities Needed?

Contrary to the popular myth, card counters do not need unusual mental abilities in order to count cards, because they are not tracking and memorizing specific cards. Instead, card counters assign a point score to each card they see that estimates the value of that card, and then they track only the sum of these values. (This is called keeping a "running count". The myth that counters keep track of every card was portrayed in the movie Rain Man, in which the savant character Raymond Babbitt counts through six decks with ease and a casino employee erroneously comments that it is impossible to count six decks.