The Blackjack Card-Counting Principle
Blackjack card-counting is said to be the best way of beating the casino odds in the game. If we learn it well we would improve our blackjack odds. But like most strategies blackjack card-counting has a basic principle we should understand.
The principle is that a deck full of tens and aces is very helpful to us while a deck full of small-valued cards helps the dealer a lot. A deck of cards full of tens and aces helps us by endangering the dealer to make busts often. Hence, the effectiveness of blackjack card-counting which casinos abhor.
To see if the deck is still able to supply us with high cards, it is necessary to monitor the how many cards have already been dealt from the deck and how many still remain in it. And if we can, the important thing here is monitoring or tracking down high cards in and out of the deck. Thus, when we use blackjack card-counting technique we assign point values to the cards.
There is some calculation involved here, but everything ought to be done mentally, though. But basically, the idea is that a deck still helpful is given a positive sign while a deck unhelpful is given a negative sign. Hence, high cards have a negative 1 and low cards have positive 1. Middle number cards are given zero value in blackjack card-counting. Then we simply add or subtract points based on the cards being played and monitor the on-going total known as "running count."
The running count in blackjack card-counting needs to be divided by the deck size for us to get the "true count." When we do this we would get a relative estimate of how full the deck is with high cards. Generally, a positive count is conducive in blackjack card-counting. Better if it is a high positive result. Then we use this to compare our hand with the dealer's up-card and analyze the dealer's odds and strategize accordingly.
However, we cannot use pen and paper to just down all our tracking down at the blackjack table. We have to use a strong memory, fast eyes, and quick thinking without being obvious with our blackjack card-counting. When the pit boss takes notice deck shuffling will be done periodically or we get kicked out of the game.
Blackjack card-counting is an intricate mental process of tracking down cards in and out of the deck to favor our odds in the game. It can make our play profitable but it's definitely hard work.