Blackjack and Card Counting
If your familiar with the game of blackjack, chances are you're also familiar with card counting. Although some people might think card counting is an advanced blackjack technique, they couldn't be more wrong. At its heart, card counting is simply a part of blackjack's basic strategy.
A degree in mathematics or an exceptional skill in memorization isn't required if you're planning on counting cards. One glimpse at who invented this technique might say otherwise, since these developers were mathematicians who published systems in card counting in statistical journals. However, the actual process of counting cards isn't that difficult.
The difficulties card counters encounter are usually problems with the casinos themselves. It's not that uncommon for players to be thrown out of casinos if they're caught counting cards.
One thing is for certain, card counting is definitely not cheating. The courts themselves handed out the verdict that counting cards cannot be considered as a criminal offense. This is because the information is already available to the players, and counting cards is just a skillful application of those information provided to them.
So why is there a problem then with casinos and card counters despite the courts' declarations? That's because casinos aren't public properties. This means that casinos -- being a privately owned property -- can still kick out players for any reason that they can think of. Known card counters can also be filed trespassing charges if they go back to the casino that threw them out.
So what exactly is card counting? The basic principle behind card counting is dependent on odds that incorporate each card in the deck.
A minor flaw arises from this strategy however. The cards in the discard tray (the cards that were used up after a hand is played) is still being taken into account, despite these cards being out of the game until the dealer reshuffles the deck again.
A frequently used card counting system attaches an equivalent value to the cards in the deck. For example, a +1 value is assigned to Twos through Sixes, a -1 value is assigned to Tens through Aces, and a value of zero is given to Sevens through Nines.
The values of the cards being played are added together. Starting with a base of zero, the running count varies between positive and negative numbers. If the running count is high, this means more cards with low values have been placed into the discard tray.
Since the basic strategy is dependent upon the expectation that a 10 value card will be the next card, if the player already knows that a higher percentage of 10 value cards are still in play than usual, then that presumption becomes much more valid.
