All About Blackjack Card Counting

The Blackjack card counting primer for anyone who wants to beat the casino house edge!

Blackjack is a game in which it’s been found high cards (9s, 10s and ace) are better for the player and low cards (2s through 7s) are better for the dealer. Many casino goers who play Blackjack use card counting to make a calculated guess of whether or not the dealer or the player has an advantage on the next hand. 

Counters bet more when they have an advantage, and they bet less when the dealers have an advantage. Generally, counters can have a 0.5% to 1.5% edge over the house.

You don’t need special mental abilities for card counting and earn a 1% edge over the dealer. Here’s a look at card counting basics, how you can skill up and level up your game, and strategies for the card counter. 

What is Card Counting? The Basics

Card counting is a strategy and skill you can learn easily but may need a while to master. You don’t need to memorise specific cards for counting. You don’t try to track specific cards either. All you need to do is to assign a point score to each card based on its value. Then you can keep up a running count as the game progresses. 

It’s impossible to keep track of every card that’s been played before. If you’ve ever been awed and dejected by Raymond Babbitt doing so in the movie Rain Man, you may be pleased to find you were watching a piece of fiction. 

With card counting, you’re trying to beat the house edge. The casino’s big edge is that players can “bust” even before the dealer has played their hand. And the house edge keeps changing through the game. Even with a house edge of around 2%, dealers can make a lot of money when the bet is high. 

You can use math against this house edge and gain an advantage yourself. Start by noting the fact that in Blackjack, there is a finite set of cards. There may be one or more decks in use. By keeping a running count of the cards that have already been dealt, you may be able to calculate which cards are yet to come. Other than card counting strategy, you should also learn how to know hen to surrender in blackjack.

How Hard is it to Count Cards in a Blackjack Game?

Counting cards is a skill that’s simple to learn. You don’t need to be a genius, a mathematician or the MIT Blackjack team to learn to count. But mastery and being able to avoid detection is a different matter. You’ll need a lot of repetition to do it right, so you win. You may have to practice for as long as 100 to 200 hours before you can begin to count and beat casinos without getting caught. Once you’ve got there, you’ll be an adept card counter with an advantage averaging 1% over the dealer. 

How to Blackjack Card Counting

There are a few different kinds of card-counting strategies. One of the most common is the Hi-Lo System. You’ll find a lot of literature and discussions around this strategy, first used by Harvey Dubner in 1963. Here’s a simple but perfect basic strategy for card counting. 

Is it Illegal to Count Cards in Blackjack?

Card counting is not illegal in casinos as long as you’re doing it with your head and not using a counting device. Nobody can stop you from counting cards in your head and changing your bets accordingly. 

But of course, casinos don’t like card counters to snatch the house edge. So they often hire former card counters to watch for the signs that someone is counting. They may also teach their staff to count. Some casinos also use continuous shuffle machines (CSM), in which three to five decks are shuffled together. It’s impossible to count in a game with a CSM. Games featuring the ‘shoe’ are always easy to count on, no matter the number of decks of cards used.

Whether or not you’re counting, you can spot another counter. The worst thing that can happen if you’re caught counting cards is that the casino will ban you. Unless you’re a generous tipper, in which case they’d probably gloss over your counting. 

Is it Worth Counting Cards in Blackjack?

If you want to win, then yes, it’s worth counting cards in Blackjack. If you do it right, a simple strategy can help you win big. Blackjack is so popular in casinos around the world because you have a good chance of pocketing what you win. If you can switch the odds in your favour, you have the opportunity to win bigger than you’ve imagined. If you want to try another form of blackjack such as blackjack switch, you read beginner guide to play blackjack switch first. 

What is ‘Wonging’ in Blackjack? 

Card counters in Blackjack often use a gambling strategy called ‘Wonging’ to choose the perfect moment to enter the gameplay at a casino. “Stanford Wong” or author Jack Ferguson is known for developing the strategy and giving it to us. 

You can ‘Wong’ at a casino for a while where you’ve been watching (and counting cards) at a Blackjack table without participating in the action. You can save time and money when you enter the game at the moment the count is favourable. But make sure you don’t self-sabotage by appearing too conspicuous. You should ideally enter, play a few hands until you’ve made some profits, and then leave so as not to draw attention to yourself. Then you can move to another table, as inconspicuously as possible. 

The Bottomline

If you’re new to card counting, you can get some practice at online casinos when cards aren’t shuffled (by machine) after each round. Live dealer games are a bit better for card counting. Don’t expect to win a lot through online Blackjack games with virtual shoes. But you will get a lot of practice with running counts and eyeballing positives and negatives the more you play.