Blackjack Card Counting: When to Raise Bets
Blackjack card counting is a strategy employed to determine whether the remaining cards on deck are favorable to the reader or not. In principle, blackjack card counting is about ratio and probability. Subsequent playing and betting choices are then made around that determined probability.
Blackjack card counting seeks to determine the player's winning advantage. The player may then raise or lower their bets based on whether the relationship of high cards to low cards is slanted towards the player's advantage or not.
Since Dr. Edward Thorp's influential book "Bet the Dealer," several card counting strategies have been created and impacted the way card counters playing and betting decisions. There's the Zen Count, the Wong Halves, and the Hi-Lo card counting strategy, for instance.
Basically, however, what card counting seeks to determine is the ratio of high cards (tens and Aces) to low cards. The higher the number of cards, the higher the player's edge over the house. This means higher chances for the player to get a blackjack
This also creates opportunity for the player to utilize blackjack options such as double down for a maximum betting advantage. It is also used to determine whether playing options such as surrender and even money are good moves or not.
Blackjack card counting is a mental act. The card counter must be able to make a mental tract of the cards already exposed and at the same time be able to play his hands well against the dealer. Focus in card counting is essential, but card counters do not rely mostly on memory.
Blackjack card counting, basically, involves assigning of values to cards. In Hi-Lo, for instance, the card counter assigns the value of -1 to low cards 2-6, +1 to high cards 10 and Ace, and 0 to neutral cards 7, 8, and 9. The probability of high card to low card is then determined through addition and subtraction of values of the drawn cards.
Most US jurisdictions have ruled out blackjack card counting as illegal. This leaves casinos to device card counting thwarting measures. Some casinos like Las Vegas casinos ban known card counters. Some casinos resort to harassment or distracting methods such as talking to the suspected card counter.
In theory, blackjack card counting creates a player advantage ranging from .50 to 1.50 percent over built-in house edge of .50 percent.
As a card strategy, blackjack card counting works by assigning values to cards to set high-card/ low-card ratio in the remaining deck. Blackjack card counting, in effect, is meant to gauge the player's odds of winning.