If you’ve ever watched the World Series of Poker or observed a professional blackjack player at work, then you know that professional gamblers have a habit of making huge bets that the rest of us would never even consider. Just like professional athletes, professional gamblers make it look easy. But is there a way that you can start gambling like a professional without actually being a professional?
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If you are playing blackjack, your first move should be to learn how to count cards. In the movies, counting cards in blackjack is portrayed as this kind of wizardry that only geniuses or mathematicians can master. The reality is a lot simpler. Counting cards isn’t easy, but it isn’t impossible, either. In card counting, every card in the deck is assigned a value, and the player keeps track of the overall “count” of the cards left in the deck. 2s through 6s have a count of +1. 7s through 9s have a count of 0. 10s through Aces have a count of -1.
If you are playing with a single deck, that’s about all there is to it. When the running count is positive, your odds of winning are better, and you should bet accordingly. If the count goes negative, the odds are in favor of the house. You keep the count going until the dealer shuffles the cards. Then you start over.
If you are playing in a multi-deck casino (e.g. most casinos) the process is a little tougher, but still not impossible. What you need to do is calculate the true count based on the number of decks remaining. You won’t always know how many decks you are dealing with—particularly in an online casino (such as www.casinoonline.com.de)—which means that counting cards can sometimes be way riskier than betting according to your gut.
If you know how many decks you are dealing with, though, then you need to keep track of how many cards have been dealt so that you know how many decks remain in the shoe. For instance, say you are playing in a six-deck blackjack game, and 200 cards have been dealt. That means that there are two decks left. Now, say you’ve tracked the count to +4. In a single-deck game, that kind of count would put the advantage firmly in your favor. Since there are two decks left to be dealt, though, you have to divide your count by the number of decks left to get the true count. The count of +4 divided by two decks would put the count at +2. You would still have a slight advantage over the house, but not as big as you would with a +4 count.
In any case, you can get the basics down by spending a day practicing with a few decks of cards, shuffled together. Start out by just trying to track the count and number of cards that have been dealt. Don’t worry about playing hands. Just get used to calculating the count and the true count. Once you are comfortable, you can move on to using card counting skills in more practical situations.
