Blackjack Card Counting – Do You Believe These 4 Myths?
By: sacha tarkovsky
Card counting does put the odds in the favor of blackjack players however there are common misconceptions about card counting that can and do cause players to lose.
If you want to win at blackjack and do card counting then it is important you don’t believe these 4 myths:
The More complicated the method the better
A card counting system that is complicated does NOT guarantee it will be more successful than a simpler one there is no link between how complicated a system is and its success.
It’s the logic that the card counting system is based upon that is important.
There are highly complicated theories we have seen that take weeks to learn, that are less effective than a simple strategy you can learn in around 15 minutes.
Don’t be fooled by sales pitches, the reality sometimes does not match the hype.
Card counting is predictive
Card counting, does not allow blackjack players to predict with certainty what card will be dealt out of the deck next. It is simply a probability theory
Blackjack card counting tries to crudely calculate the odds of various cards coming out of the deck.
There are huge number of permutations, so even if the odds are in your favor doesn’t mean you are going to win in the short term due to the small edge you are playing with.
Card counting is quick an easy way to make profits
Blackjack players who card count can play with a positive edge and the odds in their favor longer term but this does not mean that profits will be made easily or regularly.
Anything can and does happen in the short term and a player will have to play for literally thousands of hours to see the positive expectation take affect.
Keep in mind we are only talking a small edge of around 1.5%, the smallness of the edge will see wildly fluctuating results in the short term and any blackjack player needs to be prepared with an adequate bankroll.
Blackjack card counting doesn’t work in all casinos!
Why? Because they have different rules, so you need to be very careful that you pick a game with the rules as much in favor of players as possible.
Here are some rules that are favorable to the player and the affect they have longer term in terms of odds of success.
Early surrender – +0.62% Late surrender Single deck +0.02% Double down after splitting +0.13% Drawing to split aces +0.14% Re splitting of aces +0.03% Double down cards any number +0.20% 2:1 payoff blackjack +2.32%
Here are some rules that are unfavorable to the player.
2 decks (v single) -0.35% 4 decks (v single) -0.51% 6 decks (v single) -0.60% pairs no re splitting -0.05% No doubling on hard 11 -0.89% No doubling on hard 10 -0.56% No doubling on hard 9 -0.14% No doubling soft hands -0.14% Dealer hits soft 17 -0.20% Dealer takes no hole card -0.13%
As you can see the rules of the game are very important and you need to pay with the most favorable ones you can find.
Long term profits blackjack card counting
If you are going to try and make profits card counting you need to take note of all the above and be prepared to play for long periods, with an adequate bankroll and have a system your comfortable with.
Do that and your well on the way to making big profits from blackjack!
For more tips and strategies
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