In the last few years, casinos have become more aware of card counting and other blackjack techniques like counting. As a result, the casinos have begun to put rules over card counting, making it an unapproved practice in the casinos. If you’re a card counter, you know that your opponent is watching for patterns and will try to stop you as soon as you see one. So, how do you get the house edge down to its lowest level?
orically, the edge is built from the casino’s perspective. When the casino sees that card counters are winning, it assumes that the cards are good, and when card counting becomes prevalent, the casino thinks that the counters are ahead of the game, and it sees an opportunity to win more money. How? Let’s say that there are only two cards left in the shoe, and the dealer has an ace as his upcard. The house counts 2 as an advantage. But if you and your friend each have a Ace, you each get just one card, and the dealer gets five cards. That’s what’s known as a stand-alone card counting attack. But what if you and your friend both get the same card? In that case, you’ll need to split the cards. So, if the dealer’s upcard is an Ace, you’ll need to get two cards, just like in blackjack.
However, card counting doesn’t just provide you with an advantage over the dewalive; it also gives you a better idea of what the remaining cards are going to be. This allows you to place your larger bets in relation to the remaining cards. How is this done? Let’s say you bet $5 on the fourth card, as stated earlier. Then the dealer flips over a new card, showing the hole card (the card that shows which card the dealer has). If you’re right, you’ll win $5 more, putting you at 11:1 (i.e., 11 credits for a $5 bet, minus the $5 bet). If you bet $10, and the dealer turns up the fifth card, you win $30, putting you at 18:1, which is a great buy-in for a poker tournament!
You also need to know what a push is. A push is when the dealer apparently has a better hand than you, by discarding the hand and taking your wager. If you bet the maximum amount, or $600, you can actually lose the hand if the dealer gets a blackjack. When you bet the maximum, you’re risking $600 to win $5. Therefore, you should generally avoid betting the max.
If you know the player makes a big bet on a particular flop, and the dealer gets a blackjack, you can decide to stand, even if the dealer has a greater card. For example, if the dealer is showing an ace, and you believe the correct play is to get your money in, you can choose to stand. If the dealer is not an ace fan, and guess what card the dealer has, you can choose to hit, and take the risk that the dealer has a better hand than you. However, if you’re sitting on a limited bankroll, you’ll want to make a 1-time maximum bet on the next hand.
Blackjack strategy, pre-flop, is very important. Assuming you know the dealer is weak, you should choose to stand when you have a very good chance of winning. topic? We’ll cover blackjack strategy more in depth in future articles.