🔈 Card Counting in Blackjack – What is it all about?
The idea of counting cards in the blackjack game first came to prominence in the 1960s after MIT professors and students demonstrated its effectiveness in casinos. At its core, the idea involves the player giving each card a value and literally counting those values as the cards are dealt.
A simple method is called Hi-Lo, where cards with a value of 2-6 are +1, cards with a value of 7-9 are 0, and 10-Ace are -1. So, every time a card is dealt, you assign it the given value. If you are playing on a positive count, this shows that more high-ranking cards are still in the deck. This means you could raise your bets because there is more chance of a high card and a good hand.
Despite its reputation, card counting is not illegal. You are only using legitimate memory exercises to track the cards. Even so, land-based and online casinos are against it, so they may ban or dismiss players they suspect of doing it.
For blackjack online, card counting is next to impossible. RNG games use software to randomise which cards are dealt, so there is no way to track cards. Live dealer games potentially offer more card-counting possibilities, but not really. Firstly, land-based and online casinos use multiple hands to make counting harder, while they use shuffle machines to always randomise cards.