If you’re just getting started with card counting, the best place to get started is with the introduction to card counting page. There, you’ll find more in-depth information on the subject across the site.

In this section, we cover the broad strokes, such as the mechanics of card counting and the reasoning behind it. In addition to this, we investigate whether or not it is acceptable to count cards. Finally, we provide a straightforward count that can be mastered by anybody in a short amount of time, as well as some pointers on how to practice at home before attempting to gain an advantage in a casino setting.

Keep reading to learn more about card counting and get extra information on where you should proceed after understanding the fundamentals of the game.

The Method Behind Card Counting and Why It’s Effective
In the majority of casino games, the odds that you face whenever you put a bet are always the same. This is due to the fact that every occurrence has its own separate test.

What would happen, however, if each time a number was dialed, it became unavailable for use? What if they occupied that position for a period of time?

Shouldn’t the odds shift as a result? Instead of having a chance of one in 38 to win a wager on a single number, you would have a chance of one in 37 to win the vast majority of the single bets that are available. However, one of those wagers would have zero percent chance of paying off since it was the one that was voided out the last time you struck it.

If you continued to cross off numbers on the roulette wheel whenever those numbers were selected, the likelihood of all of the other numbers being selected would continue to improve.

That serves as an excellent example of both how and why card counting is effective. In the vast majority of casinos, the deck is played with numerous times before it is reshuffled. Because the cards that have already been utilized are no longer available, the probabilities that certain occurrences will take place have changed.

Here is an example that is simple to comprehend:

Imagine that you are participating in a game of blackjack with a single deck, and that during the first round you are dealt all four aces. In the second round of the game, what are the chances that you would be dealt a blackjack?

Because a blackjack requires an ace and a ten as its components, there is no chance at all that you will acquire one if you are dealt a natural hand. Because a natural results in a payout of 3 to 2, the house would have a greater advantage over you if you did this.
Because doing so is now physically impossible, the casino has a tiny percentage advantage over you.

This type of circumstance is likely to arise very seldom, but it serves to highlight why the make-up of the deck may have a positive or negative impact on the player’s advantage or disadvantage in comparison to the house. It is advantageous for the player to use a deck of cards that has a relatively high number of high cards (tens and aces), as opposed to a deck that contains a relatively high number of low cards.

This is due to the fact that your odds of getting dealt a natural card improve when there are a significant number of tens and aces present in the deck. They go lower when more cards with a lower value are drawn from the deck. You should always be hoping for a natural, since the payout for it is 3:2 regardless of the hand you are playing.

Card counters are players who keep track of the proportion of high cards to low cards in a deck. This allows them to adjust their wagers in accordance with whether or not they believe they have an advantage over the house. They do this by maintaining a running tally of the high cards and low cards in the deck, each of which is given a value based on its position in the deck.

The cards in the deck with the lowest point value are given a positive value by card counting systems, which is often +1 or +2. They give the more valued cards (typically the tens and aces) in the deck a value that is either minus one or minus two, depending on the game. Therefore, the count increases when lower-value cards are removed from the deck, and it decreases as higher-value cards are removed from the deck. This occurs because the count is based on the total number of cards in the deck.