Blackjack Card Counting - Is It Worth It? Well It Probably Won't
Make You Rich!
Can you make a lot of money using basic strategy and blakcjack
card counting?
If you think about it, the odds are not as good as they may seem.
Here's why..
Basic Strategy
The house edge can be diminished to just less than 1%, if the
player uses basic strategy.
Blackjack card counting is then supposed to put the odds really
in favor of the player, but does it do it enough to make it
worthwhile?
You can play with a small advantage with basic strategy, now
lets look how much better we can make the odds with blackjack
card counting.
The Myth Of Card Counting
Blackjack card counting was introduced by an IBM computer
scientist, Edward O. Thorp who published "Beat the Dealer" in
1962.
The book introduced card counting to a global audience and many
were attracted to its logic and method.
Essentially the blackjack card counting Thorpe introduced
considered the ten-valued cards and the Aces as "positive", and
the cards 2 to 6 as "negative". If the net result in the
remaining deck was positive, the player must increase the bet
size.
The method had visible results when only one deck was used and
very few cards remained in the deck.
You won't get rich card counting!
The casinos now use multiple deck blackjack decks which make the
number of cards coming out more and the odds of card counting
working decline.
Let's make an assumption
That blackjack card counting, realistically CAN give a 1.5 - 2%
advantage to the player over, with the advantage of a single
deck, so things can only get worse on games with more decks or
unfavorable rules.
1.5 - 2% is a narrow margin if you are trying to make a good
income out of it, for the effort involved!
Card counting is NOT a predictive theory
The fact is, blackjack card counting is not a predictive theory
as many novices believe; it simply tries to crudely calculate
the odds of cards coming out of the pack.
There are huge number of permutations of cards coming out, so
even if the odds are in your favor, doesn't mean you are going
to win! You need to play for a long time for the odds to even
themselves out.
Of course, over a long period of time (and I mean long) things
will even themselves out, but there will be a lot of ups and
downs in between of equity to smooth out.
If you think about it, when the best advantage you can get is up
to 2% in a best case scenario, are you going to make enough
money to make the effort you put in worthwhile?
Do the maths and figure it out for yourself.
There is not enough room in this article to cover all the
mathematics, but it's a lot of effort for a very small return
overtime.
Don't waste your time blackjack card counting
If you want to make big money in relation to effort, you need
another game where you can increase your advantage to a level
where you can earn BIG money and this means competing directly
against other players
A better return for the effort
So forget blackjack card counting and learn poker.
Why?
Not only can you calculate odds and have a strategy, you also
have a lot of ways to get the better of your opponent through
psychological strategy and win big.
keep in mind, you don't even have to have the best hand to win!
Poker presents a better challenge and a better opportunity to
win Big Money.
How many rich card counters have you heard of?
If you believe that there are blackjack card counters who have
made huge money, search the net and see how many you find with
substantiated winnings.
Next, try a search against poker players who have made a fortune
and you will see for yourself.
Find out more about casino games and getting a playing edge...
For more on blackjack card counting, tips, strategies and free
e-zines on all casino game, go to
http://www.net-planet.org/gaming.html