Counting: A Simpler Method
Counting: A Simpler Method
Counting in blackjack, as we know, means the player keeps track of exactly which cards are put into play during the course of the game. This sounds difficult, and it is. So it comes as good news to learn that even memorizing a limited number of key cards can cause a meaningful rise in percentages.
Realize that for the casino blackjack dealer the most lovely of all numbers is 5. The reason is that the dealer must draw on 16 and stand on 17. If he draws a 5 at 16 he will get 21 and beat you no matter what you hold. So the dealer just loves 5s.
On the other hand the most happy card for the player is the ace, without it, no blackjack, without it, no 1 ½ times payoff.
Adjunct to rule one: memorize all the 10-count cards as well. This means the jack, king, queen, and 10, which after the 5 and ace are the most important cards. Why? Again for the simple reason that they help make blackjacks, too.
Now, how to systematize all this? A smart player proceeds in the following way: starting with the first card played, he keeps tab, to the best of his ability, of every 5, ace and 10-count card. This requires memorization, and at the same time as we shall see below, must be done surreptitiously, (if the dealer becomes aware that he has a counter at his table he will shuffle the cards every few hands and thus stymie all counting efforts made up to that point).
How does a player count surreptitiously? There are many ways of doing it. A technique used by many is to count on the fingers. That is, every time an ace comes up, one slightly raises a finger on the right hand. Every time a 5 arrives, a finger on the left hand goes up. Every count cards are noted mentally on the finger joints: when the first 10-counter appears, the gambler makes note of it on the first joint of his right thumb. The second comes up and he moves the mental count to the second joint. Third time he moves the count to the first joint of the index finger, and so on. If he has prearranged it beforehand, he will automatically know the number of 10-counters simply by noting what joint he is counting at any given time. Just beware of making it too obvious. And of course beware of using such devices as a pencil and paper. They are dead giveaways.
So the counter proceeds to memorize all the 5s, aces, and 10s played until the dealer has gone approximately halfway through the deck. Then he stops and takes stock. How many 5s have been exposed so far? Three or more is good because it means that there is only one 5 left in the deck, a negative factor for the dealer. What about aces? There are four in the pack. Two have been played, two remain. Neither here nor there. Even money. And the 10-counters? The player recalls that only six out of the sixteen have appeared. This moves in his favor. It's two out of three: 5s and 10-counters in his favor, aces neutral. So the thing for him to do now is to bet in a liberal way. The odds are favorable.
Let's go over it again. One plays halfway through the deck, counting 5s, aces, and 10-count cards. After half the deck is gone the counter takes stock: how many have been played of four 5s, of four aces, and of sixteen 10-counters?
He makes mental calculations. If there are few 5s to come and more aces and 10-count cards, then he bets strong. If there are lots of 5s on the horizon and a minority of aces and 10s, he holds back. If it is more or less even, he plays the middle road.
Now: problems. Since the advent of Thorp and several other systems people, casinos have instituted a blackjack game with two decks rather than one, or worse, have introduced the practice of shuffling after each hand. The latter practice is still a bit unusual, as the casinos like to keep things moving and too many shuffles bog down the action. The two-deck system, however, seems to be catching on, and obviously having to memorize the cards from two decks is twice as hard as one. So, a bit of advice: if you are using the above counting method, make things easier on yourself by finding a one-deck twenty-one game. They're still around.