Blackjack Card Counting
Card counting is one of the better known ways of beating the house it is also one of the most difficult. The basic premise is that the counter keeps track of what cards have been dealt out of the shoe and uses this information to base his decisions on.
Card counting is not as accurate as many people believe, as you do not know what card is going to be dealt next you just keep track on whether the deck is favourable. You can do this by keeping track of the amount of high cards to low cards that have been dealt. So if very few high cards have been dealt in the first half of the shoe then the deck could be described as favourable. High cards are 10's face cards and aces. It is easier to keep track of cards that score ten, as they are the most plentiful cards in the deck.
There are three main reasons that decks high in face cards are favourable to the counter and not the casino.
Firstly, the higher the proportion of tens and aces in the deck then the higher the likelihood that you can get a blackjack. It is true that the dealer is also more likely to pull a blackjack as well. However when the dealer is dealt a blackjack you lose all your wager when you are dealt a blackjack you win 3 to 2 so you get 150% of your wager and lose only 100%. So if you and the dealer trade blackjacks at the end you will be up.
The dealer must draw when he has a 16 or less. He has no choice. When the deck is favourable, he runs a greater risk of busting. You, on the other hand, can alter your strategy to take advantage of favourable conditions. You don't have to take a card when the odds of busting are great because of a favourable deck.
With doubling down on 10 and eleven with a favourable deck it is very valuable as the odds of the next card being a ten or ace is quite high which gives you a very high hand at double your initial wager.
The Martingale System
This system has been about for over 200 years and can be used in many other gambling games besides blackjack especially roulette. The system is very simple to understand and all you have to is double the bet you make every time you lose. The assumption is that eventually you will win and this will cover all the previous bets. When you eventually win you drop back to your original wager and start again.
Casinos however limit the effectiveness of this system with table limits which make the system unworkable. The system requires a large amount of money to see it through with very little return.
Progressive Betting System
This is another simple betting system the theory behind this is to choose a minimum and maximum bet. You use the minimum amount after every loss and the maximum after every win. This is a simple way to maximise your winnings on a streak but not to lose to much when it goes wrong.
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