Let's face it, folks; card counting has been around for as long as we can remember. In 1962, legendary player Edward Thorp published the world-famous card counting book Beat the Dealer. That was the first of hundreds of similar books written by blackjack enthusiasts worldwide. We've even seen Hollywood box office sensations like The Hangover, 21, and Rainman showcase card counting in all its glory. For those looking for a more intimate behind-the-scenes expose, documentaries on card counting include Holy Rollers, Breaking Vegas, and The Hot Shoe. In 2015, Matt Groening's Simpsons featured an episode dedicated to card counting titled Sky Police.
Given all this fanfare, it is no surprise that card counting is generally attributed to blackjack games. However, players can apply card counting in a much more general way to various casino card games. Consider card counting for numerous betting opportunities at the casino whenever cards are dealt from a shoe or a single deck. Card counting is also a viable strategy when multiple rounds of cards are dealt between deck shuffles. Card counting is based on the simple principle that the house edge for bets continually changes as cards are removed from the shoe. Players are not required to remember every card played – that's why the term card counting is a misnomer.
The more accurate term is proportioning, although this is hardly as eloquent as the catchphrase card counting. Counting cards is a lot simpler than many people believe. Most methods of card counting require the Player to identify two distinct groups of cards. These include bad cards and good cards. Then, an elementary system is used to gauge whether more good cards than bad cards exist. Next, players must remember the proportion of good versus bad cards remaining. Once that figure is determined, the card counter estimates when bets become favourable. Finally, players raise the stakes when the edge is in their favour – that's how you beat the house.
Let's take an example to illustrate how card counting works in practice. In blackjack, the Player needs to know the proportion of high-value cards in the shoe or the deck. High-value cards include Tens, Jacks, Queens, Kings, and Aces. Low-value cards include 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. Recall that 7, 8, and 9 have a neutral value and are not counted. We know that high-value cards are favourable to players. The reasons for this are clear: players form more winning blackjack hands and double-down bets get much better results. In addition, the dealer tends to bust out more frequently when the card count is favourable to high-value cards.
By contrast, low-value cards favour the house. Players form fewer blackjack hands, and double-downs tend to perform poorly. The dealer tends to make many more winning hands with low-value cards. Players require a rudimentary technique to track the proportion of high-value and low-value cards. The precise methodology for keeping track of cards varies from one card-counting method to the next. To keep it simple, we will skip this section and focus on several unique blackjack games worth playing.
Have you ever wandered through a casino searching for blackjack games? You will likely come across several variants, such as Super Fun 21, Spanish 21, Free Bet Blackjack, Pontoon, and Blackjack Switch. Want to know something? Each of these blackjack games is beatable with the right card-counting strategy. Granted, it is easier to use card counting in certain games and more difficult in others. For example, look at the Amazon website, and you'll find a great book on how to beat Pontoon and Spanish 21. These are blackjack games with high-value and low-value cards in play. When the count is in your favour, it's time to raise the stakes.
Let's turn our attention to card counting in other casino card games. To see how these systems work, let's imagine that you have the opportunity to place a proposition bet that you will form blackjack on the next hand dealt to you. We know that the good cards – the 10-value cards include Tens, Jacks, Queens, Kings, and Aces. These cards are needed to get blackjack – blackjack is a 10-value card + Ace. Low-value cards include all the other numbers – 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. A good high-card value count is great for blackjack players.
There is another side bet in blackjack worth considering. It involves the dealer's first two cards being red-coloured cards. These include Diamonds and Hearts. To determine the odds of this proposition bet paying off, we need to split the deck into 26 red and 26 black cards. Card counters love these types of bets. Proposition bets such as these can also occur in other casino card games like baccarat. You wouldn't believe the damage the 1962 book Beat the Dealer had on the casino industry. They were reeling. This technique was also applied to baccarat, with high-value cards 8 and 9.
Players can also beat the game of baccarat by using card counting techniques. However, all the effort required to beat the game isn't worth the return on investment (ROI). If you place a set of bets worth C$1000, whenever the Player has a relative advantage on Player Bets or Banker Bets, the profit potential is equivalent to a cup of tea a week. It's just not worth all the effort. Like blackjack games, inventors conjured up multiple iterations of the baccarat game. Some of these games have been wholly owned by card counters.
The Game of Baccarat
The card-counting community has taken issue with the Tie Bet in baccarat. Let's consider a situation where we are getting towards the end of a shoe, and the remaining cards have a zero value. Recall that zero-value cards in baccarat include 10-Jack-Queen-King. If you are dealt any of these cards, they don't add anything to your hand value. That's why a 0-0 outcome is a distinct possibility between the Player and the Banker's hand. There are, of course, other groups of cards that can result in a Tie.
For example, even-value cards. This is where an experienced card counter can benefit from memorizing groups of cards that provide an edge. You can watch baccarat shoes and bide your time until an 'End Play' situation arises. From a theoretical point of view, these situations can be powerful. But, truthfully, these opportunities are a rarity. You are more likely to grow old and grey while waiting for end plays to result.
However, there are still some great opportunities available with Tie Bets. A game creator got the idea to separate Tie Bets into ten distinct bets. He created a set of side bets expressly for players to wager individually on the following bet selections: 0-0, 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, 4-4, 5-5, 6-6, 7-7, 8-8, and 9-9. For this, a different card-counting system was devised for tracking individual tie results. The card counters adopted a team approach, where each member was assigned to count a specific tie bet. When a card counter bets on their tie, the teammates follow his decisions and place bets on the same tie.
Another bet available to baccarat players is the Baccarat Pairs Bet. For this bet, players wager that the Player or Banker's hand gets dealt a pair in the first two cards. This can be a challenging Bet for card counters because there are no good or bad cards in the Pairs bet. Card counters bide their time in this situation until a substantial imbalance occurs. A card counter can determine when the edge is favourable by implementing a simple mathematical formula. You can create spreadsheets to track the house edge with live online play.
Introducing the Baccarat Pairs Bet
CSM, a.k.a; continuous shuffling machines, are thought to be the death knell for card counters. But it's not quite the case. There is a reason why CSMs are not impervious to card counting, and it's attributed to a phenomenon known as latency. All cards currently in play are in the CSM until the next round. At the same time, the shuffler's cards for the next game have already been provided. Gaining an edge may be difficult under these conditions, but it's still possible. Certain jurisdictions make it problematic to implement card counting with these CSMs.
Nowadays, card counting has taken on an entirely different meaning. It's not limited to blackjack card counting. Various card-counting strategies offer a higher win rate than blackjack card counting. Any casino card game with continuous shuffling machines or shoes is susceptible to card counting. Only a few things are needed to beat the house, notably:
* The card-counting system
* The presence of better options
* The win rate of the card game
* The availability of the casino game
Advanced card players understand that there are always ways to beat casino games. However, the most critical factor is which opportunity to choose. That's why the presence of better options is essential. Traditional card counting with blackjack is at the bottom of the list – there are many other casino games for talented players to consider.
