Exploring The Myth of Card Counting

The story of card counting began centuries ago when French punters playing a precursor to blackjack wanted to beat the game. While there was no formalized strategy, the basic idea of following card appearances and predicting the next card was the same as today. What we now understand as card counting emerged in the early 1960s thanks to Dr. Edward O. Thorp, a mathematics professor at MIT, whose book “Beat the Dealer” appeared in 1962.

Throp’s book detailed various blackjack strategies, including his method of card counting. The latter relied on tracking the ratio of high cards (tens and aces) to low cards (2s through 6s) remaining in the deck. The method was improved by the MIT Blackjack Team, showcased in the 2008 American heist drama film “21”.

However, the evolution of card counting did not stop there, as various systems eventually emerged. Some of the most popular ones include Hi-Lo count, KO count, and Omega II count. In this article, we will teach you how to use the Hi-Lo strategy.

The Legality of Card Counting

Hollywood movies make it seem as if card counting is the most illegal activity on the planet. However, there is actually nothing technically illegal about card counting. While it can give you an advantage, it does not break any laws. Despite this legal aspect, you will still experience pushback from pit bosses and casino floormen, usually one per six tables, that supervise table games.

A casino cannot call the cops and have you arrested for counting cards, but it can ask you to leave the premises. While detecting card counting is a bit tricky because the entire process is mental, things such as moving your mouth when counting can give you away and have you kicked out of a casino. It is, therefore, crucial to master the art of counting cards before using it in actual scenarios.

How Card Counting Works

Let us dive right into the nitty gritty of card counting and teach you how to count cards the easy way. We will be teaching you the Hi-Lo strategy, which is essentially:

• Assigning card values - The Hi-Lo strategy assigns values to cards, with high cards (10s, face cards, and aces) receiving the value -1, while low cards (2 through 6) receive a value of +1. The remaining neutral cards (7, 8, and 9) are given the value 0. The system is considered balanced because the sum of all values in a full deck amounts to 0.
• Keeping a running count - You have to keep a running count of card values based on the assigned values from the first part of the strategy as the cards are dealt. You restart the count at 0 when the dealer shuffles the deck or decks.
• Running count example - Let us understand this a bit better by looking at an example. Let us say that you are playing a game of blackjack or poker with only one deck. If the cards are dealt as 5 (count: +1), King (count: -1), 3 (count: +1), 10 (count: -1), 7 (count: 0), and Ace (count -1). Your running count amounts to 1 -1 +1 -1 + 0 -1 = -1.
• Calculating the true count - The running count itself does not give enough information because it does not consider how many cards are left in a deck. You, therefore, have to calculate the "true count", which you get by dividing the running count by the proportion of cards remaining in the deck.
• True count example - The idea of a true count might be a bit abstract, which is why this example might help you understand it a bit better. If you are playing a game with one deck, your running count is -1, and there is about 1/3 of the deck left to be played, then your true count is -1 / (1/3), so -3.
• Betting strategy - All of these calculations and approximations then lead to actual count usage. If the true count is positive, there are more high cards than low cards left in the deck. Conversely, if the true count is negative or close to zero, there are more low cards than high cards in the deck. You can then adjust your betting accordingly.

The Usefulness of Card Counting

Some punters argue that card counting is obsolete because of automatic card shufflers and the usage of multiple decks. These concerns are voiced even louder in the world of online RNG-based gambling, where decks, sometimes multiple at once, can be easily shuffled after every single card deal.

However, card counting is nonetheless a viable strategy when playing live online casino games, especially those that only feature a dealer and lack an assistant dedicated to shuffling cards. Moreover, counting cards is a very fun party trick that you can use in casual poker or blackjack games with your friends.

The Future of Card Counting

While technology is directly threatening card counting, with advanced surveillance systems and algorithms to detect card counting behavior, it is also helping make it comically easy. Punters not only have access to software and tools for counting cards, but they can also directly integrate computer vision into VR headsets, including the Apple Vision Pro that we talked about in a previous article. These solutions allow punters to get card predictions in real-time without lifting a finger.