Tips on How to Count Blackjack Cards in Las Vegas for Beginners

If you want to bring down the house or get a distinct edge over them as a beginner, you’ll need to employ strategies that would beat them out of the water.

One of these tactics is card counting, and it has been used by thousands of blackjack gamblers over the years as they brought down the house. However, you need to be careful as casinos don’t want you to use this strategy since they know they’ll lose.

But you can be wise and discreet in using this method if you go to casinos to play blackjack. That game is popular and fun where the objective is to achieve a hand total value that is greater than the dealers, and a way to accomplish this is through card counting.

Simply put, card counting is a strategy in blackjack which allows players to track the cards as they are being played so they can bet accordingly. This method gives players a distinct advantage of 1 to 2% over the house.

Before anything else, however, you need to the best places to play blackjack in Las Vegas. Not every casino in Vegas is made equal and there are those whom you’ll have an inherent edge over the house to begin with, so you need to choose wisely and pick your battleground like a strategist in war. Reading some Sun Tzu along the way can help as well.

Counting Cards in Blackjack to Win

Firstly, you need to learn to count cards, but although it may sound hard, it’s not because here’s the step-by-step guide on how you can do it.

Assign a Positive, Negative, or Zero to Face and Number Cards

You need to ensure assigning value to every card to keep tracking as easy as possible. For example, assigning -1 per ace and 9, 0 per 10 and picture card, and +1 per 2-6 can make your life much easier. When each card is played, you need to add up the total and track the count, either adding one, subtracting one, or doing nothing depending on the card’s value.

Keep a Running Count Dependent on the Cards Dealt

Maintain a running count through the addition and subtraction of the value of each card that’s being dealt. For example, if you began with a count of 9 then an ace is played, add -1 to obtain a count of 8 instead. If a 5 is played in this instance, add 1 to get a count of 9 once more. You need to maintain this kind of composure throughout the entire game if you hope to succeed and win big.

As such, you need to know that card counting is a tracking system in blackjack where the player keeps track of the cards to deliver a distinct advantage over the house to bet accordingly based on their edge. Keeping track of values is one of the best ways how to count cards in blackjack since the player will get a sense of the cards left in the deck to adjust their betting strategy accordingly. However, there are different card-counting systems out there, so you’ll need to keep researching and practicing improving your counting skills.

Alter Bets Depending on Their Edge

As a countermeasure to card counting, casinos usually will start using multiple decks to throw you off guard, which makes it more difficult for the player to keep track, but not impossible. In a multiple-deck play, the player must then change the running count into a true count, considering the number of decks being used to the point that allows the player to know the advantage they have at any given time.

Counting Cards with Single Deck

If you hope to succeed, you need a card-counting system that matches your current play in blackjack. This is especially through with a single deck as well since when a player knows how to count cards with 1 deck, they will gain a great edge over the casino and other players.

As with any game, the first step is usually to find the right game. Generally, you would want to find a blackjack game using one deck of cards only. This makes the whole card counting much easier since you’re only dealing with one deck.

Having found a single blackjack game means that you now need to learn the basic strategy for that game. The basic strategy tells you how to play your hand based on the cards deal and is a set of rules you must follow if you want to succeed. There are many card-counting methods, but the Hi-Lo system is among the most popular ones.

Without employing any of these strategies, the house is always bound to win because casinos are not charities, they’re businesses wanting to earn more money at the end of the day. If you’re a beginner, you’d always want to start with single-deck blackjack games instead of multiple decks.

Conclusion

Whether you’re a beginner or an expert, card counting is among the best blackjack strategies you can employ to have an advantage against playing the house. It is a novice mistake to just go into a casino without any plan because you’ll risk losing a lot of money as the odds aren’t in your favor. Ensure that you read up more on card counting if you ever hope to win big in Las Vegas.