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Casinos> Gambling Articles > Blackjack Strategy – Understanding the True Count
Blackjack Strategy – Understanding the True Count
Card
counting is one of the most used, but least understood, of all gambling
strategy. While the basic hi-lo card
counting strategy, which simply tracks the number of cards dealt by assigning a
point value to each card, can also track the probability of high value cards
emerging from the deck, it only tells half the story.
In
order to find out how many high value cards remain in a multi-deck shoe, it is
important to also track the number of decks remaining in the shoe. For instance, a running count of +10 is much
more valuable when there are two decks remaining in the shoe than when there
are five decks left to be dealt.
Fortunately,
determining the true count requires only some basic math skills. If you know both the running count and have a
good idea of how many decks remain, it is easy to get the true count simply by
dividing the running count by the number of remaining decks. For instance, if the running count is +6
after the first round in a six deck shoe, the true count is closer to +1, since
there are still nearly six decks left to play.
A running count of +6 halfway through a six deck shoe equates to a +2
true count.
There
are several ways the savvy player can determine the number of decks remaining
in the shoe. The simplest way is to
simply eyeball the shoe. Another popular
way is to count the decks that have been played according to the number of
rounds that have been played. If there
are six players and each player gets three cards for each hand, each round will
use up about one third of the deck.
After another two rounds, the entire deck will have been played. This method requires a bit more math, but it
is typically more accurate as well, especially since many casinos are quite
skillful at “hiding” the remaining decks in an effort to thwart card counting.
The
higher the true count is, the better the advantage to the player. When used with a typical six deck shoe, each
true count point accrues a 0.5% advantage to the player. When the shoe is first shuffled, the true
count will be 0, and the dealer will have a 0.5% advantage. By the time the true count reaches +1, the
odds will have evened out, and by the time the true count reaches +2, the odds will
have tipped to the player by 0.5%.
Of
course any card counting strategy is useless without a good betting strategy to
go with it. In the following example,
the base amount is set at $5, and the shoe has been newly shuffled, providing a
true count of 0.
Ø When the true
count reaches +1 or less, bet the base amount of $5
Ø When the true
count is +2 or +3, bet twice the base amount, or $10
Ø When the true
count is +4 or +5, bet three times the base amount, or $15
Ø When the true
count is +6 or +7, bet 4 times the base amount, or $20
Ø
When the true
count is +8 or higher, bet five times the base amount, or $25
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