Blackjack cards rules
So, you've learned how blackjack is played, you've learned the Five Basic Play Rules of Thumbs, and memorized BlackJack Basic Strategy. Not bad. The next step on the road of becoming a BlackJack master is the aquisition of a skill called Card Counting.
Contrary to popular belief, Card Counting is not illegal. You cannot get arrested for counting cards in a casino, however the casino (if they suspect you are a card counter) may ask you nicely to leave. Usually they do this by saying something along the lines of "Sir, you're too good for us. We welcome you to play any of our other games, but we can't allow you to play blackjack here." The player usually has some idea that this is going to happen because floormen and pit bosses start lurking about... analyzing your play, watching your chipstack get higher and higher. Getting booted is seldomly a surprise. It is the players duty to be cautious when counting cards... we'll get into that a bit later.
The concept of counting cards is simple, yet oft misunderstood. The casual player thinks that card counting is memorizing every card that has been played... a feat unfit for mere mortals. In actuality, Card Counting is the act of keeping track of the Deck Composition of yet-to-be-played cards by keeping track of the ratio of low cards (2-7) to high value cards (Aces and 10s) that have already been played.
Now let me explain that in English. If more low cards than 10 value cards have already been played, then we know that there are a proportionately higher number of high cards left in the deck. If there are more high cards in the unplayed deck, the player is at a greater advantage. Why? Because with a higher percentage of high value cards in the deck there is more opportunity for the player to receive BlackJacks, 20s and other high hands and there is more of a likelyhood that the dealer will bust if they have to draw a third card to their hand.
So how does the player keep track of all of these cards? Frankly, it isn't easy, it takes steady practice and dedication to analyze and tally The Count in real life casino situation. These discractions can include conversations with other players, speedy dealers, cocktail waitresses, heat from floormen and pit bosses, the noise of the slot machines... all that stuff). However with enough practice, anyone can learn to count cards.
The MIT Blackjack Team was a group of students and ex-students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard Business School, Harvard University, and other leading colleges who used card-counting techniques and more sophisticated strategies to beat casinos at blackjack worldwide. The team and its successors operated successfully from...
