Tricks to Blackjack

No, I’m not going to teach you card tricks here, but I am going to show you a few interesting ways to practice the count you’ve decided to learn and then teach you the methods we use to keep track of the cards as they’re played at the casino. Developing your speed at counting is an important part of your training, because if you can’t count quickly at home, you’ll never keep up with the dealer in a casino. Inaccurate counting can cause you to give up any edge you have over the house and it’s frustrating to constantly “drop” the count when a faster dealer comes along.

At this point you should have the point values of each card memorized and you might be doing some single-card countdowns of a deck. I’m sure you’re slow at it, but that’s OK, since accuracy is the most important factor right now. Speed will come as you work your way through the exercises I’ll show you this week.

Pairs Value Practice

Just as you learned the point value of each card according to the system you wish to use, here you will learn the point value of different PAIRS of cards. This is one of the real “tricks” of the card-counting business: the ability to count cards in pairs. With enough practice, you’ll see a hand of Queen, Jack as both a “20” and an M-2. That capability will bring speed to your game. Here are the values of pairs using the Hi / Lo method of counting:

Hand Net Point Value

-2

-1

+1

+2

Important! Make sure you understand why each pair is valued as shown and don’t forget
that if you’re learning a different count, these pairs may have different values.

If you understand everything above, then start going through a single deck and turn two cards over at a time. DO NOT keep a running count, just recite the value of each pair so you can get used to the adding and subtracting which is required. Do this until you are totally familiar with the values of all possible pairs. Then do it some more.

Laying down a good foundation here will allow you to build your speed quickly later on, so this exercise is time well spent. For you “Type-A’s” out there, you might even push this to learning 3-card values. That is a very helpful skill to have, particularly if you intend to play one-on-one with a dealer, since you always see 3 cards at once; your initial pair and the dealer’s up card. Most of you will want to begin play at tables with other players since things move slower that way, but like I said — knowing the 3-card values won’t hurt.

Pairs Countdown

Once again, remove three random cards from a single deck and set them aside. (No peeking!) Now, turn over the cards two at a time, keep a running (cumulative) count of the deck and check your accuracy by adding the cards you set aside in at the end. This exercise will be your primary way of practicing card counting.

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