Card Counting Methods
Card Counting Methods
The easiest and most popular method of card counting is the Hi-Lo method which will be described here. First, you must know the point values to assign to each card. Memorize these or you will never be able to successfuly implement this strategy. Low Cards: Two, Three, Four, Five and Six cards are valued at +1. Low cards are helpful to the. Card counting techniques include the following measurements: Playing Efficiency – PE indicates how well a counting system handles changes in playing strategy. Playing efficiency is particularly important in hand-held games (one or two decks.).
The blackjack group of casino games typically involve card counting, which is a strategy that helps determine if the next hand may give a possible advantage to the dealer or to the player. Card counting techniques enable players to bet more with reduced risk when the count offers an advantage and also minimize losses in the event of an unfavorable count. Card counting methods also give the ability to modify playing decisions based on the configuration of the remaining cards.
Ideal Methods
The basic objective of a card counting method is to attach point values to each card that essentially correlate to the card’s EOR or “Effect of Removal.” This allows the player to assess the house advantage based on the configuration of the cards that are yet to be dealt. Counting methods can be differentiated according to the number of different point values that a particular method calls for.
The ideal card counting method is one that is usable by the player and gives the maximum average dollar return for each period of time when dealt at a particular rate. Keeping this ideal goal in view, different methods are designed to attain a balance of efficiency in the following categories:
Playing Efficiency
A part of the estimated profit comes from altering the playing strategy on the basis of the known modified composition of cards.
Betting Correlation
When the total of various permutations and combinations of the undealt cards provide a positive expectation to a player with an optimal playing strategy, the expectation for the player placing a bet is positive.
Insurance Correlation
A part of the expected profit from counting cards arises from taking the insurance bet, which achieves profitability at high counts.
Ease of Use
While choosing a particular card counting method, one of the important criteria should be the ease of use. Highly complex methods may overtax the human mind, which should be avoided in a game. Higher level methods and methods with side counts tend to become more complex. While trying to make such methods simpler, unbalanced methods remove the need for a player to keep a track of the number of cards that have already come into play, typically at the cost of lowering Playing Efficiency (PE).
Balanced Counting Methods
Balanced counting methods may involve running counts and true counts. The running count refers to the running total of a card’s assigned value. When following a balanced counting method, such as the Hi-Lo method, the running count is changed into a true count, which takes into account the number of decks used. In this method, the true count basically refers to the running count divided by the number of decks that have not been dealt as yet. This may be computed precisely or approximated with an average card count per round times the total number of rounds dealt. Several variations of the true count computation are available.
Back Counting or Wonging
“Wonging” or “back counting” involves standing behind a blackjack table where other players are playing, and counting the cards they are dealt. The player who is back counting will enter the game when the count has reached a point where the player has an advantage. As the advantage rises or declines, the player may increase or decrease the bets proportionately.
Latest posts by Russe (see all)
In order to win, the player must remember which cards have gone. This gives him the number of remaining cards in the shoe. Players with a good memory can do that easily, since they have to remember just 10 independant values. The bigger problem is how to exploit the knowledge about the cards distribution in the shoe.
Generally speaking, the low valued cards 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 help the player whereas high valued cards 10, J, Q, K and A help the dealer. This is pretty obvious because a card valued 5 helps the dealer to bring a stiff to a final score of 17 to 21. A stiff is a score of 12 to 16 and here the dealer is risking to bust his hand. This chart also shows, that the more high valued cards are in the shoe, the better it is for the player, whereas the more low valued cards are in the shoe, the better it is for the dealer. Depending on which cards are gone in the previous rounds, the total expectation varies between about -8% and +8%.
By removing a card from the shoe, the total expectation varies a little. Removing a card with a value from 2 through 8 increases the total expectation, whereas removing a card with a value of 9, 10, J, Q, K and Ace decreases the total expectation. Since the variation of the total expectation is the key to success when attempting to beat the dealer, it is fundamentally important to compute this value out of the current distribution.
This isn't a simple task, specially if one has to do it by mind. Therefore some people have invented simplifications. One of those simplifications is named the 'High-Low' counting method. Here the players assigns +1 to the low valued cards (2 to 6), -1 to the high valued cards (X and A) and 0 to the rest (7, 8 and 9). A player can easily sum up and remember this count value. Now he has to divide this sum through a certain factor depending on the number of decks during reshuffle. With this method the player can estimate if the total expectation is above zero, in which he shall place a higher stake.
Blackjack Card Counting Methods
The problem with all counting methods however is, that the total expectation does not vary linearly with the remaing cards in the shoe. All counting methods assume that the total expectation is a number which can be computed by a linear equation. But as we have seen, computing the total expectation is a far more complicated task, which can only be solved exactly through algorithmic analysis. For instance, take out all cards with a value of 10. The linear equation would give you a total expectation of -6.72% but algorithmic analysis computes +0.05% as the total expectation.
Card Values When Counting Cards
Three charts of representative distributions of cards
Card Counting Methods