The Running Count

admin | Uncategorized | Tuesday, February 19th, 2008

The next step is to begin keeping a cumulative total. This means that blackjack trainer instead of reciting the actual point count value of each card as shown above, you’ll add or subtract as necessary to keep an overall total. In other words, if a 2, 5, king, 8, and 3 are dealt in succession, instead of reciting “+1, +1, -1,0, and +1,” you’ll now recite “+1, +2, +1, +1, +2.” Keep in mind that you’re always adding with each new card that is dealt, so that, for instance, -1 added to a -3 equals -4, and a -1 added to a +7 equals a +6. Right from the start you should notice how your count will rise and fall depending on what cards are dealt—sometimes going positive, sometimes remaining negative, and often fluctuating between.

As you did when committing Basic Strategy to memory, spend as much time as you need practicing the running count. Repetition is key. As with so many other endeavors, the more you practice the better you’ll become Blackjack tournaments. Adding or subtracting only 1 (or zero) from the previous total based on the last card dealt should become almost natural after only a few hours of practice. At this stage of the game, accuracy is much more important than speed, which will develop in time.

Take a deck of cards with you wherever you go, in your shirt pocket or purse. Whenever a spare moment allows, count down a deck. Make it a game by stopping just prior to the last card and then guessing its value. If you’re accurate, ending with a +1 will mean the last card is a 10 or ace. If your running count is o, you know you’re holding a 7,8, or 9. If your count is negative, then it’s definitely a low card. If you’re wrong, recount the same deck without shuffling so you can isolate and correct any kind of unusual sequence that may present a particular stumbling block.

Card Combos

admin | Uncategorized | Saturday, February 16th, 2008

Any shortcut that increases speed or cuts down on the amount of processing necessary is a benefit casinos for blackjack. For that reason, grouping combinations of cards can be beneficial, even when using a method in which card values can only increase or decrease the running count by one.

Learn those combinations that sum to zero and can thus be blackjack odds table ignored—like any high card or low card followed by the opposite. In effect, you can just skip a queen followed by a 2, or a 6 followed by an ace, or a king followed by a 5, because a +1 and a -1 cancel each other out.

As you continue to practice counting down decks, try to spot these two-card combinations when they arise—by simply gliding over them as they occur in blackjack game. In other words, see and recognize them for what they are, but don’t waste time or energy by actually adding them together. After a few times through, you should notice an increase in speed, simply because you’re no longer reciting to yourself a cumulative total after every single card.

Spend some time counting down decks in this fashion, getting more and more used to keeping a running count total by combining cards whenever practical.

Mecca for the modern-day card counters

admin | Uncategorized | Friday, February 15th, 2008

What city is home to more casinos per square mile than anywhere in the world, and also happens to be mecca for the modern-day card counter? If your answer was “Las Vegas,” you’re right. Sin City has turned up the volume yet again dealt a blackjack. And that was a good business decision, because with the popularity of casino gambling exploding across the United States, some place had to emerge as the creme de la creme of gambling towns. And that somewhere remains, indisputably, Las Vegas, Nevada.

Okay, enough about Vegas. Where else can I find casinos to throw my 1V2 percent at?

In the United States, try Atlantic City, Northern Connecticut, Gulfport/Biloxi, Reno/Lake Tahoe, Chicagoland, Minnesota, Michigan, St. Louis, New Orleans, Niagara Falls—the list goes on and on, and includes hundreds of casinos for blackjack riverboats and Indian casinos all over the United States. By the way, unless you’re from the Upper Midwest, I’ll bet you didn’t know that the state of Minnesota alone has about nineteen operating casinos.

On the international front, casinos can be found in many countries all over the world. They’re just a little more low-key than those in America. Don’t expect mega-structures with 6,000-room hotels over-looking a volcano. In fact, in some European countries it’s very possible to pass a casino on the street and not even know of its existence behind the glass doors of what could easily be mistaken as a private club or office. Serious players find out where the games are and what rules apply—without the aid of blinking lights or garish advertisement. It’s a whole different kind of interface—you’ll know what I mean if you ever play in other countries.

Some better-known international destinations offering casino gambling include the Caribbean, Canada, London, Amsterdam, Monte Carlo, and all over the Pacific Rim, including the major cities in Australia.

« Previous Page