Dear Mark,
Over the years, I have moved from being a hack blackjack
player to one who plays perfect basic strategy.
To evolve into an even better player, I am considering
counting cards. How important is memory for those
of us who have our "senior moments"? Also,
where can I find a book on the subject of card counting?
Ralph T.
Counting
doesn't necessarily take an abundance of gray matter,
Ralph. You already know that counting establishes mathematically
the degree to which the as-yet-undealt deck favors the
dealer or the player. It does this by tracking the changing
imbalance of big and little cards in the diminishing
deck.
Card counters, theoretically, have an advantage, varying
between 0.5% and 1.5%, over the casino. Actual counting
is quite simple.
A deck that has lost
many low cards and is now fat with high cards (10,
jack, queen, king, ace) favors the player, while
the reverse case, an excess of low cards (2, 3,
4, 5, 6) favors the dealer.
All card-counting systems keep track of the ratio
of small cards to big cards remaining in the deck.
When that ratio favors the counting player, he/she
bets more money; when it favors the dealer, the
counter bets less.
The simplest count to learn is a one level count,
a.k.a. the Hi-Lo counting system. It assigns the
following count values to each card.
2, 3, 4, 5, 6 (small cards)....+1
7, 8, 9 (neutral cards).. 0
10, J, Q, K, ace (big cards)....-1
To use the Hi-Lo method, as the new deck begins,
there is as yet no imbalance between the high and
low cards except for the possible discard(s), so
you visualize a zero as the starting figure. As
each card is dealt, you add to or subtract from
that imbalance figure the card's value as shown
above.
For example, you have played a bit, and now the
deck is half gone-26 cards remaining. You've been
counting, and the current imbalance figure that
you have been quietly tracking lies plus-7. Pretty
good! If the dealer has to hit his hand, the remaining
26-card deck is short seven of the cards he would
like to rely on. But let's say he catches his hand
with two small cards and the count goes to plus-9
with 24 cards remaining. Many players would bet
the farm on the next hand.
You vary your bets, from one hand to the next, guided
by the constantly updated imbalance figure, which
predicts that the next hand will favor you or favor
the dealer.
For books on the subject of card counting, any bookstore
would carry publications on counting, but your best
bet is to check at the Gamblers Book Club (GBC:
800-522-1777). The volume of work on card counting
is extensive, and the Gamblers Book Club probably
has every text ever written on the subject, meritoriously
described in their FREE catalog. Final recommendation:
Don't quit your day job!
