Blackjack is the one casino game that has been perceived as being "beatable." The reason for this is because the odds change with every deal of the cards. In other words, blackjack is unique in that it is possible to alter your playing strategy on future deals based upon what happened in past deals out of any one shoe.
This concept sets the game in a class by itself. In roulette, past spins of the wheel have no bearing on what will happen in the future. In craps, past rolls of the dice have no bearing on what will happen in future rolls. The probabilities never change in these games, but in blackjack they do.
It is the ability to keep track of what cards have been dealt that separates the astute blackjack player from basic strategy players, and to an even greater extent, those players who employ no strategy whatsoever but choose rather to approach blackjack as a game of chance and make wagers according to intuition.
But, you may ask, when you're playing blackjack games that use six or even eight decks of cards, is it really worth your while to count? You bet it is! It will require you to become an interactive player instead of a passive one, but the rewards will be there.
Games played out of multi-deck shoes can make keeping track of the cards easier in that they are all dealt face up. In Las Vegas, single deck and double-deck games are dealt face down, which means you have to be quick to take notice of the cards when the dealer flips them over at the conclusion of the hand.
Just practice looking at the other player's hands instead of just your own. All the cards are out there on the table for you to see, so you might as well take advantage of the opportunity to get an edge on the game few players bother to learn.
Don't let the handle "card counter" scare you. It really isn't as difficult as some systems would have you believe. You don't have to keep a running count of every card that's dealt. Just paying attention to several "key" cards can give you enough of an edge to put you a cut above even the better-than-average blackjack players.
Let's assume you're sitting at a full table (seven players). On an average, the number of cards played out for each game is equivalent to about half a deck. If we take into account about a deck and a half is cut out of play at the shuffle, we can expect 12 or 13 hands to be played out of every shoe.
Now let's begin our simplified card tracking strategy. Remember: It's not a scientific method, so it will not be as accurate as many systems which require a great deal of study time and practice. This is designed to just get you started on acquiring an additional edge to augment basic strategy.
The only cards we're interested in are the fours, fives, sixes, and aces. Why select those cards from among all the others? Mathematically, the fours, fives, and sixes are the cards that make strong hands for the dealer. When they are depleted from the shoe, especially the 5-value cards, the better it is for the players.
The aces speak for themselves. Only when there are aces in the shoe is there the possibility of a "blackjack", which pays off at 3-2 and is one of the true advantages in playing the game.
Let's put our strategy to work. Start keeping a count of the key cards with the first deal out of the shoe. After five or six deals, about 48 of the 4-5-6 value cards should have been played. If less have been played, the remaining deals out of the shoe may favor the dealer. If more have been played (depending on how many more) the remainder of the shoe can favor the players and you may want to increase your bets accordingly.
Keep a separate count of the aces. If you know there are a lot of them still in the shoe after six deals, hope for those blackjacks to come! Many times you won't discover an advantage either way, but when you do it's a great feeling.
One word of caution. You are not allowed to bring pen and paper to the table with you. Keep your count in your head and be ready to capitalize on favorable situations instead of letting the dealer scoop up your chips game after game.
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