Are you are blackjack enthusiast? Counting a dealer’s cards is a popular tactic but casinos don’t condone it.
Card counting is one of the strategies used to win blackjack games. Blackjack players count the number of high and low valued cards a dealer has to try and beat a casino’s house edge. Players bet more when they have an advantage and less when the dealer has an advantage. Edward O. Thorp, an American mathematician, is known for his book Beat the Dealer, which explained card counting strategies. Although card counting is legal, casinos have devised ways to beat this practice because it affects their profits.
Card Counting Strategies
Since most casinos ban card counting, you must use this technique discreetly. Beginners can use a basic card counting strategy that assigns values to cards they can memorize. Most advanced players use tactics like wrong halves, group plays, multiple decks, etc to maximize their wins.
For instance, some blackjack players use a big-player group strategy to win. They have card counters called spotters that seat at tables to identify players who have an advantage. A spotter signals this information to a Big Player (BP) who joins the game and wagers maximum bets at the player’s advantage. When a spotter notes that the count has reduced, he signals the BP to leave that table. This table-hopping helps a BP to avoid all unfavorable plays. You can use these card counting strategies when playing blackjack games on sites like Slot Malaysia.
What Sells You Out As You Count Cards
Once a casino worker detects a card counter for the first time, there are several factors they look out for to confirm their claims. Some moves like hopping tables, placing large bets at the end of a shoe only, choosing to play multiple hands, wagering large sums of money, etc. show you’re counting cards,
How Casinos Can Catch You Counting Cards
Some states in the U.S. have legal restrictions on what a casino can do to catch card counters. Others, like New Jersey, are against the measures mentioned below. Casinos don’t mind if you count cards but if you make it obvious they use the following measures to catch you.
Casino Personnel
Casino staff simply study your body language to determine if you’re counting cards. Pit bosses are floor casino staff members that monitor your behavior. Casinos also use video surveillance tactics and computer analytics to spot behavior that corresponds with card counting.
Facial Recognition Technology
Some casinos use surveillance cameras with inbuilt facial recognition to identify card counting cheats. If the casino’s system recognizes you as a card counter, a casino has the right to kick you out. This technology can detect banned players who wear disguises in casinos. According to the law, this is a trespassing offense and casino owners can report you to authorities.
Databases of Advantage Players
Casinos consult with databases that have details of blackjack advantage players. Several agencies, like Biometrica and Oregon Surveillance Network, have these services. Casinos use this information to bar identified card counters from their establishments.
Measures Casinos Take to Prevent Card Counting
Casinos always shuffle cards at the beginning of each round in a shoe to give the house advantage and to disorient card counters. Shuffling interferes with a card counter’s track of a dealer’s cards because it reduces penetration or the number of seen cards in a shoe. Dealers also shuffle cards when a player suddenly increases their wager. If the remaining cards on a table favor a player, the dealer shuffles the cards too. Casinos also use automatic shuffling machines to shuffle cards quickly. Other measures include;
- Banning and blacklisting card counters for life
- Changing a table’s stakes and rules for moves like doubling down
- Stopping players from joining a round mid-shoe
- Confiscating chips
- Reducing the number of dealt cards before a shuffle
- Refusing to pay your wins, etc
If you play your cards right and avoid detection, you can win blackjack games. You can walk away from hot decks and practice how to count cards with your peripheral vision.
Conclusion
Counting cards is a legal blackjack strategy that players use to win profits. However, casinos ban this practice to protect their interest. If you want to count cards at your next blackjack game, do so discreetly.