Here are all the comments posted on the site, with the most recent discussions listed first. To participate in any of these discussions, you can reply on the article page.
Hi im fairly new in blackajck and im in the process of reading all your lessons, ive asked in other threats but i wanted your answer. Might sound like a stupid question, but i play in a casino in spain where they play with 6 decks and usually shuffle after 1/ 1.5 decks. Do you recommend any particular method, lesson or believe i should use the hi low sistem under this scenario to beat the dealer? Thanks!
The news isn’t good. The game you describe, dealing 1 to 1.5 decks out of 6 is almost unbeatable with counting. That is 25% penetration at best. Positive situations will only rarely arise that early in the shoe, and the cost of playing the other hands even at minimum bet will overwhelm the occasional edge on the good hands.
Sorry, but you will need to find a game with better conditions to have an edge with card counting.
Man, dont know about this system… I mean it doesn’t seem to work as you are saying… I’ve played many hours in 6decks shoe online live casino (you see the shoe and the dealer) , totally of 70.000 euros in bets, I’m playing only at TC >1 and i am losing atm 3000euro… Many times I went losing streaks of 10-15 continuing bets, i did some 2wins 20loses and 3wins 30loses, while i have never won more than 7 continuing times and usually not more than 3-4 times in a row (while losing 7-10 times in a row happens very often). And the most important thing is that when the TC is 4+ I’ve been losing the majority of my bets (about 80%). I m kinda disappointed, I dont think im just “unlucky” and my loss is just statistics since 70,000euros are many many bets. Shouldn’t I be winning more than 50% of my bets since I’m playing only in TC>1 ? I have been doing EXACTLY what the game master suggests and betting exactly as he says, not once i did something wrong… You are saying that you play TC> -1 and you make money, how come i play TC >1 and I’m losing? Thank you for your time, I hope for an answer.
It could be a lot of things, but the most likely is that you are still looking at too small a sample size. You don’t quantify how many hands you played other than “many, many bets”. Until that number is in the tens of thousands of hands, your results in a six deck game with very poor penetration is going to dominated by variance. (Go read about N0 (N-Zero) to learn more about that.)
Also, you still have at least one misunderstanding about the game. You will never win 50% of your hands, even in super-high counts. See https://blackjackincolor.com/truecount5.htm
If you are serious about the game, get some software, check your expected results and practice with the software.
Last of all, since you are playing “live online”, in my experience the shoes in those games are typically brought to the table already shuffled. This of course could be a way for casinos to cheat.
As for the online casino I’m playing, the penetration varies from 70-83% , usually around 75% (pretty good) and the decks are opened in front of you, you see all the cards, and then they shufle them in front of you.
I guess I’ll continue playing till I have more of a sample than the 70k euros (i beliene its around 10-11k bets), I can afford to lose some more money 😛
I watched your link and I have 1 more question if I may. If only at TC 18+ you win a bet more often than you lose, how is it possible to make money (I’ve never seen TC more than 9)? Again thank you for your time!
“The effect of surrender for an accurate basic strategy player is to reduce the house edge by somewhere between 0.07% and 0.09% depending on the other rules of the game. If you are a $10 bettor, you should save about 50 cents an hour over the long run. While this improvement is small, every little bit helps. For a card counter, surrender is considerably more valuable for several reasons.”
What is the percentage of reduction if I am a card counter?
The amount of benefit surrender provides for a counter depends on almost everything that can change in the game, penetration, bet spread, etc. There is no convenient one-size-fits-all answer, and I don’t have an estimate at hand. If you need an answer, get some software to check your specific conditions.
Playing heads up against the dealer is great, for one main reason. It’s fast! With no other players to slow down the game, you get more hands per hour and therefore a higher long-term win rate per hour. Of course, this assumes you are counting and playing accurately. But to answer your question, this is a good thing for a counter.
The dealers have there own way of cheating. while you are distracted by the shill sitting next to you, the dealers covering up the cards so you are forced to think of other things. I had a dealer shuffle the cards around before putting them in the discard trey. acting like they had slipped out of his hands and he also kept winning so i studyed him for a few hands and left the table still with half my chips.some dealers or good enough that they keep track of patterns or clumps i should say.
KEN I HAVE BEEN COUNTING CARDS FOR ALMOST 0NE YEAR, I GOT YOUR BASIC STRATEGY CHARTS FOR 6 DECKS IT HAS REALLY HELPED ME. MY QUESTIONS IS OR OBSERVATION IS I SEEM TO FIND IT EAYSER TO COUNT CARDS WHEN ITS JUST ME AND THE DEALER. BUT ON A BAD SHOE I FOUND ITS REAL EASY TO SEE MY MONEY DISAPEAR. I CAN KEEP TRACK OF THE COUNT BETTER WHEN I JUST PLAY AGAINST THE DEALER. IS THIS A GOOD OR BAD HABIT TO GET INTO? THANKS
If he suspected counting, the first tactic would usually be decreasing the penetration. The fact that he wanted to check the cards (and that’s likely why he switched to hand shuffle for a while) indicates that he was perhaps concerned about the cards being marked. He could have been looking for subtle physical damage or visible ink spots that an unscrupulous player could impart while playing. I would not worry much at this point, and would just stay aware of whatever attention you are getting. In many small casinos, the pit has very little else to do, so they’re almost guaranteed to watch your play closely. You asked about a book… At low bet limits, I think spending money on camouflage is too expensive. If you are still interested, a good book on the topic is Ian Anderson’s Burning the Tables in Las Vegas.
Lastly, sorry, but I have no plans for a digital version of the strategy cards at this time.
Hi im fairly new in blackajck and im in the process of reading all your lessons, ive asked in other threats but i wanted your answer. Might sound like a stupid question, but i play in a casino in spain where they play with 6 decks and usually shuffle after 1/ 1.5 decks. Do you recommend any particular method, lesson or believe i should use the hi low sistem under this scenario to beat the dealer? Thanks!
The news isn’t good. The game you describe, dealing 1 to 1.5 decks out of 6 is almost unbeatable with counting. That is 25% penetration at best. Positive situations will only rarely arise that early in the shoe, and the cost of playing the other hands even at minimum bet will overwhelm the occasional edge on the good hands.
Sorry, but you will need to find a game with better conditions to have an edge with card counting.
On your blackjack strategy trainer can you use it to count cards?
Of course. The trainer uses a random shuffle, and shows you when the shuffle happens. Count away.
Man, dont know about this system… I mean it doesn’t seem to work as you are saying… I’ve played many hours in 6decks shoe online live casino (you see the shoe and the dealer) , totally of 70.000 euros in bets, I’m playing only at TC >1 and i am losing atm 3000euro… Many times I went losing streaks of 10-15 continuing bets, i did some 2wins 20loses and 3wins 30loses, while i have never won more than 7 continuing times and usually not more than 3-4 times in a row (while losing 7-10 times in a row happens very often). And the most important thing is that when the TC is 4+ I’ve been losing the majority of my bets (about 80%). I m kinda disappointed, I dont think im just “unlucky” and my loss is just statistics since 70,000euros are many many bets. Shouldn’t I be winning more than 50% of my bets since I’m playing only in TC>1 ? I have been doing EXACTLY what the game master suggests and betting exactly as he says, not once i did something wrong… You are saying that you play TC> -1 and you make money, how come i play TC >1 and I’m losing? Thank you for your time, I hope for an answer.
It could be a lot of things, but the most likely is that you are still looking at too small a sample size. You don’t quantify how many hands you played other than “many, many bets”. Until that number is in the tens of thousands of hands, your results in a six deck game with very poor penetration is going to dominated by variance. (Go read about N0 (N-Zero) to learn more about that.)
Also, you still have at least one misunderstanding about the game. You will never win 50% of your hands, even in super-high counts. See https://blackjackincolor.com/truecount5.htm
If you are serious about the game, get some software, check your expected results and practice with the software.
Last of all, since you are playing “live online”, in my experience the shoes in those games are typically brought to the table already shuffled. This of course could be a way for casinos to cheat.
As for the online casino I’m playing, the penetration varies from 70-83% , usually around 75% (pretty good) and the decks are opened in front of you, you see all the cards, and then they shufle them in front of you.
I guess I’ll continue playing till I have more of a sample than the 70k euros (i beliene its around 10-11k bets), I can afford to lose some more money 😛
I watched your link and I have 1 more question if I may. If only at TC 18+ you win a bet more often than you lose, how is it possible to make money (I’ve never seen TC more than 9)? Again thank you for your time!
How do you make money without winning over 50% of hands? Blackjack pays 3:2. Doubles and splits. That’s it.
Its 6decks, DA2, DAS, No surrender, No re-split
Also i always take insurrance at TC>3
Ken,
What is the difference between early and late surrender?
See Blackjack Surrender Explained
“The effect of surrender for an accurate basic strategy player is to reduce the house edge by somewhere between 0.07% and 0.09% depending on the other rules of the game. If you are a $10 bettor, you should save about 50 cents an hour over the long run. While this improvement is small, every little bit helps. For a card counter, surrender is considerably more valuable for several reasons.”
What is the percentage of reduction if I am a card counter?
The amount of benefit surrender provides for a counter depends on almost everything that can change in the game, penetration, bet spread, etc. There is no convenient one-size-fits-all answer, and I don’t have an estimate at hand. If you need an answer, get some software to check your specific conditions.
Doesn’t work with current version of .NET
Hey thanks ken,
Thats some good info.
Playing heads up against the dealer is great, for one main reason. It’s fast! With no other players to slow down the game, you get more hands per hour and therefore a higher long-term win rate per hour. Of course, this assumes you are counting and playing accurately. But to answer your question, this is a good thing for a counter.
The dealers have there own way of cheating. while you are distracted by the shill sitting next to you, the dealers covering up the cards so you are forced to think of other things. I had a dealer shuffle the cards around before putting them in the discard trey. acting like they had slipped out of his hands and he also kept winning so i studyed him for a few hands and left the table still with half my chips.some dealers or good enough that they keep track of patterns or clumps i should say.
KEN I HAVE BEEN COUNTING CARDS FOR ALMOST 0NE YEAR,
I GOT YOUR BASIC STRATEGY CHARTS FOR 6 DECKS IT HAS REALLY HELPED ME.
MY QUESTIONS IS OR OBSERVATION IS I SEEM TO FIND IT EAYSER TO COUNT CARDS WHEN ITS JUST ME AND THE DEALER.
BUT ON A BAD SHOE I FOUND ITS REAL EASY TO SEE MY MONEY DISAPEAR.
I CAN KEEP TRACK OF THE COUNT BETTER WHEN I JUST PLAY AGAINST THE DEALER.
IS THIS A GOOD OR BAD HABIT TO GET INTO?
THANKS
I need your excel calculations for my project.
Can you mail it to me?
mail: [email protected]
If he suspected counting, the first tactic would usually be decreasing the penetration. The fact that he wanted to check the cards (and that’s likely why he switched to hand shuffle for a while) indicates that he was perhaps concerned about the cards being marked. He could have been looking for subtle physical damage or visible ink spots that an unscrupulous player could impart while playing.
I would not worry much at this point, and would just stay aware of whatever attention you are getting. In many small casinos, the pit has very little else to do, so they’re almost guaranteed to watch your play closely. You asked about a book… At low bet limits, I think spending money on camouflage is too expensive. If you are still interested, a good book on the topic is Ian Anderson’s Burning the Tables in Las Vegas.
Lastly, sorry, but I have no plans for a digital version of the strategy cards at this time.