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Card Counting Techniques
Introduction to card counting
Card counting is an advanced playing technique that's suitable for most card games. Originally invented by prof Thorp, card counting works by employing a hybrid system to predict which cards are likely to be in the shoe.
Based on this estimation, a player can predict whether the deck is in favorable or unfavorable position for the player during the game. One should not forget, however, that the card counting techniques are designed for "real world" card decks where there's durability and statistical consistence present across the games, which is not the case with online casinos as most online casino software randomly reshuffles the deck before every game.
It is nearly impossible for an average player to recall which cards were played in past games. To route around this problem, card counting systems often implement score based evaluations, which are used to represent the "field situation" in the deck. As an example, we can bring here the classic "High-Low" card counting system.
The High-Low system assumes that the deck is favorable for the player when it is short on cards from 2 to 8 which might or might not apply to particular games. Shortage on the rest of cards (9, Tens and Aces) is therefore disadvantageous. When the deck is favorable, one should be posting larger bets as they would be in higher likelihood of winning; and vice versa. you should wager larger bets, otherwise, wager smaller ones.
Being combined with progressive betting systems, the High Low can become especially powerful, for instance, in Blackjack, where you can combine your Basic strategy and have a nice ready made card counting system.
Every time a card is put on the table, a player would write down or memorize the new score for the deck. Advantageous (in terms of not being left in the deck) cards are given a positive score increase; in turn the disadvantageous cards have a negative influence. Deck starts with a zero score right after the shuffle (this might not be true in particular cases or with other card counting systems!).
Specifically in High-Low, low cards are given +1 score, high cards are given -1 score, and 7 to 9 have a score of 0 and don't therefore influence the deck.
As you might see, the potential for variations and analytic games for the card counting system is endless. Combining your game strategies, betting strategies and card counting systems may significantly improve your chances.
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