While I’m a decent math whiz I’ve never gotten the hang of counting cards. I think the old memory bank won’t allow me to remember what’s been laid down and what hasn’t.

Obviously this practice is frowned upon but what do you think of it? Should it be allowed? Do you have experience doing it?

Card counting is nothing more than a myth. I have yet to see a real good card counter in my life. This thing about card counting only happens in the movies. The only way to have a big edge in twenty-one is have an x-ray eyes to see what’s coming next.

From what I heard from old timers is there are some people really adept at knowing when to hit, when to stay and above all when to place a maximum bet. Well I guess its takes more than gut feel, but rather knowing the probability ratio of the next card.

I don’t know anyone who has counted cards and I haven’t tried it. When I play I try not hitting if I have 15 but I know there are others that will hit at 15. I’m always afraid that I am going to bust but I guess that is just part of the game.

Card counting is not a myth. Nor is it impossible to learn with a great deal of training-memory techniques is what it takes.

However, I don’t have what it takes, nor will I ever. Some people have it as a natural gift, where as others can learn it. I don’t think that it should be outlawed personally.

ChipStack - 07 January 2009 10:19 PM

Card counting is not a myth. Nor is it impossible to learn with a great deal of training-memory techniques is what it takes.

However, I don’t have what it takes, nor will I ever. Some people have it as a natural gift, where as others can learn it. I don’t think that it should be outlawed personally.

I’ve been a dealer for 10 years and I’ve encountered so many wanna be card counters. They’re all good at one deck cards, more than that they lose count, couldn’t keep up. Card counters also wants empty tables to play with that so their group usually 3 can easily count the cards. Remedy for that is call the pit boss have cut card place on a higher position in order to reveal last card notice to come out sooner than expected. From there they’ll lost count. Also have the tables filled up by other people just to disrupt their betting patterns. Like for example dealer’s show card is 5 and the player’s cards total 16, of course you don’t hit but since there’s presence of suspected counters the guy hits instead of stay. Again they’ll lose count and transfers to another table or leave. Card counter, they lose count when you employ a player disrupting play pattern.

Card counting is definitely not a myth. There are different versions. The movie “21” is based on a true story. Now while it wasn’t true card counting, it was theory based on probability. Once the +1 or -1 count got to a certain level (I believe it was +8 or -8), then the theory was that you would have a better chance at guessing what the next card would be, therefore upping your chances of guessing correctly and hitting or staying at the right time. If you have a quick mind and can count by 1, then this is a usable strategy and you can work it alone. The movie is purely Hollywood, but the premise behind the movie is true.

As for knowing how many jacks or queens are left in the deck, that is much more difficult and to be honest, I don’t know of anyone that good to accomplish that feat.

The movie “21” came to mind for me as well. Wasn’t it based on the man’s biography or something?

I failed probability in college so as you might imagine, I could never count cards… LOL I don’t understand any of it and you’d might as well be speaking Greek. I think it’s really cool that some people have that kind of talent though. And I don’t see why it should be illegal either. It’s another way to play the game!

Card counting is very real.  There are many numeric systems that you can add or subtract in your mind to give yourself active odds on the rest of the cards in the deck.  This can raise your odds but it does not mean that you will always win by any means.

I’ve never gotten the hang of counting cards. I tried it several but I found that I’m easily distracted, so if someone came up to say hello, my count was ruined and I had no hope of keeping up. My memory just isn’t that good.

Card counting helps only when you are playing with single or double deck anything more than that and chances of your wrong calculations are pretty high.