Blackjack Card Counting - Don't Believe These Myths

Blackjack Card Counting - Don't Believe These Myths

Article by Stephen Todd

Card counting can put the odds in the favor of the blackjack player, but it has limitations and is not the "holy grail" that many blackjack players believe.

It is a belief that has seen several blackjack card counting myths emerge that cause many players to lose. Here are some of the more frequent ones.

A card counting system can be complicated or it can be simple, it depends on the system.

The fact the system is complicated does NOT guarantee it will be more successful than a simple one. In fact, you can learn a simple card counting strategy that has better results than many of the more complicated ones in just 5 minutes!

Reality: There is no correlation between complexity of card counting systems and profitability. It is the logic that the system is based upon which is important.

Card counting in blackjack does not allow players to "predict" the sequence of cards that come out of the deck.

In reality, it is impossible to "detect" the sequence of the remaining cards. The number of different sequences is huge and impossible to predict.

Card counting therefore, does NOT allow a player to foresee with certainty what card will be dealt out of the deck next.

Reality: Card counting is not a predictive theory. It is simply a probability theory that will put the odds in your favor over the long term. Short-term results can of course vary dramatically.

Once a player has learned how to count cards in blackjack and successfully learned how to apply these skills, they very often feel invincible.

When playing at the table they feel that they won't need much money due to the skills that they have learned.

The fact is, even though a player may have a positive edge in a game that does NOT mean the player is guaranteed to make profits all the time.

Losing streaks occur for all successful players and you need an adequate bankroll to ride them.

Reality: The 0.5% - 1.5% expectation that you can achieve in blackjack, (percentage of each bet you expect on average to win), is not enough to get you a winning edge consistently. In the short term, you need to prepare for losing runs.

If you have understood the above, you will see that card counting is NOT a predictive theory - it is a probability theory.

Once you understand this, you will realize that it can give you an edge in the longer term, but in the shorter term, you can, and will have losing streaks.

By knowing this, you will be able to prepare yourself for the inevitable losing periods with an adequate bankroll.

You also need to pick a system that you feel confident in using.

As we have said, you don't need a complicated strategy - you can learn a simple one in JUST 5 MINUTES!