Counting Cards Playing Live Online Casino Blackjack

One of the reasons blackjack is such a popular game is the fact that, played optimally, it offers players high returns relative to many other casino games. Those familiar with game mathematics will know that most variations of blackjack offer a return to player ("RTP") somewhere in the order of 99.2% to 99.5% when strict basic strategy is employed. And where a player is able to count cards, the edge actually swings in favor of the player.

Counting is often romanticized as a skill reserved for Mensa members or savants with ‘Rain Man’ like numeracy abilities. We are often reminded of the celebrated exploits of the MIT Blackjack Team who famously took on the Las Vegas casinos and won with their team counting strategies. But they were the most gifted mathematicians from one of, if not the most esteemed science universities in the world, meticulously schooled in the art of counting and working as a team. All sounds a bit much for the average gambler right?

Actually wrong - contrary to popular belief, counting cards is not such a difficult thing to do. There is no need to memorize all cards that have been dealt and compute every remaining card. In fact most counting methods only required the ability to add and subtract the number one. As an example, the Hi-Lo method involves assigning the value +1 to all 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s, 6s; 0 to 7s, 8s, 9s; and -1 to 10s and picture cards. As each card is dealt, its assigned value is added to a running count. If towards the end of the shoe the count is high then the remaining cards are higher than average and bets are increased accordingly (maintaining basic strategy decision making). If the count is low (-ve) then bets should be decreased or stopped altogether. Bets are raised when the remaining shoe is high card rich as such a scenario results in more player pat hands and dealer busts on forced hits.

The tricky part is maintaining your count while faced with all of the distractions of the casino environment - chat with the dealer, interaction with other players and casino staff and the plethora of other sights and sounds found at most casinos. And of course there is that little fact that casinos reserve the right to refuse service to anyone they choose, and not surprisingly counters sit high on this list of unwelcome players. To this end, terrestrial casinos direct considerable resources at being able to detect counting behavior and respond accordingly.

But where the player is playing blackjack remotely, different countermeasures must be employed. Most players are aware that in the case of RNG (random number generator) blackjack each new deal is from a full, shuffled virtual deck/shoe precluding the possibility of a count. But live dealer blackjack is another story. In live blackjack, an actual deal by a real croupier is streamed live to players’ PCs or televisions as the case may be. As the cards are not ‘virtual’, a reshuffle each deal is not a practical possibility for the casino as it would slow the game down too much.

So how do live casinos counter players’ ability to effectively count cards? The answer to this question can be found on a reading of the blackjack house rules at any live online casino. What you will likely find is that most employ either a reshuffle approximately 4 decks into the deal of an 8 deck shoe or regular re-shuffles. In both cases, the ability of players to effectively ascertain whether the remaining shoe is high card rich and bet accordingly is severely compromised, rendering counting futile.

Funnily enough, live casinos, just like their terrestrial and RNG counterparts, aren’t too keen on giving their money away to players.