Can You Count Cards Playing Blackjack Online?

It’s a common question: can you count cards playing blackjack online? The answer is not as straightforward as you might think.

First, let’s dispel a myth: card counting does not give you an edge over the casino. What it does is give you a better chance of winning on any given hand.

That’s because card counting allows you to make better decisions about when to hit, stand, split, or double down.

The reason why card counting works is because casinos use a shoe to deal blackjack. This means that the cards are dealt from a single deck (or multiple decks) that has been shuffled together.

However, the order of the cards within the shoe is random.

This means that if you know which cards have been dealt, you can make better decisions about which cards are likely to be dealt next. For example, if there are a lot of high cards left in the deck, you’re more likely to be dealt a blackjack.

Likewise, if there are a lot of low cards left in the deck, you’re more likely to bust if you hit.

So how do you keep track of the cards that have been dealt? There are a few different methods, but the most common is to use what’s called a running count. This is where you add up the point values of all the cards that have been dealt and divide by the number of decks remaining in the shoe.

For example, let’s say that two decks have been shuffled together and there are 100 cards left in the shoe. The running count would be:

2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 = 20 20/100 = 0.2

This number doesn’t mean much on its own, but it becomes more useful when combined with information about how many decks are left in the shoe. If we know that there are two decks remaining, we can convert our running count into a true count by dividing it by two: 20/2 = 10.

Now we have a true count of 10, which tells us that there are an average of 10 high cards per deck remaining in the shoe. This gives us a much better idea of our chances of being dealt a blackjack or busting if we hit.

Of course, card counting is only useful if you can keep track of all the cards that have been dealt. This is much easier said than done when you’re playing online blackjack! Casinos use software to shuffle the decks and deal the cards, so it’s impossible to keep track of every single card that has been dealt.

However, there are still some ways to get an approximate idea of what’s left in the deck. One method is to look at how often blackjacks and busts occur on average in each game.

If blackjacks and busts happen more often than they should according to probability (i.e., they’re being dealt from a “rich” deck), then it’s likely that there are still more high or low cards remaining in the shoe.

Another method is to look at how often certain hands occur on average in each game. For example, if you’re seeing a lot of hands with an ace and a six (known as “soft seventeen”), then it’s likely that there are still more low cards remaining in the shoe than usual.

Conversely, if you’re seeing a lot of hands with an ace and an eight (known as “hard eight”), then it’s likely that there are still more high cards remaining in the shoe than usual.

Of course, neither of these methods is perfect, but they can give you a general idea of whether or not the deck is “rich” or “poor” in high or low cards. If you think the deck is rich in high cards, then you should stand on soft seventeen and hit hard eight; if you think the deck is rich in low cards, then you should hit soft seventeen and stand on hard eight; if you’re not sure, then it’s probably best to just follow basic strategy for those hands!

In conclusion, while it is difficult to count cards playing blackjack online due to random number generators being used instead of actual physical decks of cards, it is possible to get an approximate idea of what’s left in the virtual deck by looking at things like blackjack and bust frequencies relative to probability or observing which hands occur most often during play.